320 AGRICULTURE ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE 



turns into a large number of flower stalks, with pretty, pale 

 yellow flowers. 



Brussels sprouts are small cabbage heads that have 

 sprouted on the stem from buds, instead of one large head 

 at the top. 



Collard is the name given to a tall-stemmed kind of cab- 

 bage which does not form a head, but whose leaves grow all 

 along the stem and are fed to stock, and also cooked by 

 boiling for the table. It is a tall kind of "Jersey kale." 



Spinach is also a very common vegetable herb. It came to 

 Europe from Persia or Mesopotamia, where it still grows wild. 

 Unlike lettuce, it is always eaten boiled. 



The leaves of many other plants, and sometimes the en- 

 tire plants, are eaten as " greens " in different countries of the 

 world; raw, sometimes as salad, sometimes cooked. " Mus- 

 tard greens," "turnip greens/' the young plants of the 

 dandelion, various cresses, and a great number of other herbs 

 are thus used. 



STEM VEGETABLES 1 



Of vegetables of which the sterns are used for the 

 table, asparagus is probably the most widely known. 

 Various kinds of asparagus grow wild on the shores of 

 the Mediterranean. Among these is the ancestor of 

 our cultivated kind. The stems of the wild asparagus, 

 hardly as thick as a pencil, are very bitter, but yet 

 are eaten in Spain and Italy. By cultivation in very 

 rich soil the sweet, tender, thick-stemmed asparagus of 

 our markets is obtained. The sprouts we eat are the 



1 This is not strictly correct, as leaf-stalks are here included. 



