RECENT CHINESE VEGETABLES. l8l 



diameter. The one illustrated on p. 179 weighed 3 lb. 6 oz. The 

 head is eaten in the same manner as ordinary cabbage, and it 

 aflFords a very excellent dish. It is somewhat milder and sweeter 

 than the cabbage. In China, I am informed, the plant is often 

 served uncooked, being shredded with sugar and vinegar. If 

 well grown, it is excellent eaten raw. 



We rarely secure heads from all the plants. In fact, in making 

 many experiments, we have only once secured what could have 

 been called a good crop, and in this instance the plants grew 

 upon a moist or even wet clay loam. A correspondent in China 

 states that the plants need to be well watered. But I am con- 

 vinced that some of our unsatisfactory crops are to be charged to 

 poor seed. There is no systematic attempt to grow the plant for 

 market, and therefore little selection is practiced in the choice of 

 plants and strains for seed-bearing ; and as the plant runs so 

 quickly to seed in dry soils, it is easy for the stock to soon dete- 

 riorate. A Japanese horticulturist, to whom I stated my difficul- 

 ties, confirmed my suspicions by saying that the grade of seeds 

 has a marked influeuce upon the crop. 



We have grown this interesting cabbage from several sources, 

 and we have found little variation in the form and type of head, 

 although the foliar and some other characters of the plants are 

 perplexingly variable to one who desires to study them with re- 

 ference to their botanical features. The Shantung Cabbage,* 

 grown from ssed furnished by the Royal Gardens at Kew, Eng- 

 land, is somewhat dwarfer, but it does not appear to differ in 

 other respects from the ordinary type. Another variety, which 

 we have obtained from New York Chinamen, is called Luon. 

 The Chinese cabbage is always distinguished from related species 

 by its very wide and winged petioles or leaf-stalks, which remind 

 one strongly of the leaf stalks of the salad beet or Swiss chard. 



Pe-Tsai is probably a native of China, although its aboriginal 

 form does not appear to be understood. It is much cultivated 



* Introduced in England in 1887. " It grows in the north of China, is 

 lettuce-shaped, and weighs from 5 to 8 lbs. . . . It is an autumn cabbage, 

 should be planted about 18 inches apart, thrives best with moisture, and in 

 Shantung is watered every day ; there the seed is sown injune."— /fdr/y Bul- 

 letin, May, tS88, 137. 



