“Without the square-paned windows, the musky earth lay under the hand of summer’s sun. Garden rows were in view, rabbits and woodchucks fenced out by a wall of stones that mounted each year as more were turned from the ground. Blooming flowers were crowding outside the barrier, begonias, love-lies-bleeding, marigolds and sunflowers, cranesbills and honesty. Later sweet peas and corn poppies would flower, and nasturtiums and youth-and-old-age. Beyond were nestled the beehives, pale apple-blossom and maple honey already stored in the bottom super. In fall the hives would tower high and the men would rob them, carrying a pan of smoke. The topmost honey would be red-black, taken by the bees from buckwheat blooms. Anton would relish the high flavor, but Ellen would find it turning her stomach, like milk when the cows had eaten wild garlic.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
1874. INGREDIENTS.--2 very young rabbits, not nearly half grown; 1-1/2 pint of milk, 1 blade of mace, 1 dessertspoonful of flour, a little salt and cayenne. _Mode_.--Mix the flour very smoothly with 4 tablespoonfuls of the milk, and when this is well mixed, add the remainder. Cut up the rabbits into joints, put them into a stewpan, with the milk and other ingredients, and simmer them _very gently_ until quite tender. Stir the contents from time to time, to keep the milk smooth and prevent it from burning. 1/2 hour will be sufficient for the cooking of this dish. _Time_.--1/2 hour. _Average cost_, from 1s. to 1s. 6d. each. _Sufficient_ for 3 or 4 meals. _Seasonable_ from September to February.
Sources: The passage is from Helga Sandburg, The wheel of earth, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Beeton, The Book of Household Management of 1861, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — plum cloth, beehive stamp.