The Country Gentlewoman. THE PARLOUR GARDENER. CHAPTER X. THE GARDEN UPON THE LARGE BALCONY. Portable Greenhouse: Pinks, Hyacinths, Tulips, last-Winter Dress of the Terrace Balcony-Galan thus (Snowdrop)—Japan Quince-Hellebore-Christmas Rose-Variegated Holly. THE TERRACE BALCONY. We may consider as garden terraces those long and wide balconies extending, if not all along the front of the house, at least for a sufficient distance to admit of our gardening there in a far less confined space than in the mere verandah of a window. Access to such balconies being had through windows reaching down to the floor, before each window an interval should be reserved, to allow you to approach the balustrade, and lean on your elbows whilst looking out. Should it be your good fortune to occupy a home rendered at once healthy and agreeable by such an appendage as a spacious balcony with a good exposure, the side spaces, intermediate to those kept open in front of the windows, may be supplied with wooden boxes longer than they are wide, painted a dull red or maroon, and filled with good garden earth, mixed with You have but to consider these boxes as the borders of a parterre, and manure. proceed to garden there accordingly, as you would on the ground. PLANTS FOR THE BALCONY-WISTERIA AND VIRGINIA CREEPER. At each end of the balcony, a box (its length equal to the width of the balcony), which two boxes have a special destination: it is there that you must plant a Glycine or Wisteria, and a Bignonia, or Virginia Creeper -the running stems of which are to be trained parallel to each other along the balustrade. Thus, without encumbering the balcony, you will have, in the spring, the beautiful bunches of amethyst flowers of the Wisteria, hanging gracefully outside, and shedding an odour the most delicately sweet of almost any of the whole vegetable kingdom; and in the autumn the Virginia. Creeper, in bunches of a rich red, will renew the decoration. During the intermediate heats, the abundant foliage of these two plants will very advantageously protect the boxes of ornamental plants from the burning contact of the solar rays. You need not contrive any other shelter for them. BUDDLEA AND CLIANTHUS. To procure still more shade, add to the above a robust plant of Buddlea globosa on one side, and Clianthus Dampieri on the other. The Buddlea, raised about 5 feet high, and left to itself from this height, will fall in all directions, with as much grace as do the flexible branches of the Weeping Willow. At each extremity of the slender and supple branches will open a long bunch of flowers. Should it so happen that some of these flowered branches, in the exuberance of their The Parlour Gardener spirits, stray off so far as to pay a visit to your next-door neighbours, they, especially whilst taking the air at their windows, will have no cause to complain of the intrusion. The Clianthus-to which you must give as a support, four rods of white osier tied together — will very soon hide this support under its abundant vegetation, adorned with a profusion of flowers of the finest carnation colour. If these two shrubs occupied the middle of the balcony, they would take up too much. room and prevent your seeing out; but placed at the two angles, they give a little shade, fresh and perfumed, which contributes to render more delightful still those moments of the day that one likes to pass, with book in hand, upon the balcony in the midst or choice flowers. OTHER PLANTS. The various ornamental plants of each season-the principal of which I have indicated to you as being suitable for making a show in the garden at the window, at the different exposures-can, of course, be made use of in decorating a balcony large enough to serve the purpose of a terrace. SEEDLING RANUNCULUSES. If, as I advised, you have amused yourself in rearing in the cold portable green house of your parlour, a supply of young roots of the Ranunculus obtained from seeds, you will, after having used such of these little roots as were requisite for the ornamenting of your flower-stand, have a considerable number of them left. In the spring, when you have no longer cause to dread the appearance of any more lingering frosts, plant this residue of those little roots in one of the boxes on your balcony. They will give you, for a month's time, a profusion of flowers of varied shades, some deep and lively, the others pale and delicate. The first year, these shades will necessarily be mingled together at hazard. When you come to pull up the roots, after the bloom, you must observe the colour of the flowers of each plant, and write these colours in a list, with a number affixed 441 to each colour. Prepare papers in which to wrap the roots, by marking each paper with one of the numbers on your list; and when you wrap up the roots, for putting by till the following spring, place all of the same colour and shade together in one paper, bearing the proper number. By this means, when they are to be planted the second year, you will be enabled to arrange the deep and light colours artistically. The deep colours are always the least numerous. Observe, I beg of you, ladies, that if you take care of your Ranunculuses when in bloom, watering them at the proper times, and do not allow them to be wasted in bouquets by indiscreet visitors, the finest among them will give you a good supply of fertile seed. The plants that you will obtain by sowing these seeds will not reproduce exactly the colours of the parent flowers; but the choicest flowers, you will be sure to have a beautiful mixture, presenting the finest shades in proper proportions. PLANTS PROPAGATED IN THE PORTABLE GREENHOUSE. The boxes of the great balcony—I suppose them to be large enough-will naturally be the receptacle for the plants reared in your portable greenhouse; and among these will be your seedling Pinks, that will all find an appropriate place there. A group of variegated Tulips, another of Hyacinths, blue, rose, and pale yellow; elegant borders of Crocuses which you have taken care to alternate, white violet and golden yellow;-these will enamel your parterre from the very setting in of spring. Do not be afraid to multiply by cuts tings your Pelargoniums, ChrysanthemumsFuchsias, Lantanas, and Heliotropes, in order, that your boxes may be kept constantly filled with plants in flower. You will never have too many, if you be sedulous not to leave empty places in them. With this view, be always careful to sow seeds in the place of the plants you have transplanted. You will be surprised to see how very large a quantity of plants a space appar ently so small can hold, if you do what is requisite to make each one of your boxes present constantly, from spring to autumn, a full bouquet, rich in its variety of colours and of perfumes. As regards perfume, sow Mignonette everywhere. It thrives in the shade of the other plants, takes up but little room, and keeps out of sight, its perfume only disclosing its presence; and provided that you take care not to let it exhaust itself in producing too many seeds (the production of seeds not being the business of your garden), it will continue to bloom until the end of October, holding on till after the first serious frost. The previous white frosts will then have already killed first the Balsams and the China Asters, then the Tagetes and the Ageratums of Mexico, afterwards the Petunias; the Chrysanthemums alone will remain. Then it is that you will congratulate yourself for having sown a great deal of Mignonette. So long as it continues to bloom it will contribute largely-now in a far larger proportion than before-to the pleasantness of the visits you will continue to pay, in November, to your balcony garden, on the few fine days which the departing year may yet have in store for you. WINTER DRESS OF THE BALCONY GARDEN. Winter is decidedly come. Your faithful little Mignonette, yielding at length to what the jurists call force majeure, has abandoned you and disappeared from your boxes; your Chrysanthemums have taken shelter within doors, that they may there continue to present you with flowers. Now, then, as they can no longer wear their summer garments, give to the borders of your balcony parterre their winter dress, which, though much les variegated, is far from being without charms. Plant there those beautiful tufts of the Galanthus, its white flowers bordered with green. Its common name, Snowdrop, may perhaps be more familiar to your ears; and this name its robust temperament fully justifies, for it is endowed with a most hardy constitution-one that enables it to bloom bravely between two frosts, so that when a pale ray of sunshine comes to melt a thick layer of snow, one is agreeably surprised to find the Snowdrop in full flower. One or two plants of the Christmas Rose (Helleborus niger), two or three Hollies, with their variegated leaves, green and white, among which the fruit shines like coral beads, and an Aucuba or two-these will clothe your great balcony with attractions that may tempt you out there to inhale the wintry air, except on the worst days of this worst of the seasons. You will have received there, from autumn, the last of her flowers as a souvenir of past joys. You will now obtain there from her grim successor, a present, acceptable in itself, and yet more so as a harbinger of the coming spring. And thus, ladies, the refined and refining pleasures which the practice of gardening affords will have been enjoyed by you, in all their variety, without your leaving the house. Before leaving the subject of the balcony garden, I would strongly advise, before any plants are put into it, that a glass screen should be erected at each end, so as to keep off the wind. It might be constructed of rough plate glass; and if the screens were returned about 2 feet in front, they would be sll the more useful. The Country Gentlewoman 443 PARSNIPS AND SALSIFY, AND HOW TO COOK THEM. November to May, but is in its best condition in the spring. It may be kept in the cellar if not allowed to wither, but it is best when permitted to remain in the open ground. With a litter or covering of some sort, this can also be done advantageously even in the north of Scotland. Much of the flavour and of the saccharine principle which in the spring is largely developed in this root, are lost in the ordinary method of cooking. We will try to avoid this loss. STEWED PARSNIPS. The Parsnip is an edible that imparts much of its sweetness and flavour to the water in which it is cooked, and when this is thrown. away it is irretrievably lost, leaving the root comparatively flat and tasteless. But when these qualities are thus preserved and restored, any one eating the root so dressed for the first time will be surprised at its richness and flavour. To prepare them for cooking, they can be scraped and sliced lengthwise, according to the common custom; but a much more expeditious, and in some respects a more tasteful method, is to wash and cut them across in slices of, say inch thick, and then pare them. Then put them to stew, with water enough to cover them. Stew until perfectly tender it may require three-fourths of an hour, and if you can so time it, have the water reduced to a thin syrup, being very careful not to scorch it. Simply dish these and pour the syrup over them, and you will have a most delicious dish without any further seasoning whatever. the dished Parsnips, and also add some bread dice if you like. An excellent dish is made by cooking equal quantities of Parsnips and Onions together, stewing the latter at least an hour and a-quarter, then adding milk, and thickening with meal. BAKED PARSNIPS. Scrape off the skin smoothly from good. sized Parsnips, and bake in a quick oven until perfectly tender and brown. It can be done in an hour, or even less, but the time required will depend on the heat of the fire and on the size of the roots. Parsnips can also be steamed to good advantage. Both of these methods preserve the sweetness of the roots, and the baking concentrates it. SALSIFY, OR VEGETABLE OYSTER. This plant, the botanical name of which is Tragopogon porrifolium, is also a wholesome and nutritious root, but much more delicate than the Parsnip. It is similar to the latter in its winter-keeping peculiarities and in its time of use, but it is not so sweet nor so large. STEWED SALSIFY. In The roots should be washed and scraped, and washed again very thoroughly. scraping, it is well to hold them in a cloth, or paper to prevent staining the hands with the juice, though this stain can be removed with pumice stone or lemon-juice. Halve them lengthwise, and stew with very little water until tender-say forty minutes-dish them, reduce the juice as much as possible, add cream, salt, and scald slightly; pour it over the Salsify. Serve warm. If cream or corIf any are left, they can be eaten cold, or densed milk cannot be had, add milk, and browned on a gridiron. thicken with flour or wheat meal. Another way is to omit the milk, salt, and thicken entirely with cooked pearl barley or rice. Another way is to add milk or cream to the syrup, thicken with flour, and pour over SALSIFY AND MACCARONI. Stew the prepared Salsify fifteen minutes, then add half or two-thirds as much dry maccaroni (by bulk), stew gently half an hour longer, or until the ingredients are both of them perfectly tender, and the water pretty well done out. Remove from the fire, alt, and fill half full of sweet cream, or condensed milk. Cover and keep warm for ten minutes, then serve. This is really an elegant dish, finely developing the flavour of the "vegetable oyster," while the maccaroni is about as digestible as it can be anywhere -much more so than when baked with cheese. At table, any of these dishes may be served with chicken, veal, &c. The flavour of the Salsify is not sufficiently decided to make it of much value in soups.— Julia Colman, Rural New Yorker. 869 39 END OF VOL. VII. |