What Shall We Do Now?: Five Hundred Games and Pastimes Part 36

1 lb. raw sugar.

1/2 lb. b.u.t.ter.

2 small tablespoonfuls of syrup.

The juice of half a lemon.

Half a teaspoonful of powdered ginger.

Melt the b.u.t.ter in a saucepan, and then add the sugar, syrup, and ginger. Stir continually, adding a little lemon juice every now and then. Boil for ten minutes, and then test in cold water.

Two ounces of blanched and split almonds can be added to the above.

The almonds should either be mixed with the toffee just before taking it off the fire, or else a well-b.u.t.tered dish should be lined with them and the toffee poured over.

To blanch almonds, put them in a bowl and cover them with boiling water. Put a saucer over the bowl to keep the steam in, and leave for about three minutes. Then take out the almonds one by one and rub off their brown skins between your fingers.

Everton Toffee

1 lb. brown sugar.

1 small cup of water.

1/2 lb. of b.u.t.ter.

Boil the water and sugar together very gently until the sugar is melted. Then add the b.u.t.ter and boil all together for half an hour.

Mola.s.ses Candy

1/2 lb. mola.s.ses.

1/2 lb. brown sugar.

2 oz. b.u.t.ter.

Boil all together for half an hour.

Nut Candy

1 pint of chopped nuts.

1/2 lb. brown sugar.

3 oz. b.u.t.ter.

Juice of one lemon.

Tablespoonful of water.

Boil everything, except the nuts, for twenty minutes, stirring all the time. Test, and if done, add the nuts. Stir them in thoroughly and pour off into a dish.

Nut Candy (_another way_)

1 lb. brown sugar.

6 oz. b.u.t.ter.

3 oz. chopped nuts.

Melt the b.u.t.ter in a saucepan, then add the sugar. Boil from ten to fifteen minutes and then add the nuts. Walnuts, Brazil nuts, almonds, or peanuts (which have been baked) may be used.

Peppermint Candy

1 lb. syrup.

2 oz. b.u.t.ter.

1 small teaspoonful of essence of peppermint.

Boil the b.u.t.ter and syrup very gently until the mixture hardens when tested in water. Add the peppermint and pour into well-b.u.t.tered dishes.

Stuffed Dates, etc.

Very dainty and good sweets can be made without cooking at all. All that is necessary is to have a certain amount of cream with which to stuff or surround stoned dates, cherries, and French plums, or walnuts and almonds.

The cream is made in this way. Put the white of an egg and one tablespoonful of water into a bowl, and into this stir gradually 1 lb.

of confectioner's sugar (confectioner's sugar or "icing" is the only kind that will do), working it very smooth with a spoon. This will make a stiff paste, which can be moulded into whatever shape you please. The cream can then be divided into different portions, and each portion flavored as you like best. A few drops of vanilla or lemon juice, a little grated cocoanut or chocolate, or some pounded almonds, make excellent flavorings. Part of it can be colored pink with cochineal, or green with spinach-coloring.

When this is done, stone some dates, French plums, or raisins, or blanch some almonds and slit them in two, or have ready a number of the dried walnuts which can be bought at any grocer's. Only the perfect halves must be used. Form some of the cream into little b.a.l.l.s and put it between two walnut halves or two almond halves, or stuff the other fruit with it. Trim all the sweets very neatly with a knife and roll them in granulated sugar. This is prettier when it has been colored pink or green, but there is no necessity to do so.

To color the sugar, mix about 1 oz. with a few drops of green or pink coloring; dry it thoroughly, and, if the grains are not quite free, put the sugar between some paper and roll it, or crush with an iron.

Another richer mixture for filling dates, etc., can be made as follows:--Mix 1/2 lb. of ground almonds with 1 oz. of ground pistachios. Beat the whites of 3 eggs to a stiff froth and add the almonds and 1/2 lb. of confectioner's sugar. Color with green. Almonds can be bought already ground.

GARDENING

Introductory

Although young America is growing more and more fond of out of doors, the lovely old occupation of gardening is less a favorite than formerly: and this is a great pity, for if one loves flowers, nothing so repays labor as gardening. Nor is it necessary to have a large tract of ground to cultivate. Indeed a tiny piece, well tended, is both more interesting and more successful. A corner of a city back-yard--even a window-box can be a source of never-failing entertainment; although of course a little plot of rich earth in one part of a lawn or country garden, lends itself to greater and more extensive plans. The important thing about growing plants is to like to do it. If you are impatient of routine and neglectful you should not be intrusted with plants any more than with animal pets, for they are both entirely dependent on your care.

It is your business, as a gardener, to know everything you can about your flowers. A gardener should be able to recognize seeds as well as seedlings; to know what treatment each flower likes best; and to exercise a special care for tender plants which need protection until there is no longer any danger of frost. The beauty of a flower depends very much upon its content. Many flowers need particular soils; some need dry soil, some moisture, some shade, and some sun; and the gardener, who is a kind of mother to the flowers, will have to remember all those things. In return, the flowers, which have a real sense of grat.i.tude to those who care for them tenderly, will do their best to grow beautiful.

It is best to begin with a few flowers and to learn all that one can about these. Annuals will scarcely ever fail if carefully sown in good soil. In making your choice, choose so that you will have flowers from spring to autumn. Perennial plants are the most satisfactory of all to grow; for once planted they need only a very little attention and increase in size each year. Bulbs produce some of the most beautiful flowers and are very easy to grow. But great care must be taken not to dig into them after their blossoms have died down.

Besides those flowers for the growing of which directions are hereafter given there are many tender ones which must be raised in frames. This is a part of gardening which can well be left until later and upon which instructions can be found in any more advanced book on horticulture.

Color in the Garden

In arranging a garden, select flowers which will keep it full of blossom from May to October, and remember when planting and sowing that some colors are more beautiful together than others. The color arrangement of a garden is always difficult, but one must learn by experience. Scarlet and crimson, crimson and blue, should not be put together, and magenta-colored flowers are never satisfactory. Whites and yellows, and whites and blues, are always suitable together, and for the rest you must please yourself.

The Use of Catalogues

A good catalogue gives ill.u.s.trations of most flowers, and in many cases its cultural directions are very helpful. As an extension of the notes that follow nothing could be more useful than two or three catalogues issued by good growers.