Vegetable and floral gardens. 
485 
feeling was reciprocal, for certainly the garden that is visited oft- 
enest, and admired most will grow the fastest, no matter for what 
reason. 
In the vegetable garden there should be a succession of eatables 
that will give a handsome variety for the table the whole year. 
Beginning with lettuce and radishes, there must be no da}’'that the 
garden does not contribute something for the table that is relisha- 
ble and attractive. Peas, beans, and corn follow each other in quick 
succession for summer use; then the old-fashioned kinds, such as 
cabbages, beets and onions are always in order and should be put 
by for winter, especially the latter which though tabooed in society, 
is the most healthful of all vegetables and does not become stale 
and insipid in spring. The nicer varieties, such as celery, egg 
plant, tomatoes, and salsify, are not only desirable but positively 
essential; particularly the last two. Salsify or vegetable oyster, is 
good at any time after it is of sufficient size, and, if taken up in the 
fall and put in boxes of earth in the cellar, is excellent for winter 
use and will keep in good condition till spring, when those left in 
the garden will be found decayed. The tomato is one of the most 
useful of all the garden products. We are not at all partial to its 
peculiar flavor, but, as a housekeeper, we have learned to prize it 
very highly. It is good cooked either green or ripe, is excellent 
for either sweet or sour pickles, for preserves, for catsup, and for 
canning. It is doubtful if even that most useful of all fruits, the 
apple, can be prepared for food in so many ways as the tomato. 
Any family with one square rod of ground planted to tomatoes 
well cultivated, may have a supply of this fruit in its season and 
enough for pickles, preserves, and for canning, to last from autumn 
till summer. All the varieties are very handsome; the scarlet, 
white, crimson and yellow give a pleasing contrast in the fruit bas¬ 
ket, but the “Trophy” we think best for general use, and the small 
yellow best for preserving. 
An ample supply of all the products of the garden well put up 
for winter will save the housekeeper much perplexity concerning 
her table, and go far to silence the complaint “nothing to eat,” 
which is about as disagreeable as the cry of “ nothing to wear.” 
Besides, “ it is a secret, we are told that farmers’, wives with ample 
gardens seldom fret, and never scold.” 
Flower gardens in the country are the exception, not the rule. 
