c o c 



c o c 



vt-iy siiort, pcrtuaneut : stiiriua obtuse i the 

 pi-ncarpiuni is a hcart-sliaped silicic, gilibous, 

 iiiraid, eiiiarginatc, furnished with a style, two- 

 CL-1L'd, scabrous ; valves giljbous, obtuse : the 

 'Seeds about four in each cell. 



'file species cultivated js C. ylrmoracia, Horse 

 Kadish. 



It has a creeping perennial root : the leaves 

 arc very large, varying much, sometimes deeply 

 pinnatifid, scjmctimes entire, and only crenated : 

 the flowering-stem is a foot or eighteen inches 

 high, branching at top, almost naked ; the 

 iU)ivers are white, in loose panicles, coming out 

 in May. 



Culture. — The culture in this plant is readily 

 effected by planting such cuttings of the roots as 

 contain buds or eyes. Those made from the 

 tops, and which have the heads or crowns of the 

 plants to them, are the best. 'I'he offsets and 

 side shoots may likewise be employed for the 

 purpose, as is mo.-tly the case with market-gar- 

 deners. They should be about an inch or two 

 in length. As these plants require to be put 

 into the ground to a great depth, in order that 

 tliey may form long One roots, the earth should 

 either be dug over before the cuttings are placed 

 in, or trenched to the depth of fifteen or twenty 

 inches at the time, according to the method of 

 planting that is made use of. 



The soils most adapted to the growth of these 

 plants are those of the more light deep kinds ; 

 iiut tliey will succeed tolerably on almost any. 

 Where the land has been trenched over in the 

 above manner, the usual mode of planting is by 

 means of the dibble; but there is another prac- 

 tice which is sometimes followed, which is that 

 of trenching in the sets, or placing them in the 

 earth at the time it is dug over. 



In the first method, after the ground has been 

 prepared, a line is stretched across, beginning 

 at the end, and holes made to the depth of fifteen 

 or twenty inches along it, by means of a lono- 

 sharp dibble, at the distance of nine inches from 

 each other, a set or cutting being dropped into 

 each hole, and the mould closed upon il. The 

 line should then be moved forward to the distance 

 of twenty inches or two feet, and another row 

 put in in the same manner, proceeding in the 

 .same way till the whole is completed. 



In the latter the ground should be light and 

 loose, beginning at one end of the pit-ce, and 

 opening a trench two s))adcs wide, and one spade 

 deep, digging the bottom : then a row of cut- 

 lings should be set along the middle of the bot- 

 tom nine inches distant, inserting them to their 

 tops in the earth ; then digging the next trLueh 

 the same width and depth, turning the earth 

 into the first upon the row of plants, breakin<'- 



all large clods, and levelling the top. After this, 

 proceed to the second trencli, planting it in the 

 same way, pertoiniing the wliole of the woik in 

 a similar manner. 



The proper season for this w^ork is in the 

 autumn for the dryer sorts of land, and February 

 or bejrinnino; of the followinji; month for such as 

 are moist. 



In these methods of planting the ground may 

 be .•^ou'n the first year with spinach, radi.-'lu s, or 

 any slight-rooting crop, that comes off" early in 

 the summer, to allow of their being kept cLuii 

 afterwards by hoeing ; which is all the culture 

 they require. 



Sometimes the plants make such progress as 

 to have roots large enough for use in tlie eoiase 

 ot a tew months ; but if not nuich wanted, they 

 are better to remain a twelvemonth or more. 



In taking up the roots for use, the best 

 method is to open a trench two spades wide, 

 close on the side of tlie first row of plants, and 

 as deep as the stool or bottom of the roots, 

 without disturbing them ; then with a large 

 knife or sharp spade to cut off all the shoots, 

 large and small, of each stool, close and level, 

 from whence they rise, leaving the parent stools 

 in the earth, and after having taken up all the 

 plants of the first trench, proceeding to the next 

 row in the same manner, turning the earth into 

 the first, and cutting oft' all the shoots as before, 

 taking up the wfiole in the same way as wanted. 

 The remaining undisturbed stools continue to 

 send up a fresh supply of shoots in succession 

 for many years ; but after the two first years the 

 stools begin to spread at bottom, and send up 

 many snjall shoots between and in the rows ; all 

 which intervening small spawn should be annu- 

 ally drawn up in the beginning of summer, to 

 render the principal shoots large and fine. And 

 though the stools of these roots endure many 

 years, in tinie they become weak or worn out, 

 as well as the soil ; consequently in six or seven 

 years, when the shoots become weak and small, 

 a fresh plantation should be made in some other 

 place. 



These roots are much used for culinary pur- 

 poses when scraped fine. 



COCOS, a geiuis comprising a ]>lant of the 

 exotic tree kind for the stove. The Cocoa-nut 

 Tree. 



It belongs to the class and order J\forwecia 

 Ih'.randi'ta, and ranks in the natural -order of 

 Paliucc. 



The characters are : that the male flowers are 

 in the same spadix with the females : the calyx 

 is an universal, univalve spathe: spadix branch- 

 ing : the perianth three-parted, verv small : divi- 

 sions subtriquetrous, concave, and coloured: the 



