MINT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 364, 26 May 1928, Page 28

MINT

WELL. YET LITTLE KNOWN Mint lakes us name from Minth. introduced fT "u ““ *, * mu odueed into England b, a. Romans. All the different varieti„ have the qualities of preventing from curdling and for this reason her. ballets recommend it to persons ve, live on milk diets. many years old?-'’ 5 QU ° aUons «. —Aprih Ram’s Little Dodoen. 1606Mintes put into milk, it neythw suiioreth the same to curde, not to hi* come thick, insomuch that laved Y curded milk, , this would brmg thi same thinne again.”—"The rmj Housewife's Handmaid. 15SS." Cultivation.—The mint bed shoau fh nil the old wood and down periodically with the shears and be dressed with three inches of veil rotted manure. Lnless this d O JI mint impoverishes its soil and in the course of time the sprigs grow smaller and smaller. The right sort of mint is about 15m high, with strong succulent stems and abundance of broad, fresh, clean green leaves that are full of the special aromatic qualities which have 'made the plant famous. Such can never be grown on soil that has become impoverished. Where mint refuses to respond to any treatment, the roots should be lifted, divided and replanted in fres’i rich soil. Many people grow this crop in old tubs or boxes which is a splendid idea, as the soil can be renewed every season. RECIPES To Make Syrup of Mint.—Take a quart of the syrup of quinces before they are full ripe, juice of mint two quarts, an ounce of red roses, steep them 24 hours in the juices, then boil it till it is half-wasted, strain out the remainder and make it into a syrup with double refined sugar.—From “The Receipt Book of John Xott,” cook to the Duke of Bolton. 1723. Mint Water.—Tike a good quantity of mint, pennyroyal and balm. Steep them in canary or the lees of it for !4 hours. Stop them up close and stir now and then. Distil them in an alembick with a quick fire, sweetening it with sugar in your receiver. Where gardens are beseiged hr slugs a good way of slaying a number at once is to place a wet bag down on the ground overnight. The next morning numbers of slugs will have collected under it and can be destroyed by’ pouring boiling water on them-