VEGETABLES — CRESS. 141 



apart ; as it runs quickly to seed, succession sowings 

 should be made every eight or ten days. There are sev- 

 eral varieties, but the kind in general use is the Curled, 

 which answers the purpose of garnishing as well as for 

 salads. 



CEESS— WATER.— {Nasturtium officinale.) 



This is a well-known hardy perennial aquatic plant, 

 growing abundantly along the margins of running streams, 

 ditches, and ponds, and sold, in immense quantities in our 

 markets in spring. Where it does not grow naturally, it 

 is easily introduced by planting along the margins of ponds 

 or streams, where it quickly increases, both by spreading of 

 the root and by seeding. Many a farmer, in the vicinity 

 of New York, realizes more profit from the "Water Cress- 

 es, cut from the margin of a brook running through his 

 farm, in two or three weeks in spring, than from his 

 whole year's hard labor in growing Corn, Hay, or Potatoes. 



It is usually sold in baskets containing about 3 quarts, 

 which sell, when first in market, at $1 each ; 200 or 300 

 such are carried in an ordinary wagon, so that from a sin- 

 gle load of this simple vegetable, $200 to $300 are realiz- 

 ed. The Water Cress has a particularly pfcasant pungent 

 taste, agreeable to most people in early spring. 



It is said, that when Sir Joseph Banks first arrived in 

 England after his voyage around the world, among the 

 first things he asked for were Water Cresses, well know- 

 ing their value as a purifier of the blood ; and that he af- 

 terwards presented one of the largest Water Cress grow- 



