American Cookery | Page 5

up with that view, seems at times rather to increase and spread them.
_Cucumbers_, are of many kinds; the prickly is best for pickles, but generally bitter; the white is difficult to raise and tender; choose the bright green, smooth and proper sized.
_Melons_--The Water Melons is cultivated on sandy soils only, above latitude 41 1/2, if a stratum of land be dug from a well, it will bring the first year good Water Melons; the red cored are highest flavored; a hard rine proves them ripe.
_Muskmelons_, are various, the rough skinned is best to eat; the short, round, fair skinn'd, is best for Mangoes.
_Lettuce_, is of various kinds; the purple spotted leaf is generally the tenderest, and free from bitter--Your taste must guide your market.
_Cabbage_, requires a page, they are so multifarious. Note, all Cabbages have a higher relish that grow on _new unmatured grounds_; if grown in an old town and on old gardens, they have a rankness, which at times, may be perceived by a fresh air traveller. This observation has been experienced for years--that Cabbages require new ground, more than Turnips.
_The Low Dutch_, only will do in old gardens.
The _Early Yorkshire_, must have rich soils, they will not answer for winter, they are easily cultivated, and frequently bro't to market in the fall, but will not last the winter.
The _Green Savoy_, with the richest crinkles, is fine and tender; and altho' they do not head like the Dutch or Yorkshire, yet the tenderness of the out leaves is a counterpoise, it will last thro' the winter, and are high flavored.
_The Yellow Savoy_, takes next rank, but will not last so long; all Cabbages will mix, and participate of other species, like Indian Corn; they are culled, best in plants; and a true gardener will, in the plant describe those which will head, and which will not. This is new, but a fact.
The gradations in the Savoy Cabbage are discerned by the leaf; the richest and most scollup'd, and crinkled, and thickest Green Savoy, falls little short of a Colliflour.
The red and redest small tight heads, are best for _slaw_, it will not boil well, comes out black or blue, and tinges, other things with which it is boiled.
_BEANS._
_The Clabboard Bean_, is easiest cultivated and collected, are good for string beans, will shell--must be poled.
_The Windsor Bean_, is an earlier, good string, or shell Bean.
_Crambury Bean_, is rich, but not universally approved equal to the other two.
_Frost Bean_, is good only to shell.
_Six Weeks Bean_, is a yellowish Bean, and early bro't forward, and tolerable.
_Lazy Bean_, is tough, and needs no pole.
_English Bean_, what they denominate the _Horse Bean_, is mealy when young, is profitable, easily cultivated, and may be grown on worn out grounds; as they may be raised by boys, I cannot but recommend the more extensive cultivation of them.
_The small White Bean_, is best for winter use, and excellent.
_Calivanse_, are run out, a yellow small bush, a black speck or eye, are tough and tasteless, and little worth in cookery, and scarcely bear exportation.
_Peas_--_Green Peas._
_The Crown Imperial_, takes rank in point of flavor, they blossom, purple and white on the top of the vines, will run, from three to five feet high, should be set in light sandy soil only, or they run too much to vines.
_The Crown Pea_, is second in richness of flavor.
_The Rondeheval_, is large and bitterish.
_Early Carlton_, is produced first in the season--good.
_Marrow Fats_, green, yellow, and is large, easily cultivated, not equal to others.
_Sugar Pea_, needs no bush, the pods are tender and good to eat, easily cultivated.
_Spanish Manratto_, is a rich Pea, requires a strong high bush.
All Peas should be picked carefully from the vines as soon as dew is off, shelled and cleaned without water, and boiled immediately; they are thus the richest flavored.
_Herbs, useful in Cookery._
_Thyme_, is good in soups and stuffings.
_Sweet Marjoram_, is used in Turkeys.
_Summer Savory_, ditto, and in Sausages and salted Beef, and legs of Pork.
_Sage_, is used in Cheese and Pork, but not generally approved.
_Parsley_, good in _soups_, and to _garnish roast Beef_, excellent with bread and butter in the spring.
_Penny Royal_, is a high aromatic, altho' a spontaneous herb in old ploughed fields, yet might be more generally cultivated in gardens, and used in cookery and medicines.
_Sweet Thyme_, is most useful and best approved in cookery.
_FRUITS._
_Pears_, There are many different kinds; but the large Bell Pear, sometimes called the Pound Pear, the yellowest is the best, and in the same town they differ essentially.
_Hard Winter Pear_, are innumerable in their qualities, are good in sauces, and baked.
Harvest and Summer Pear are a tolerable desert, are much improved in this country, as all other fruits are by grafting and innoculation.
_Apples_, are still more various, yet rigidly retain their own species, and are highly useful