The Book of Household Management - Mrs. Isabella Beeton
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1072. WHEN NATURE HAS FOUND A SOIL, her next care is to perfect the
growth of her seeds, and then to disperse them. Whilst the seed remains
confined in its capsule, it cannot answer its purpose; hence, when it is
sufficiently ripe, the pericardium opens, and lets it out. What must
strike every observer with surprise is, how nuts and shells, which we
can hardly crack with our teeth, or even with a hammer, will divide of
themselves, and make way for the little tender sprout which proceeds
from the kernel. There are instances, it is said, such as in the
Touch-me-not (_impatiens_), and the Cuckoo-flower (_cardamine_), in
which the seed-vessels, by an elastic jerk at the moment of their
explosion, cast the seeds to a distance. We are all aware, however, that
many seeds--those of the most composite flowers, as of the thistle and
dandelion--are endowed with, what have not been inappropriately called,
wings. These consist of a beautiful silk-looking down, by which they are
enabled to float in the air, and to be transported, sometimes, to
considerable distances from the parent plant that produced them. The
swelling of this downy tuft within the seed-vessel is the means by which
the seed is enabled to overcome the resistance of its coats, and to
force for itself a passage by which it escapes from its little
prison-house.
[Illustration: BEETON'S Book of HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT
EDITED BY MRS. ISABELLA BEETON]
[Illustration: "THE FREE, FAIR HOMES OF ENGLAND."]
1073. BIRDS, AS WELL AS QUADRUPEDS, are likewise the means of dispersing
the seeds of plants, and placing them in situations where they
ultimately grow. Amongst the latter is the squirrel, which is an
extensive planter of oaks; nay, it may be regarded as having, in some
measure, been one of the creators of the British navy. We have read of a
gentleman who was walking one day in some woods belonging to the Duke of
Beaufort, near Troy House, in Monmouthshire, when his attention was
arrested by a squirrel, sitting very composedly upon the ground. He
stopped to observe its motions, when, in a short time, the little animal
suddenly quitted its position, and darted to the top of the tree beneath
which it had been sitting. In an instant it returned with an acorn in
its mouth, and with its paws began to burrow in the earth. After digging
a small hole, it therein deposited an acorn, which it hastily covered,
and then darted up the tree again. In a moment it was down with another,
which it buried in the same manner; and so continued its labour,
gathering and burying, as long as the gentleman had patience to watch
it. This industry in the squirrel is an instinct which directs it to lay
up a store of provision for the winter; and as it is probable that its
memory is not sufficiently retentive to enable it to recollect all the
spots in which it deposits its acorns, it no doubt makes some slips in
the course of the season, and loses some of them. These few spring up,
and are, in time, destined to supply the place of the parent tree. Thus
may the sons of Britain, in some degree, consider themselves to be
indebted to the industry and defective memory of this little animal for
the production of some of those "wooden walls" which have, for
centuries, been the national pride, and which have so long "braved the
battle and the breeze" on the broad bosom of the great deep, in every
quarter of the civilized globe. As with the squirrel, so with jays and
pies, which plant among the grass and moss, horse-beans, and probably
forget where they have secreted them. Mr. White, the naturalist, says,
that both horse-beans and peas sprang up in his field-walks in the
autumn; and he attributes the sowing of them to birds. Bees, he also
observes, are much the best setters of cucumbers. If they do not happen
to take kindly to the frames, the best way is to tempt them by a little
honey put on the male and female bloom. When they are once induced to
haunt the frames, they set all the fruit, and will hover with impatience
round the lights in a morning till the glasses are opened.
1074. Some of the acorns planted by the squirrel of Monmouthshire may be
now in a fair way to become, at the end of some centuries, venerable
trees; for not the least remarkable quality of oaks is the strong
principle of life with which they are endued. In Major Rooke's "Sketch
of the forest of Sherwood" we find it stated that, on some timber cut
down in Berkland and Bilhaugh, letters were found stamped in the bodies
of the trees, denoting the king's reign in which they were marked. The
bark appears to have been cut off, and then the letters to have been cut
in, and the next year's wood to have grown over them without adhering to
where the bark had been cut out. The ciphers were found to be of James
I., William and Mary, and one of King John. One of the ciphers of James
was about one foot within the tree, and one foot from the centre. It was
cut down in 1786. The tree must have been two feet in diameter, or two
yards in circumference, when the mark was cut. A tree of this size is
generally estimated at 120 years' growth; which number being subtracted
from the middle year of the reign of James, would carry the year back to
1492, which would be about the period of its being planted. The tree
with the cipher of William and Mary displayed its mark about nine inches
within the tree, and three feet three inches from the centre. This tree
was felled in 1786. The cipher of John was eighteen inches within the
tree, and rather more than a foot from the centre. The middle year of
the reign of that monarch was 1207. By subtracting from this 120, the
number of years requisite for a tree's growth to arrive at the diameter
of two feet, the date of its being planted would seem to have been 1085,
or about twenty years after the Conquest.
[Illustration: CELLULAR DEVELOPMENT.]
1075. Considering the great endurance of these trees, we are necessarily
led to inquire into the means by which they are enabled to arrive at
such strength and maturity; and whether it may be considered as a
humiliation we will not determine, but, with all the ingenious
mechanical contrivances of man, we are still unable to define the limits
of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. "Plants have been described by
naturalists, who would determine the limits of the two kingdoms, as
organized living bodies, without volition or locomotion, destitute of a
mouth or intestinal cavity, which, when detached from their place of
growth, die, and, in decay, ferment, but do not putrefy, and which, on
being subjected to analysis, furnish an excess of carbon and no
nitrogen. The powers of chemistry, and of the microscope, however,
instead of confirming these views, tend more and more to show that a
still closer affinity exists between plants and animals; for it is now
ascertained that nitrogen, which was believed to be present only in
animals, enters largely into the composition of plants also. When the
microscope is brought to aid our powers of observation, we find that
there are organized bodies belonging to the vegetable kingdom which
possess very evident powers of locomotion, and which change about in so
very remarkable a manner, that no other cause than that of volition can
be assigned to it." Thus it would seem that, in this particular at
least, some vegetables bear a very close resemblance to animal life; and
when we consider the manner in which they are supplied with nourishment,
and perform the functions of their existence, the resemblance would seem
still closer. If, for example, we take a thin transverse slice of the
stem of any plant, or a slice cut across its stem, and immerse it in a
little pure water, and place it under a microscope, we will find that it
consists principally of cells, more or less regular, and resembling
those of a honeycomb or a network of cobweb. The size of these varies in
different plants, as it does in different parts of the same plant, and
they are sometimes so minute as to require a million to cover a square
inch of surface. This singular structure, besides containing water and
air, is the repository or storehouse of various secretions. Through it,
the sap, when produced, is diffused sideways through the plant, and by
it numerous changes are effected in the juices which fill its cells. The
forms of the cells are various; they are also subject to various
transformations. Sometimes a number of cylindrical cells are laid end to
end, and, by the absorption of the transverse partitions, form a
continuous tube, as in the sap-vessels of plants, or in muscular and
nervous fibre; and when cells are thus woven together, they are called
cellular tissue, which, in the human body, forms a fine net-like
membrane, enveloping or connecting most of its structures. In pulpy
fruits, the cells may be easily separated one from the other; and within
the cells are smaller cells, commonly known as pulp. Among the
cell-contents of some plants are beautiful crystals, called _raphides_.
The term is derived from [Greek: rhaphis] a _needle_, on account of the
resemblance of the crystal to a needle. They are composed of the
phosphate and oxalate of lime; but there is great difference of opinion
as to their use in the economy of the plant, and one of the French
philosophers endeavoured to prove that crystals are the possible
transition of the inorganic to organic matter. The differences, however,
between the highest form of crystal and the lowest form of organic life
known, viz., a simple reproductive cell, are so manifold and striking,
that the attempt to make crystals the bridge over which inorganic matter
passes into organic, is almost totally regarded as futile. In a layer of
an onion, a fig, a section of garden rhubarb, in some species of aloe,
in the bark of many trees, and in portions of the cuticle of the
medicinal squill, bundles of these needle-shaped crystals are to be
found. Some of them are as large as 1-40th of an inch, others are as
small as the 1-1000th. They are found in all parts of the plant,--in the
stem, bark, leaves, stipules, petals, fruit, roots, and even in the
pollen, with some few exceptions, and they are always situated in the
interior of cells. Some plants, as many of the _cactus_ tribe, are made
up almost entirely of these needle-crystals; in some instances, every
cell of the cuticle contains a stellate mass of crystals; in others, the
whole interior is full of them, rendering the plant so exceedingly
brittle, that the least touch will occasion a fracture; so much so, that
some specimens of _Cactus senilis_, said to be a thousand years old,
which were sent a few years since to Kew, from South America, were
obliged to be packed in cotton, with all the care of the most delicate
jewellery, to preserve them during transport.
[Illustration: SILICEOUS CUTICLE FROM UNDER-SIDE OF LEAF OF DEUTZIA
SCABRA.]
[Illustration: SILICEOUS CUTICLE OF GRASS.]
1076. Besides the cellular tissue, there is what is called a vascular
system, which consists of another set of small vessels. If, for example,
we, early in the spring, cut a branch transversely, we will perceive the
sap oozing out from numerous points over the whole of the divided
surface, except on that part occupied by the pith and the bark; and if a
twig, on which the leaves are already unfolded, be cut from the tree,
and placed with its cut end in a watery solution of Brazil-wood, the
colouring matter will be found to ascend into the leaves and to the top
of the twig. In both these cases, a close examination with a powerful
microscope, will discover the sap perspiring from the divided portion of
the stem, and the colouring matter rising through real tubes to the top
of the twig: these are the sap or conducting vessels of the plant. If,
however, we examine a transverse section of the vine, or of any other
tree, at a later period of the season, we find that the wood is
apparently dry, whilst the bark, particularly that part next the wood,
is swelled with fluid. This is contained in vessels of a different kind
from those in which the sap rises. They are found in the _bark_ only in
trees, and may be called returning vessels, from their carrying the sap
downwards after its preparation in the leaf. It is believed that the
passage of the sap in plants is conducted in a manner precisely similar
to that of the blood in man, from the regular contraction and expansion
of the vessels; but, on account of their extreme minuteness, it is
almost an impossibility to be certain upon this point. Numerous
observations made with the microscope show that their diameter seldom
exceeds a 290th part of a line, or a 3,000th part of an inch.
Leuwenhoeck reckoned 20,000 vessels in a morsel of oak about one
nineteenth of an inch square.
1077. In the vascular system of a plant, we at once see the great
analogy which it bears to the veins and arteries in the human system;
but neither it, nor the cellular tissue combined, is all that is
required to perfect the production of a vegetable. There is, besides, a
tracheal system, which is composed of very minute elastic spiral tubes,
designed for the purpose of conveying air both to and from the plant.
There are also fibres, which consist of collections of these cells and
vessels closely united together. These form the root and the stem. If we
attempt to cut them transversely, we meet with difficulty, because we
have to force our way across the tubes, and break them; but if we slit
the wood lengthwise, the vessels are separated without breaking. The
layers of wood, which appear in the stem or branch of a tree cut
transversely, consist of different zones of fibres, each the produce of
one year's growth, and separated by a coat of cellular tissue, without
which they could not be well distinguished. Besides all these, there is
the cuticle, which extends over every part of the plant, and covers the
bark with three distinct coats. The _liber_, or inner bark, is said to
be formed of hollow tubes, which convey the sap downwards to increase
the solid diameter of the tree.
1078. THE ROOT AND THE STEM NOW DEMAND A SLIGHT NOTICE. The former is
designed, not only to support the plant by fixing it in the soil, but
also to fulfil the functions of a channel for the conveyance of
nourishment: it is therefore furnished with pores, or spongioles, as
they are called, from their resemblance to a sponge, to suck up whatever
comes within its reach. It is found in a variety of forms, and hence its
adaptation to a great diversity of soils and circumstances. We have
heard of a willow-tree being dug up and its head planted where its roots
were, and these suffered to spread out in the air like naked branches.
In course of time, the roots became branches, and the branches roots, or
rather, roots rose from the branches beneath the ground, and branches
shot from the roots above. Some roots last one year, others two, and
others, like the shrubs and trees which they produce, have an indefinite
period of existence; but they all consist of a collection of fibres,
composed of vascular and cellular tissue, without tracheae, or
breathing-vessels. The stem is the grand distributor of the nourishment
taken up by the roots, to the several parts of the plant. The seat of
its vitality is said to be in the point or spot called the neck, which
separates the stem from the root. If the root of a young plant be cut
off, it will shoot out afresh; if even the stem be taken away, it will
be renewed; but if this part be injured, the plant will assuredly die.
1079. IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PLAN OF THIS WORK, special notices of
culinary vegetables will accompany the various recipes in which they are
spoken of; but here we cannot resist the opportunity of declaring it as
our conviction, that he or she who introduces a useful or an ornamental
plant into our island, ought justly to be considered, to a large extent,
a benefactor to the country. No one can calculate the benefits which may
spring from this very vegetable, after its qualities have become
thoroughly known. If viewed in no other light, it is pleasing to
consider it as bestowing upon us a share of the blessings of other
climates, and enabling us to participate in the luxury which a more
genial sun has produced.
RECIPES.
CHAPTER XXV.
BOILED ARTICHOKES.
1080. INGREDIENTS.--To each 1/2 gallon of water, allow 1 heaped
tablespoonful of salt, a piece of soda the size of a shilling;
artichokes.
[Illustration: ARTICHOKES.]
_Mode_.--Wash the artichokes well in several waters; see that no insects
remain about them, and trim away the leaves at the bottom. Cut off the
stems and put them into _boiling_ water, to which have been added salt
and soda in the above proportion. Keep the saucepan uncovered, and let
them boil quickly until tender; ascertain when they are done by
thrusting a fork in them, or by trying if the leaves can be easily
removed. Take them out, let them drain for a minute or two, and serve in
a napkin, or with a little white sauce poured over. A tureen of melted
butter should accompany them. This vegetable, unlike any other, is
considered better for being gathered two or three days; but they must be
well soaked and washed previous to dressing.
_Time_.--20 to 25 minutes, after the water boils.
_Sufficient_,--a dish of 5 or 6 for 4 persons.
_Seasonable_ from July to the beginning of September.
[Illustration: CARDOON ARTICHOKE.]
THE COMPOSITAE, OR COMPOSITE FLOWERS.--This family is so
extensive, as to contain nearly a twelfth part of the whole of
the vegetable kingdom. It embraces about 9,000 species,
distributed over almost every country; and new discoveries are
constantly being made and added to the number. Towards the poles
their numbers diminish, and slightly, also, towards the equator;
but they abound in the tropical and sub-tropical islands, and in
the tracts of continent not far from the sea-shore. Among
esculent vegetables, the Lettuce, Salsify, Scorzonera, Cardoon,
and Artichoke belong to the family.
FRIED ARTICHOKES.
(Entremets, or Small Dish, to be served with the Second Course.)
1081. INGREDIENTS.--5 or 6 artichokes, salt and water: for the
batter,--1/4 lb. of flour, a little salt, the yolk of 1 egg, milk.
_Mode_.--Trim and boil the artichokes by recipe No. 1080, and rub them
over with lemon-juice, to keep them white. When they are quite tender,
take them up, remove the chokes, and divide the bottoms; dip each piece
into batter, fry them in hot lard or dripping, and garnish the dish with
crisped parsley. Serve with plain melted butter.
_Time_.--20 minutes to boil the artichokes, 5 to 7 minutes to fry them.
_Sufficient_,--5 or 6 for 4 or 5 persons.
_Seasonable_ from July to the beginning of September.
A FRENCH MODE OF COOKING ARTICHOKES.
1082. INGREDIENTS.--5 or 6 artichokes; to each 1/2 gallon of water allow
1 heaped tablespoonful of salt, 1/2 teaspoonful of pepper, 1 bunch of
savoury herbs, 2 oz. of butter.
_Mode_.--Cut the ends of the leaves, as also the stems; put the
artichokes into boiling water, with the above proportion of salt,
pepper, herbs, and butter; let them boil quickly until tender, keeping
the lid of the saucepan off, and when the leaves come out easily, they
are cooked enough. To keep them a beautiful green, put a large piece of
cinder into a muslin bag, and let it boil with them. Serve with plain
melted butter.
_Time_.--20 to 25 minutes.
_Sufficient_,--5 or 6 sufficient for 4 or 5 persons.
_Seasonable_ from July to the beginning of September.
ARTICHOKES A L'ITALIENNE.
1083. INGREDIENTS.--4 or 6 artichokes, salt and butter, about 1/2 pint
of good gravy.
_Mode_.--Trim and cut the artichokes into quarters, and boil them until
tender in water mixed with a little salt and butter. When done, drain
them well, and lay them all round the dish, with the leaves outside.
Have ready some good gravy, highly flavoured with mushrooms; reduce it
until quite thick, and pour it round the artichokes, and serve.
_Time_.--20 to 25 minutes to boil the artichokes.
_Sufficient_ for one side-dish.
_Seasonable_ from July to the beginning of September.
CONSTITUENT PROPERTIES OF THE ARTICHOKE.--According to the
analysis of Braconnet, the constituent elements of an artichoke
are,--starch 30, albumen 10, uncrystallizable sugar 148, gum 12,
fixed oil 1, woody fibre 12, inorganic matter 27, and water 770.
BOILED JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES.
1084. INGREDIENTS.--To each 1 gallon of water allow 1 heaped
tablespoonful of salt; artichokes.
_Mode_.--Wash, peel, and shape the artichokes in a round or oval form,
and put them into a saucepan with sufficient cold water to cover them,
salted in the above proportion. Let them boil gently until tender; take
them up, drain them, and serve them in a napkin, or plain, whichever
mode is preferred; send to table with them a tureen of melted butter or
cream sauce, a little of which may be poured over the artichokes when
they are _not_ served in a napkin.
[Illustration: JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES.]
_Time_.--About 20 minutes after the water boils.
_Average cost_, 2d. per lb.
_Sufficient_,--10 for a dish for 6 persons.
_Seasonable_ from September to June.
USES OF THE JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE.--This being a tuberous-rooted
plant, with leafy stems from four to six feet high, it is
alleged that its tops will afford as much fodder per acre as a
crop of oats, or more, and its roots half as many tubers as an
ordinary crop of potatoes. The tubers, being abundant in the
market-gardens, are to be had at little more than the price of
potatoes. The fibres of the stems may be separated by
maceration, and manufactured into cordage or cloth; and this is
said to be done in some parts of the north and west of France,
as about Hagenau, where this plant, on the poor sandy soils, is
an object of field culture.
MASHED JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES.
1085. INGREDIENTS.--To each 1 gallon of water allow 1 oz. of salt; 15 or
16 artichokes, 1 oz. butter, pepper and salt to taste.
_Mode_.--Boil the artichokes as in the preceding recipe until tender;
drain and press the water from them, and beat them up with a fork. When
thoroughly mashed and free from lumps, put them into a saucepan with the
butter and a seasoning of white pepper and salt; keep stirring over the
fire until the artichokes are quite hot, and serve.
_Time_.--About 20 minutes. _Average cost_, 2d. per lb.
_Sufficient_ for 6 or 7 persons.
_Seasonable_ from September to June.
JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES WITH WHITE SAUCE.
(Entremets, or to be served with the Second Course as a Side-dish.)
1086. INGREDIENTS.--12 to 15 artichokes, 12 to 15 Brussels sprouts, 1/2
pint of white sauce, No. 538.
_Mode_.--Peel and cut the artichokes in the shape of a pear; cut a piece
off the bottom of each, that they may stand upright in the dish, and
boil them in salt and water until tender. Have ready 1/2 pint of white
sauce, made by recipe No. 538; dish the artichokes, pour over them the
sauce, and place between each a fine Brussels sprout: these should be
boiled separately, and not with the artichokes.
_Time_.--About 20 minutes. _Average cost_, 2d. per lb.
_Sufficient_ for 6 or 7 persons.
_Seasonable_ from September to June.
THE JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE.--This plant is well known, being, for
its tubers, cultivated not only as a garden vegetable, but also
as an agricultural crop. By many it is much esteemed as an
esculent, when cooked in various ways; and the domesticated
animals eat both the fresh foliage, and the tubers with great
relish. By some, they are not only considered nourishing, but
even fattening.
BOILED ASPARAGUS.
1087. INGREDIENTS.--To each 1/2 gallon of water allow 1 heaped
tablespoonful of salt; asparagus.
[Illustration: ASPARAGUS ON TOAST. ASPARAGUS TONGS.]
_Mode_.--Asparagus should be dressed as soon as possible after it is
cut, although it may be kept for a day or two by putting the stalks into
cold water; yet, to be good, like every other vegetable, it cannot be
cooked too fresh. Scrape the white part of the stems, _beginning_ from
the _head_, and throw them into cold water; then tie them into bundles
of about 20 each, keeping the heads all one way, and cut the stalks
evenly, that they may all be the same length; put them into _boiling_
water, with salt in the above proportion; keep them boiling quickly
until tender, with the saucepan uncovered. When the asparagus is done,
dish it upon toast, which should be dipped in the water it was cooked
in, and leave the white ends outwards each war, with the points meeting
in the middle. Serve with a tureen of melted butter.
_Time_.--15 to 18 minutes after the water boils.
_Average cost_, in full season, 2s. 6d. the 100 heads.
_Sufficient_.--Allow about 50 heads for 4 or 5 persons.
_Seasonable_.--May be had, forced, from January but cheapest in May,
June, and July.
[Illustration: ASPARAGUS.]
ASPARAGUS.--This plant belongs to the variously-featured family
of the order _Liliaceae_, which, in the temperate regions of
both hemispheres, are most abundant, and, between the tropics,
gigantic in size and arborescent in form. Asparagus is a native
of Great Britain, and is found on various parts of the seacoast,
and in the fens of Lincolnshire. At Kynarve Cove, in Cornwall,
there is an island called "Asparagus Island," from the abundance
in which it is there found. The uses to which the young shoots
are applied, and the manure in which they are cultivated in
order to bring them to the highest state of excellence, have
been a study with many kitchen-gardeners.
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