Pot-pourri from a Surrey garden

In the early Protestant days meat was no doubt eaten with a religious zeal, and the cultivation and cooking of vegetables was utterly neglected. The old gardens of the monasteries ran to ruin even quicker than the fish-ponds. It became a point of national honour to disregard the methods of cooking vegetables which had been brought by the monks, who were men of taste, from France and Italy. Proper cooking alone makes ordinary vegetables palatable, and improves even the very best. The extra- ordinary development of the vegetable, fruit, and flower trade is one of the most marked changes of my lifetime. When I was young, it was impossible in the West End of London to buy any flowers at all in the streets or shops. If we did not winter in the South of France, but remained in London, we had to go to some nursery gardens that lay between Eutland Gate and Kensington in order to buy a few Violets. Froude says, about another strange effect of the Ee- formation, 'It probably, more than any other cause, stopped the development of painting in England. Holbein had no pupils. Zuccaro left the country in disgust. All portraits that remain were painted by foreigners.' The 150 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN worst kings from the political point of view have been the best from that of painting. Charles I. was no excep- tion to the rule, and his magnificent gallery was sold by Parliament in 1645 for 38,OOOZ., apparently without protest. Of all the months in the year, this is perhaps the one in which the keenest amateur can best afford to leave home ; and if I do not go away, it is the one I can best spare to my gardener for his holiday. In August hope, as far as the year is concerned, is over. There is nothing that imperatively requires doing ; nearly all there is to do can be as well done in July or September. After deciding to leave home I gave instructions that the young French Beans and Scarlet Eunners should be picked over, almost daily, so that none should grow coarse and old ; and that the cook should lay them separately, as they were brought in, in large earthenware pans — a handful of Beans and then a handful of salt, and so on till the pan was full. This is an excellent method ; and I have eaten them, pre- served in this way, all through the winter. I believe this is done everywhere abroad, but never in England, where the waste, both in the kitchen and the garden, is, as we all acknowledge, a national vice. Of course the Beans in the salt must not be allowed to get touched by frost in the autumn. When wanted, they are taken out, well soaked (to prevent their being too salt), boiled in the ordinary way — cut up or whole, as we like them best — then drained, and warmed up in fresh butter, a squeeze of lemon and a little chopped Parsley on the top. They can also be cooked with a white cream sauce. All this is well described for fresh Beans in ' Dainty Dishes.' I think these salted Beans have more flavour than the tinned ones, or than those that come from Madeira in the winter. Besides, the principle of utilising everything in a garden should never be lost sight of. AUGUST 151