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TJic Country Gentlcmmis Magazine 



nothing of strictly sea-side origin, excepting 

 some kinds of the wild brambles or black 

 berries, which grow almost as well, and fruit 

 as abundantly among briars and sloe-thorns, 

 on rocky shores, as they do on inland 

 banks or in field hedges; and all of which 

 deserve much more cultural care than has 

 yet been anywhere bestowed upon them. 

 But it would be of immense benefit to many, 

 were means taken through local horticultural 

 societies, or otherwise, to ascertain what 

 varieties of our hardy fruits were most suitable 

 for growing in sea-side localities, and espe- 

 cially in the predominating descriptions of 

 sea-side soils ; where, for instance, some kinds 

 of strawberries will thrive well, while others 

 will scarcely exist. And the same remark is 

 applicable, in a somewhat modified degree, 

 to gooseberries, currants, apples, pears, and 

 stone fruits. 



Among culinary vegetables, the cabbage 

 family, beet, sea-kale, and asparagus, are in 

 their original state strictly sea-side inhabiting 

 plants, and their different varieties should 

 consequently be fully represented at all coast 

 horticultural shows. The two last are no 

 doubt unfit for table use in autumn, but even 

 then their good cultivation might be shewn 

 by the appearance of full-grown plants. 

 Few articles, even at a flower show, will sur- 

 pass in beauty and elegance fine stalks of 

 asparagus, loaded with their scarlet berries ; 

 and, were prizes offered for these, we might soon 

 see considerably improved varieties of this 

 most valuable ornamental as well as culinary 

 plant in general cultivation ; for its great 

 diversity of growth is most marked when the 

 plants have attained to full size, and not at 

 the period of its usefulness when the young 

 ender shoots shew almost nothing in their 

 appearance, whereby one variety or sub-variety 

 can be distinguished from another. In 

 addition to the above-named, there are several 

 really useful sea-side vegetables which have 

 been almost entirely neglected by British 

 cultivators, notwithstanding that in their 

 native localities they have been eagerly sought 

 after and highly appreciated. First among 

 these stands that most excellent of pickle and 

 salad plants, the true samphire (Crithmum 



maritimum), which might be grown to as great 

 perfection in a neat garden rockery as it 

 naturally does on the dizzy sea-cliffs, where — 



" Halfway clown 

 Hangs one who gathers samphire ; dreadful trade." 



Then there is the golden samphire (Lim- 

 barda Crithmoides), which is used in a similar 

 manner with the last, and is so essentially 

 marine as to be occasionally found in situa- 

 tions where it is covered by sea-tides. 

 Next, the marsh samphire (Salicornia her- 

 bacea), which is a common inhabitant of 

 salt marshes, and is also used like the last two. 

 The wild sea-beet (Beta maritima), makes 

 a good salad, and is an excellent substitute 

 for spinach, as is also the sea-orache (Atriplex 

 littoralis) which is common on most of our sea 

 coasts. The scurvygrass(Cochlearia officinalis), 

 and the star of the earth (plantago coronopus), 

 form more delicate and tender salads when 

 cultivated, than when gathered on exposed 

 coasts, and are frequently grown in some 

 continental countries for this purpose. The 

 seeds of the sea pea (Lathyrus pisiformis), a 

 rather pretty perennial, have been used as 

 substitutes for garden peas, and might be 

 similarly improved under cultivation. And 

 the sea lovage (Ligusticum scoticum), like the 

 garden lovage, is used as an ingredient in 

 salads and as a pot herb. Prizes might also 

 be offered for the best cultivated plants of that 

 essentially sea-side plant the true Caper, which, 

 when grown in seaward localities, is much 

 hardier than is generally believed ; and for 

 that remarkably hardy variety of it which 

 grows naturally on the rocky shores of the 

 Crimea, where " once in some few years it 

 happens that there comes a fortnight or so of 

 Russian cold, of such a degree that if a man 

 touches metal with an uncovered hand the 

 skin adheres." 



Sea-side plants, such as the samphires 

 before mentioned, and the edible sea-weeds, 

 and even home-grown caper buds, in a 

 manufactured or prepared state, would form 

 excellent adjuncts at horticultural shows 

 in coast localities, as would also herbariums 

 of coast plants and marine algje, more espe- 

 cially the latter, the preparation and preserva- 

 tion of which would not only form a delight- 



