Peat

“ The "ripest," most perfectly formed peat, that in which the peaty decomposition has reached its last stage,—which, in Germany, is termed pitchy-peat or fat peat, (Pechtorf, Specktorf) —is dark-brown or black in color, and comparatively heavy and dense. When moist, it is firm, sticky and coherent almost like clay, may be cut and moulded to any shape. ”

“ Only, of course, in the bogs the children can work, as well as the men and women, and that helps. Indeed, we saw them many times—little boys and girls who should have been at school or running free, gaining health and strength for the hard years to come, tugging at the heavy, water-soaked blocks of peat, and laying them out in the sun to dry. It takes a month of sun to dry the peat; in wet weather it won't dry at all, and so isn't salable. ”

“ Peat has a remarkable power of absorbing water. Fill an egg-cup with peat, packing it as tightly as you possibly can, and then put it under water and leave for some days. The peat becomes very wet and swells considerably, overflowing the cup just like the clay did on p. 12. After long and heavy rains peat in bogs swells up so much that it may become dangerous; if the bog is on the side of a hill, the peat may overflow and run down the hill like a river, carrying everything before it. ”

“ Peat is formed in shallow water or in bogs, by the growth of plants which may be called bog plants, and which belong to a peculiar group of vegetables composed essentially of woody tissue and living either in water or above water, according to local circumstances. The species of plants forming peat in our time do not thrive out of the bogs, neither do land plants invade the bogs and contribute by their remains to the composition of peat. ”

“ It is well known that peat is used as a fuel by many people, especially the peasantry of the old countries. If peat is pressed to a sufficient degree of hardness it burns in a manner not unlike some forms of coal. Peat is a vegetable formation and has been formed by the rank growth of various kinds of vegetation in swampy places. ”

“ The nature of the vegetation that flourishes in a bog, has much effect on the character of the peat. The peats chiefly derived from mosses that have grown in the full sunlight, have a yellowish-red color in their upper layers, which usually becomes darker as we go down, running through all shades of brown until at a considerable depth it is black. Peats produced principally from grasses are grayish in appearance at the surface, being full of silvery fibres—the skeletons of the blades of grasses and sedges, while below they are commonly black. ”

“ One of the curious facts about peat is that though a peat-moss is one of the worst natural soils, yet broken-up and dried peat is excellent for Rhododendrons, for Orchids in stoves and greenhouses, and a great many other plants. ”

“ Wet peat is, indeed, worked with less expenditure of power; but the moulded peats are then so soft as to require much care in the handling, and must be spread out in single courses, as they will not bear to be placed one upon another. ”

“ The peat is stirred and forced through the meshes of the sieve by four arms of a shaft that revolves 20 times per minute, the arms carrying at their extremities stiff vertical brooms, which rub the inside of the sieve. ”

“ A woman can lay up 12,000 peats daily—the number lifted by 5 men—and as it requires about a month of good weather to give each course time (two days) to dry, she is able to pile for 30 gangs of workmen. ”

“ They thrive in good fibrous peat chopped up rather fine and mixed with a liberal quantity of silver sand. Careful watering is essential, for they suffer severely if kept either too wet or too dry for any considerable period. ”

“ If you have noticed, the colors then are fresh and vivid from the light behind the clouds, though a faint mist makes them more elusive than the colors of broad day. In the sweet peas the same airy, translucent color is repeated—the wan white, the sober purple blending into lavender, the rose in infinite variety. ”

“ Stumps of large oaks, as well as roots of hazel and sallow, are to be seen at various points on the foreshore, where the overlying alluvium and peat have been cleared away by the sea. But the oak-stumps seem to be rooted on a soil resting directly on solid rock; they do not appear to be underlain by estuarine deposits, or by lower submerged forests. ”

“ But, if one wishes peas, pure and simple, in their own flavor,—a flavor chosen out of the whole vegetable realm, and not repeated in any other growing thing,—let him not, let her not, audaciously introduce any rival flavor. Peas are good; cream is good; peas and cream are good,—each in its own severalty. But let each one stand in its own name. Do not call peas and cream, peas. One’s tenderest culinary susceptibility is touched, to be asked if he will take some green peas, and then to find himself eating peas and cream! ”

“ As the flowers droop beneath the foliage, they are just what we want for the roof. Nothing can surpass the beauty of their lovely pendent blossoms. The drainage should be first-rate, as it requires an abundant supply of water when growing. The soil should consist of good fibrous peat, mixed with a little loam and plenty of sand. The plants will receive an immense amount of benefit from a partial shade in hot weather. ”

“ For each quart of peel add 3 pints of cold water. Boil ten minutes and pour off the water. Repeat six or eight times or until as much of the bitter flavor is removed as is desired. Dry peel between folds of cloth, pressing gently. ”

“ These same trees may have grown continuously above tide-marks during several successive stages, until at last the upward creeping water rose sufficiently to reach this part of the forest. The large well-grown oaks seen in Mount’s Bay and various other places are, as far as I have seen, all rooted on [Pg 119] ancient gravels, solid rock, or boulder clay, not on beds of silt.
We cannot speak confidently as to the time needed to form each thin layer of vegetable soil, marsh peat, or estuarine silt. ”

“ Then peaches, and melons;—and there are certain pears, too, that taste like heaven. One of my favourite daydreams for the long afternoon of life is to live alone, a formal, greedy, selfish old gentleman, in a square house, say in Devonshire, with a square garden, whose walls are covered with apricots and figs and peaches: and there are precious pears, too, of my own planting, on espaliers along the paths. I shall walk out with a gold-headed cane in the autumn sunshine, and just at the right moment I shall pick another pear. ”

“ And now we have come hither, what painter can draw a landskip more charming and beautiful to the eye, than an old Newington peach-tree laden with fruit in August, when the sun has first begun to paint one side of the fruit with such soft and tempting colours? The apricot, the pear, the cherry and plum, when they appear in plenty as they ought, present themselves to the eye at the time of ripening in very inviting blushes. ”

“ Peachey's Studio, in Rathbone-place, is like stepping into some garden of Fairy Land, where flowers of all seasons, and fruits of every clime present themselves at once to the eye in perennial bloom. The rose is there in all its varieties, the lily, the drooping fuchsia, the accasia, the gorgeous tulip, the dahlia, the Victoria Regia in all its stages of development, bud, blossom, flower. Grapes, too, that would have moved the jolly god to press them within his ruddy lips, peaches, nectarines, currants, strawberries, and crowning pine apples, in one rare trophy, worthy the study of a Lance. ”

“ You recall your delight in conversing with the nurseryman, and looking at his illustrated catalogues, where all the pears are drawn perfect in form, and of extra size, and at that exact moment between ripeness and decay which it is so impossible to hit in practice. Fruit cannot be raised on this earth to taste as you imagine those pears would taste. For years you have this pleasure, unalloyed by any disenchanting reality. How you watch the tender twigs in spring, and the freshly forming bark, hovering about the healthy growing tree with your pruning-knife many a sunny morning! ”

“ The third new word you must know the meaning of, is PETALS. Nearly every flower has petals. They are the beautiful coloured leaves of the flower that are within the calyx. It is these lovely petals, pink in the rose, yellow in the buttercup, red in the poppy, and blue in the forget-me-not, that most of us mean when we talk of flowers, and it is these soft, silky petals which attract us, and not us only, but the birds and the bees and the butterflies, which all visit the gay flowers. These petals are among the most beautiful things in this wonderful world. ”

“ To me it is rather the apple that is masculine, while the pear is extravagantly and deliciously feminine. In its exquisitely golden-toned skin, which yet is of such firm texture, in the melting sweetness of its flesh, in its vaguely penetrating fragrance, in its subtle and ravishing and various curves, even, if you will, in the tantalising uncertainty as to the state of its heart, the pear is surely a fruit perfectly endowed with the qualities which fit it to be regarded as conventionally a feminine symbol. ”

“ In a good peach, the flesh is firm, the skin thin, of a deep bright colour next the sun and of a yellowish green next to the wall; the pulp is yellowish, full of highly-flavoured juice, the fleshy part thick, and the stone small. Too much down is a sign of inferior quality. This fruit is much used at the dessert, and makes a delicious preserve.
PEARS A L'ALLEMANDE. 1470. INGREDIENTS.—6 to 8 pears, water, sugar, 2 oz. of butter, the yolk of an egg, 1/2 oz. ”

“ This is a doubtful conjecture, though without doubt the variety is of very ancient origin. Fruit small, globular-obtuse, yellowish-green, dull brown where exposed to the sun and profusely speckled with gray russet; flesh greenish-white, tender, melting, somewhat gritty at the core, juicy, and of a rich flavor; a dessert pear of first quality; Oct. Tree vigorous, prolific, forms a handsome standard and succeeds on either quince or pear. ”

“ But not for me the Royal Pearls to bind about my hair,
"Pearls were too passionless," you said, for one like me to wear,
I must have all the splendour, all the jewels warm as wine,
But pearls so pale and cold were meant for other flesh than mine. ”

“ I hold, then, in my hand, a peanut. And now who will tell me, what is the peanut? A very simple question—who will answer? 'Something good to eat,' says the little girl. Yes, 'something good to eat,' but would it not be better to say simply that the peanut is an edible? I think so, yes. The peanut, then, is—an edible—now, all together, an edible!
"To what kingdom does the peanut belong? The animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdom? A very easy question. Come, let us have prompt answers. 'The animal kingdom,' does the little boy say? Oh, no! The peanut does not belong to the animal kingdom! ”

“ At length it rewards your care by producing two or three pears, which you cut up and divide in the family, declaring the flavor of the bit you eat to be something extraordinary. The next year, the little tree blossoms full, and sets well; and in the autumn has on its slender, drooping limbs half a bushel of fruit, daily growing more delicious in the sun. ”

“ The grass was quite dazzling when I first came here, and the green is a bad colour for the eyes, after the nice quiet brown we have been accustomed to, but green peas agree remarkably well with me, and sometimes I give a little passing thought to you, when I am packing up a great forkfull of them, and again when the children bring me in immense nosegays of mignonette, sweet peas, jessamine, which are to be put out at night because they smell so very sweet. ”

“ These four or five sallow, bearded, low-browed peasants in gray frocks and high boots, who are munching their black bread and garlic in the shade of yonder tree, instead of chattering and laughing like their Italian neighbors of the valley, are silent as statues. ”

“ In the parochial garden the pea is one to tease us always with its might-be and might-have-been. If peas are to grow beyond “the kid’s lip, the stag’s antler,” they require the moral support of brush, and brush is something a minister’s family, aided only by a decrepit gardener, cannot always supply. Unsupported by brush, our fair peas lie along the ground, an ever-present disappointment.
Two vegetables have always haunted my mother’s aspirations, in vain. ”

“ And the word was so used in and after Shakespeare's time, as by Ben Jonson—
"A pill as small as a pease."—Magnetic Lady.
The Squash is the young Pea, before the Peas are formed in it, and the Peascod is the ripe shell of the Pea before it is shelled. [202:1] The garden Pea (Pisum sativum) is the cultivated form of a plant found in the South of Europe, but very much altered by cultivation. It was probably not introduced into England as a garden vegetable long before [203] Shakespeare's time. ”

“ The hedge of Sweet Peas is for the moment in beauty. Sweet Peas go off too quickly in our light warm soil, so we try to prolong their blooming to the latest limit by cutting off their pods as fast as they appear. ”

“ In the centre of the pea, a luxurious solitude, it performs a grub’s duty, the one and only duty of eating. It gnaws the walls around and enlarges its cell, which it always fills completely with its fair round belly. ”

“ The flower is large and beautiful. The lower petal, or lip, is widely spreading and deeply 3-cleft with a fine fringed margin, and a long and slender, curving spur; the other petals are sharp-pointed, their outer margins notched; two of the calyx-parts flare like wings at either side, while the third part is erect between the upper petals; the texture is very fine, and delicate. The color is an exquisite pale lilac, the lip being slightly darker, and fading to a pure waxen white at the throat; the spur is pale pink, or nearly white. ”