Sec. 29.] HISTORY OF GARDEN PLANTS. 4C9 



misery, starvation, and deatli to Ireland, and disappointment to a <rreat manv 

 who have lost entire crops from the potato-disease. 



Salad-2>lants have long been cultivated and eaten hy tlie ricli a.« a liixiiiv, 

 and hy tiie poor as a necessity, or rather, in many cases, more as. an airree- 

 able economic article of food. In all cities and large maiiufacturiiig iKwitu, 

 the laboring class are every year becoming greater consumers of li-ttuces, 

 radishes, and celery, and tind benefit i\\y.n their use. This kind of f.HHl is 

 grown to great perfection, and is very largely consumed in France, IJelginni, 

 and llDlhmd — more so than in this country. 



Salsifi/ is a plant that should be known more extensively tlian it is, be- 

 cause it affords an excellent article of fuud. Its roots grow like parsneps, 

 and the cultivation is similar, but tliey have quite a different flavor, and on 

 a«couiit of a real, though slight, resemblance in smell and taste to (oysters, 

 it is often called vegetable oyster-plant. 



The greatest resemblance to oysters is, when the roots, which have stood 

 all winter in the ground, are dug in the early spring, boiled and nmsheil and 

 mixed with butter, and cooked and served hot, like oyster batter-caki-s. 



(^knt is another valuable food-plant not much kiu>wn and cultivated, ex- 

 cept in market gardens in the Northern States, though it is considered nu 

 article of prime necessity at the .South, being largely used by black ami 

 white. The negroes make a very favorite dish_wiih okra and bacon, called 

 gumbo, and we have eaten gumbo in New York, but it is very rare. The 

 principal use of okra here is in soups. The seed-pods arc the ]>art useil, 

 either green or dry. They give the soup a mucilaginous ciiarach-r. Tlie 

 bark of the okra plant is very fibrous — as much so as hemp, and moro 

 tough. 



t'iweet corn (see 541), as it is now grown in a great majority of the gnitlons, 

 affords one of the cheapest and richest luxuries that America enjoys. In 

 the latitude of this city it is fit to eat in Jidy, ami continues in condition for 

 the table, with a little extra attention, till late in October. There are 

 several varieties, some of which are noted for keeping fre>h very late in the 

 season. There is no dish more univei-sally liked than sweet corn while in 

 the "-rcen or milky state, and every family wiio have the means of growing 

 it should provide for a succession of crops <luring the seasofi, so as never to 

 be without it, because no food can be produced cheaper, and none is more 

 nutritious, palatable, and wholesome. 



We mi'dit "O on to great length with this history and de-cripiion ot gar.i.u 

 plants, an'd at last should hardly know where to st^.j. without breaking off 

 abruptly ; so we do it here, to go more into particulars of gimleii eulliviition 

 of proper vegetables, plautg, fruits, and flowers. 



