THE KITCHEN GARDEN

"Now 'tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted; Suffer them now and they'll o'ergrow the garden, And choke the herbs for the want of husbandry."

— Shakespeare.

How eagerly we look forward to the first green stuff from the garden in the spring! While the radishes, onions, lettuce, spinach, etc., are still in the hotbeds safe from frosts, up comes the hardy rhubarb and asparagus in defiance of the hoary King. How hard it is to have 1,000 asparagus plants, and have to wait until the third year before you can cut all you want of it! Next comes the juicy onion sets, and the greens in quick succession, and berry time has arrived. That means a celebration, for the strawberries out of our own patch are always the sweetest we ever ate. Then comes the peas, and beans and tomatoes and golden August brings the sweet corn, when there are corn roasts and corn is dried for winter. September brings the melons! There's a wrenching of the heart and stomach if one has to be away in melon time! Then the grapes have to be eaten and canned and made into grape juice, jellies, etc. Now comes a hint of frost and everything is gathered into the big cellar and stored for future use.

So in seed time and harvest, all through the cycle of the months we are continually reminded of the useful kitchen garden. Vegetables are divided into several different classes. Under pot herbs or greens comes: Asparagus, cabbage, cauli- flower, brussels sprouts, swiss chard, spinach, beet, kale, mustard, dandelions.

The sweet herbs are: Summer and winter savory, thyme, sage, mint, parsley, tarragon, sweet marjoram.

The salad plants are: Lettuce, radish, celery, water cress, pepper grass, curled cress, endive, dandehon, corn salad, chicory, cardoon, borage, garden sorrel, chives and mustard.

344 THE MENDELSSOHN CLUB COOK BOOK.

The seeds and fruits are: Peas, corn, cucumbers, egg plant, okra, musk melon, watermelon, pepper, pumpkin, squash and tomato.

The vegetable roots which can be stored for winter are: Beets, carrots, celeraic, horseradish, Jerusalem artichokes, kohlrabi, pars- nips, potatoes, rutabagas, salsify, scolymus, scorzonera, white turnips, winter radish, leeks, onions and garlic.

The garden would not be complete without: Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants, gooseberries, and grapes.

The flavor of kale is improved by freezing.

Scorzonera much resembles salsify and the roots are prepared and eaten exactly the same way.

Celeriac is a variety of celery that has edible roots instead of leaves. It is used for soups, stews and salads.

The leaf of borage is used in any way in which cucumber is used as a flavoring, for the taste is identical.

Endive, when well grown, must be tied up on a dry day, so the hearts will be blanched.

When cutting sweet herbs for drying, the leaves must be picked just before blossoming time and when the sun is shining.

Brussels sprouts should be started in the hotbed and set out later, for frosts often kill them before they have matured. They require 150 days.

Sow corn salad out doors in September, cover lightly with lit- ter, and you will have a salad from the garden in March or before snow melts.

Mustard is a welcome salad in late fall and can be raised from seed sown in August. Mustard for salad is ready in 10 days; for greens, about 30 days.

Spraying with ice cold water and protecting from sun will nearly always save a slightly frozen plant.

We are indebted to the Garden Magazine for our information.

Make sure the name

IS ON THE GAS STOVE YOU USE

You will always have "good luck" with the receipts given in this book if you cook them on an Eclipse Gas Stove.

A Gas Range is a Coal Range with a college education.

— Eclipse.

Eclipse Gas Stove Company