92 SALSIFY. 



slices of from half an inch to an inch thick, with butter and 

 sugar spread between the layers. 



Some boil the stalks to a juice, which being strained 

 through a colander, will keep for years, if well spiced and 

 seasoned with sugar. 



In England, large drying houses have been erected for the 

 purpose of curing the roots of the Palmalum ; but this busi- 

 ness may be done in this country as it is done in China : by 

 the heat of the sun. After the roots have been well washed, 

 and the small fibres cut off, they are to be cut transversely 

 into pieces about two inches thick, and dried on boards, turn- 

 ing them several times a day, in order to prevent the escape 

 of the yellow juice, on which its medicinal qualities depend. 

 In four or five days they may be strung upon strings, and 

 suspended in a shady but airy and dry situation, and in two 

 months afterward they will be fit for the market. 



SALSIFY. 

 SALSIFIS ou CERCIFIS. Tragopogon porrifolius. 



THIS plant grows spontaneously in the open fields of Eng- 

 land, and is by some highly valued for its white edible root, 

 and for the young shoots rising in the spring from plants a 

 year old ; these, when gathered while green and tender, are 

 good to boil and eat in the same manner as Asparagus. 

 Some have carried their fondness for this plant so far as to 

 call it Vegetable Oyster. It requires the same kind of soil 

 and management as Carrots and Parsnips. 



The seed maybe sown at anytime in April and May, an inch 

 deep, in drills twelve inches apart. When the plants are two 

 or three inches high, they should be thinned to the distance of 

 six inches from each other, and afterward hoed. The ground 

 should be kept clean and loose round the plants, by repeated 

 hoeing ; in the autumn they will be fit for use. The roots 



