C H E N O P O D E JE. 



powerful anthelmintic properties. Similar qualities 

 are attributed to the seeds of this plant. 



Of the genus Atriplex, or Orache, there are upwards 

 of forty species, seven of which are natives of Britain. 

 Atriplex horlensis, garden orache or mountain spinach, 

 is a native of Tartary, and has been used as a pot- 

 herb. There are several varieties of the plant, more 

 or less tinged with red and purple. The seeds are 

 emetic, and also cause painful diarrhoea. Atriplex 

 halimus grows on the sea coast in the south of Europe, 

 and in this country, its silver coloured foliage adds to 

 the beauty of our shrubberies. 



Spinacia olcracea furnishes the true garden spinach. 

 There are numerous sorts of spinach, which vary in 

 the shape and size of the leaves, arid the greater or 

 less pinkiness of the seeds. The broadest and 

 thickest-leaved varities are the most esteemed. The 

 seeds are sown in spring and autumn, and grow 

 readilv in any kind of soil. The prickly sort are the 

 best tor winter crops, and the round for summer. 

 Basella rubra and cordifolia are two species of Malabar 

 night-shade which are found in the East Indies, 

 Amboyna, and Japan. They bear spinous berries of 

 a very dark red colour, which are used for staining 

 calicoes in India. The leaves are eaten as spinach 

 by the Chinese, and the plants are sometimes culti- 

 vated as culinary vegetables in the neighbourhood of 

 Paris. 



Seta vulgaris yields the culinary root, well known 

 by the name of garden beet, which is so extensively 

 used as a salad or pickle, and from which sugar is 

 sometimes prepared on a large scale. There are 

 several varieties of the plant in cultivation ; but the 

 two chief are the red or purple, and the white with 

 red bands. Those most esteemed for salad are the 

 small red and castelnaudary, while the green-topped are 

 the best adapted for yielding sugar. The larger and 

 deeper coloured the roots are the better. The seeds 

 of the beet are sown in March or April, in deep, 

 well-comminuted soil, and when two or three proper 

 leaves appear, they are thinned in such a way as to 

 allow a square foot of surface for each. By the 

 months of September or October the roots are fit for 

 use, and they are then taken up and preserved in 

 sand. Beet-root, when taken in large quantity, acts 

 as a laxative, but sometimes it proves injurious to the 

 stomach. The juice of the root and leaves causes 

 sneezing. Sugar has been obtained in very large 

 quantities from the beet-root. The plant was for- 

 merly extensively cultivated in Germany and France 

 for this purpose, and it is still reared in considerable 

 quantities. During the late wars, when the sugar 

 from the British colonies was not allowed to be 

 exported to France, the beet-root was the only source 

 from which sugar could be procured, and consequently 

 its cultivation became an object of national interest 

 and importance. The usual way in which the sugar 

 is obtained is as follows : The roots, after being 

 washed and cleaned, are sliced and grated down, 

 and afterwards bruised in successive portions of water, 

 until all the saccharine matter is dissolved. The 

 iluid is then filtered and evaporated, and ultimately 

 purified and crystallised. Besides sugar, the roots 

 contain water, fibrous matter, mucilage, starch, and 

 colouring matter. In general they yield from two to 

 five per cent, of sugar. M. Achard computed that 

 a German square mile, which is equal to sixteen 

 English square miles, would produce boet sufficient 

 to furnish sugar to the whole Prussian dominions. 



Sugar, however, cannot be advantageously obtained 

 from this source, inasmuch, as the expense" attending 

 its preparation is too great when compared with the 

 quantity produced. A considerable quantity of beet 

 sugar is, nevertheless, annually prepared in France. 

 Beet-roots, when deprived of their juice by pressure 

 and afterwards dried, may be used in place of malt 

 in brewing. The beer made from them is said to be 

 pleasant and wholesome. The leaves of the beet, 

 when reared in a rich, well manured soil, yield a 

 considerable quantity of nitre or saltpetre. 



Beta cicla, a name corrupted from Sicula, meaning 

 Sicilian beet, produces a root, not by any means so 

 large as that of the common beet. The leaves serve as a 

 substitute for spinach, and the young shoots and 

 mid rib of the leaves are eaten like asparagus. The 

 plant grows in great quantity in the south of Germany 

 and in Switzerland. A large variety has been intro- 

 duced from abroad, under the name of mangel wurzcL 

 This variety, on account of the large size of the roots, 

 is now extensively cultivated in this country. It is 

 much used for feeding cattle during the winter. In 

 cultivating this variety, more room is required than 

 in the case of the common beet, on account of the 

 size of the root and leaves. The roots are some- 

 times applied externally as a poultice to ulcers. The 

 only British species is Beta maritima, a sea beet 

 which, when boiled, is esteemed a wholesome article 

 of food. 



Most of the species of Salicornia, another genus of 

 this order, abound on the shores of the Mediterranean, 

 and two of them are natives of Britain. Salicornia 

 herbacea, the most common British species, is gathered 

 when in flower, and pickled in salt and vinegar like 

 samphire. The whole plant has a saltish taste, and 

 is eagerly eaten by cattle. Salsola kali, or prickly 

 salt-wort, is common on the sandy sea coasts of 

 Britain, and has also been used as a pickle. Salsola 

 fruiicosa, found on the shores of the southern counties 

 of England, deserves a place in gardens as being a 

 hardy evergreen. The Salicornias, Saholas, various 

 species of Atriplex and Anabasis, as well as the Cheiw- 

 podiums found in salt marshes, as well as several 

 other plants belonging to the same natural family, 

 growing in the south of Europe and north of Africa, 

 yield, when burnt, a vast quantity of the substance 

 called barilla, an impure carbonate of soda, which is 

 used in making glass and soap. The English name 

 of g/asswort, applied to Salicornia, is derived from this 

 circumstance. Salsola soda is cultivated extensively 

 in Languedoc and Spain, for the preparation of 

 barilla, which is usually exported to Italy and Sicily, 

 but it is looked .upon as inferior to the Salsola sativa 

 which grows on the Spanish shores of the Mediter- 

 ranean. The latter species supplies the Alicant or 

 Spanish barilla, which is the best that is consumed in 

 Europe. 



The production of soda depends solely on the 

 proximity of the plants to the sea, for it is from this 

 great saline reservoir that the alkaline matter is 

 derived. The same plants, when cultivated in the 

 interior and far from the shore, yield totally different 

 products. 



The maritime plants employed in the preparation 

 of soda, differ in different countries, and the quantity 

 of alkali obtained is very various. Thus, while some 

 kinds of barilla yield from twenty-five to thirty per 

 cent, of alkali, others only yield twelve or fifteen ; 

 and the coarser substance called kelp, obtained 



