Part 15

It is as well to set the earlier fruit with a camel’s-hair brush, conveying by its means the pollen to the fruit-bearing flowers; later in the season this can be left to Nature and the bees. The whole history of successful cucumber growing lies in the three words, water, warmth, and air; by their aid first-rate fruit may be grown in a frame. The frames should not have the lights drawn off or even pushed back; this latter practice is one that gardeners are fond of pursuing, but it is fatally productive of cold draughts. Pieces of board should be prepared with step-like indentations, and by means of these the lights may be propped up to varying heights according to the weather.

Never should the frames be watered less than four times a week, and in hot weather water should be given both evening and morning. It is a good plan to keep a pot full of water in the frame in order to ensure that the water should be warmed to the exactly right temperature, as it is a most unscientific proceeding to throw cold water over these warmth-loving plants.

Ridge cucumbers will thrive under precisely the same treatment as above described, but they may need a second shift into larger pots. They must be kept in the frame, growing on, until the end of May, when they can be planted out in the open, in richly made-up ground. It is a usual thing to provide southward sloping ridges to grow them on, but this is unnecessary if the gardener select some warm and sheltered spot, where full sunlight falls most of the day. They will need daily watering, and will throw, in a favourable season, an astonishing quantity of small, well-flavoured fruit.

DISHES.

=Cucumber Timbâles.=--Mix one cupful of cooked cucumber pulp, and half a cupful of bread-crumbs with half a cupful of very thick cream sauce, a tablespoonful of lemon juice, the yolks of two eggs beaten thoroughly, and a few drops of onion juice. Fold in the stiffly beaten whites of the eggs, fill small buttered timbâle moulds, and bake until firm in a pan of hot water.

=Mashed Cucumbers.=--Peel and cut up old cucumbers, and boil until soft in salted water to cover. Drain, mash, and season with butter, salt, and pepper.

=Devilled Cucumbers.=--Make a sauce of one cupful of stewed and strained tomato, half a teaspoonful each of salt and made mustard, a teaspoonful of sugar, cayenne, and grated onion to season, a tablespoonful of olive oil, and the juice of half a lemon. Bring to the boil, pour over fried cucumbers, and serve.

=Cucumbers on Toast.=--Peel and cut two or three large cucumbers into half-inch slices. Cover with hot water and stew until tender but not broken. Bring a cupful of cream to the boil, add a tablespoonful of butter, and salt and pepper to season. Drain the cucumber, reheat in the cream, and serve on toast.

=Ragout of Cucumbers and Onions.=--Peel and slice three cucumbers and two onions. Fry brown in butter, dredging with a little flour, add enough water to cover, and cook for half an hour. Thicken with a teaspoonful each of butter and flour cooked together, add salt and pepper to season, and half a cupful of stewed and strained tomatoes. Heat thoroughly, and serve.

=Stewed Cucumber.=--Peel and quarter six cucumbers, remove the seeds, and fry in butter with a chopped onion. Take up the cucumbers and cook a tablespoonful of flour in the fat remaining in the pan. Add one cupful of stock or water and cook until thick, stirring constantly. Season to taste with salt or pepper and cook the cucumbers in the sauce for twenty minutes. Serve on small squares of buttered toast.

=Stuffed Cucumbers.=--Peel and split four cucumbers and scoop out the seeds. Make a stuffing of one cupful of stale bread-crumbs, half a cupful of chopped nuts, one boiled onion chopped, a tablespoonful each of minced parsley and Chutney sauce, and salt to season. Stuff the cucumbers, put the halves together, and tie into shape with strings. Brown in olive oil, add half a cupful of water, and bake for an hour and a half, basting frequently. Remove the strings and serve.

=Cucumber Fritters.=--Make some batter with an egg, a cupful of milk, and enough sifted flour to thicken it--about a tablespoonful--put some slices of peeled cucumbers into sufficient boiling water to cover them, let them stand for fifteen minutes, drain and wipe them dry, season the slices with salt and pepper, dip them into the batter, and fry in deep fat.

=Escalloped Cucumbers.=--Peel and cut into dice six large cucumbers. Butter a baking dish and put in a layer of the dice. Season with grated onion and lemon juice. Cover with crumbs, dot with butter, and season with paprika and celery salt. Repeat until the dish is full, having crumbs and butter on the top. Cover and bake for an hour, then remove the cover and brown. Serve with sauce piquante.

=Cucumber Sliced.=--Cut off the pointed end and discard, then peel as much as you are likely to require--probably half--but do not cut it off. Thinly slice with a cucumber knife as far as you have peeled. Put the piece that remains in a two-pound jam-pot with two inches of water in the bottom. Let the stalk end be in the water, and the cucumber will keep crisp for two days, but the ideal thing is to use it as soon as it is severed from the tine. Take the thin slices of cucumber and lay them on a flat dish, sprinkle with a little salt, and put another plate over and leave in a cool place for half an hour. Then drain off the brine, and slip the slices on to a glass dish, pepper them, and pour a little brown vinegar over them, and if liked, half a tablespoonful of olive oil. Serve immediately. Treated in this way cucumber is more digestible.

=Cucumber and Onion.=--Peel and slice the cucumber and put in a glass dish; add a few thin slices of raw onion, pepper, and vinegar; oil if liked.

Cucumbers are much used to decorate salads.

DANDELION (Leontodum Taraxacum. Compositæ).

Sow during March or April in shallow drills fifteen inches apart. Thin the plants to the same distance in the rows. When the plants are large enough to use they should be blanched by covering with flower-pots inserted over them with a piece of slate on top to exclude the light.

The young leaves, either green or blanched, are excellent for salads, generally in addition to lettuce or chicory.

DISHES.

Dandelions can be cooked in the same manner as chicory and spinach.

=Dandelion Greens.=--Boil until tender in salted water. Drain, chop and season with salt, pepper, butter, and vinegar, or lemon juice.

=Dandelion Mixture.=--Wash the dandelion leaves thoroughly, and put in salted water until tender, strain through a colander, pressing with a weight to extract all the moisture. Put into a saucepan with a little cream, the yolks of two eggs, salt and pepper as well as any other seasoning of herbs desired. Heat through, spread the mixture on slices of stale bread, and fry quickly in hot butter or dripping. Garnish with chopped hard-boiled eggs. Season with oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and finely chopped parsley.

=Dandelion as a Vegetable.=--Cut off the outer leaves and wash well, let them stand in cold water for an hour to crisp; drain and throw into a saucepan of boiling water which has been salted, and simmer for twenty minutes, or half an hour if full grown. Strain through a colander to extract the liquor, then chop. Place a good tablespoonful of butter in a stewpan, and when melted add a tablespoonful of flour. Add the greens, toss a little with a wooden spoon, and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and moisten suitably with stock. Toss for ten minutes longer. Add, if you like, a tablespoonful of cream, sweet or sour, and serve hot with a garnish of toast cut into points, or croûtons. Other greens may be treated in the same way.

DILL (Anethum graveolens. Umbellifera).

Sow during April in rows twelve inches apart, and thin the seedlings to nine inches in the row. Harvest, dry, and store the seeds when ripe.

The green leaves as well as the dried seeds may be used as seasoning.

EGG PLANT (Solanum Melongena. Solanaceæ).