The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life RationallyLoudon, Mrs. (Jane)
General
The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally
Loudon, Mrs. (Jane)
Cooking; Country life; Home economics
_Kidneybeans_ are of two quite distinct kinds. The dwarf kidneybeans
are annuals, which should be sown in drills about two feet apart, the
first or second week in May; but the scarlet runners are perennials,
the seed of which should be sown two or three inches asunder, and very
lightly covered; and the rows should at least be three feet apart. The
plants will require sticks like peas. Kidneybeans are generally eaten
in England only in an unripe state, the pods being eaten as well as the
seeds; the ripe seeds are, however, commonly eaten in France under the
name of _haricots blancs_.
_Potatoes_ are propagated by what are called sets, that is, pieces into
which the tuber is cut, each of which contains a bud or eye. Before
they are planted, the ground should be trenched and rotten dung dug
into it. The early potatoes are planted in March, and the late ones
in May or June. When the potatoes are to be planted, a garden line is
stretched across the beds, and holes are made along it with a dibber,
about six inches deep, and nine inches or a foot apart. The sets are
then put into the ground, one in each hole, with the eye upwards, and
the earth firmly pressed down on them. When the plants come up, they
are frequently hoed and earthed up; and as soon as they come into
blossom some cultivators cut off the tops, to prevent the formation of
the seed.
The _Jerusalem artichoke_ is propagated by sets, like the potato; and
the _turnip_, the _carrot_, and the _parsnep_ are propagated by seed
sown in drills about March.
_Red beet_ is cultivated in the same manner, and plants that are sown
in March will have roots ready for the table in September or October.
Great care, however, must be used while taking them out of the ground,
not to wound the outer skin; and in the kitchen they must be only
washed and not scraped, as, if the outer skin should be removed, all
the colouring matter will escape when the root is boiled, and the
root, instead of its being of its usual bright red, will be of a dingy
whitish pink.
_Radishes_ are sown at different seasons; generally every fortnight,
from January to July or August.
_Spinach_ is of two kinds: the round-leaved variety, which is generally
sown for the summer crop in January or February, and the roots of which
may be pulled up and thrown away as soon as the leaves are gathered;
and the Flanders spinach, which has triangular leaves, and which is
sown for the winter crop in August. This last kind should have only the
outer leaves pinched or cut off; and, thus treated, it will continue
producing fresh leaves all the winter, as it is quite hardy, and not
injured by frost. The seeds of this plant will keep good four years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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