FLORA OF TIIE*MOUNTAIN. . 279 



ESCULENT VEGETABLES. 



Of the introduced esculent, garden, or kitchen vegetables, the 

 mountain produces nearly all the ordinarily cultivated species and 

 varieties. The season for growing pot-herbs, or edible plants, is 

 short here, and also late, as the frosts of spring and fall come close 

 together. They almost all, however, grow profusely with any 

 care, and many varieties assume proportions which the same 

 plant rarely attains in the lowlands. Between the valleys of the 

 eastern and western parts of the Slate and the mountain heights, 

 knobs, and table-lands, there is a difference in the time of growth and 

 perfection of garden vegetables (this difference applying more or 

 less to the whole vegetable world) of from two to four weeks. The 

 results of forcing plants, as achieved in the east and west by hot- 

 beds, hot-houses, and protected sites, is not considered in this gene- 

 ral statement. By the use of artificial appliances, hot-beds, hot- 

 houses, and the selection of sheltered situations in the mountain 

 vegetables could be brought very much earlier to perfection, and 

 grown there with the finest qualities and proportions. This sub- 

 ject will receive more attention, in certain parts of the mountain, 

 soon, and extensive experiments will be made. 



At the present time the farmers of that district have only small 

 patches of a few yards in extent for kitchen-gardens, and cultivate 

 only such plants as will grow without much care. The amount of 

 vegetables produc.ed in many of these little gardens is quite extra- 

 ordinary, and shows that the mountain's climate and soil, with any 

 industry, are very favorable and friendly to the class of edible 

 plants. One point of advantage possessed by this region is, that 

 when the staple products of the garden have passed their season, 

 and are withered and dried in the valleys and lowlands east and 

 west, the mountain has them green and fresh, and in the highest 

 perfection. 



The following vegetables grow well on the mountain : 



BRASS ICA OLERACEA, Cabbage. This is a native of Europe, and 

 thrives here with several of its varieties or sub-species. These are 

 the "acephala," or tree-cabbage, (leaves not forming heads,) the 

 "bullata," or savoy cabbage, with finely crisped leaves, and the 

 "capitata," or York cabbage, with dense head. The variety Caulo- 

 rapa, (Kohl-Rabi,) bulked-stalked cabbage, grows finely, also variety 

 " cauliflora." 



The BRASSICA RAPA, sub-species "depressa," or common turnip, 

 grows well also. 



