268 



A NEW VEGETABLE, 



Robin Adair, the figures are ideal, and are 

 merely intended to show some of the lead- 

 inir ri.i,nires into which the colors break in 

 diObrent varieties. To extend this variety 

 is the object of cultivation ; and when we 

 look to a bed of seedlinc[s, and find hardly 



two alike, we may set down the Pansy as 

 one of the most encouragin<r of the (lowers 

 to raise from seed; and we should like to 

 hear of private growers who can attend to 

 it, commencing industriously a tusk which 

 offers so much gratification. 



AN EXCELLENT NE^W VEGETABLE. 



BY LEVI BARTLETT, WARNER, N. II. 



To THE Editor— J9ear Sir : As the follow- 

 ing communication respecting a vegetable 

 of the cabbage family, new in this country, 

 may interest your readers, I send it for the 

 columns of The Horticulturist. 



Respectfully yours. Jos. Breck. 



Boston, yov. 10, 1840. 



J. Breck, Esq. — My Bear Sir : In a pack- 

 age of seed, I received from you last spring, 

 there was one paper marked " Couve Tou- 

 chada, a delicious vegetable." I sowed the 

 seed at the same time I did several kinds 

 of cabbage seed ; the seeds came up well, 

 but all my plants suffered badly, while in 

 the seed leaf, from the small black fly. What 

 of the several kinds escaped, were trans- 

 planted at the proper time. The " Toucha- 

 da" exhibited in its appearance no material 

 difference from common cabbages. Some- 

 time in July I wrote to you stating that fact, 

 and making inquiries of you respecting this 

 " delicious vegetable." Your answer was, 

 that " you knew nothing about it ; your 

 seedsman in London forwarded it, marked 

 as upon the paper in which I received the 

 seed." 



I suppose from that, it is a new plant in 

 this country. Since I received your letter, 

 I have seen some notice of it in the Mark 

 Lane Express of May 18, 1846. In that 

 paper, in answer to the inquiries of a cor- 

 respondent, who wishes to know the " exact 

 difl^erence between broccoli and cauliflower," 



there is a great_variety of cabbages named, 

 and among them is the " Couve troiichada 

 or Portugal Cabbage," which, I presume is 

 the kind you sent me, and it should have 

 been written tronchuda, not touchada. [This 

 is the correct continental term. — Ed.] 



I had about fifty plants ; they were set 

 about two and a half feet apart. They 

 grew very rapidly, and I soon found they 

 were too near ; in a rich soil, from four to 

 five feet distance would be near enough. 

 The leaves are very large, as also the leaf 

 stalk, and it is very white, and extends into 

 the middle of the leaf in a palmated form, 

 and gives the leaf a very unique appearance. 



In consequence of the severe drouth we 

 have had, they have not much of a head, 

 like a cabbage, (if they ever have any,) and 

 not thinking them of much value, I gave 

 many of them to my cows, before I had any 

 of them cooked, which 1 now very much 

 regret. A iew days since, I took a quanti- 

 ty of leaves to cover over some potatoes 

 that I was steaming for my hogs, and found 

 the large leaf stalks nearly the size of my 

 wrist, after being steamed, were quite soft 

 and pulp3% like asparagus. Since then I 

 have had some of the open loose heads 

 cooked, the same as cabbage, and find they 

 are most fully entitled to the appellation of 

 a " delicious vegetable.'''' And to my taste, 

 and that of my family, we prefer this " Por- 

 tugal Cabbage " to any thing of the cab- 



