RECENT CHINESE VEGETABLES. 



183 



packed closely in tubs, with thin layers of common salt scattered 

 through the mass. It soon undergoes a fermentation, which con- 

 verts it into a kind of sauerkraut called Natsiiki, which can be 

 kept all winter and drawn upon'at pleasure. There are many var- 

 ieties, the following being some of the leading ones : Hakusai, 

 Shirakiiki-na, Tojin-na, 6"a7^/^-.ya^ (see cut, p. \%6) , Mikawashhna- 

 na, Komatsu-7ia and Uguishii-na.'^ 



Pak-Choi. — {Brassica Chinensis. ) 



The Pak-Choi*, commonly called Chinese cabbage and fre- 

 quently confounded with the Pe-Tsai and apparently always (but, 

 I believe, erroneousl}'-) referred to the same species, is a vegetable 

 which never forms a head, and which appears to be normally bien- 

 nial, although it freely runs to seed the first season if left in the 

 seed-bed or grown upon dry soils. The engraving above is an 

 excellent illustration of a well grown plant. Unlike the Pe-Tsai, 

 the leaves are borne upon long and marginless stalks, and they 

 spread in all directions, like a turnip top. These leaf-stalks are 

 light colored, sometimes almost ivory white and celery-like, and are 



*The word for " greens " is spelled C/ioi and Choy, when rendered in Eng- 

 lish characters, but Mr. L. Wing, of the Chinese Consulate, New York, tells 

 me that the former spelling more nearly conforms to the Cantonain pro- 

 nunciation. 



