MISCELLANEOUS VEGETABLE ESCULENTS. 311 



occupies much space, the produce, under proper treat- 

 ment, is very considerable. The petioles obtained 

 from it will furnish a greater supply of material for 

 tarts than the fruit of either apple or gooseberry- 

 trees occupying an equal breadth of ground. It may, 

 therefore, be considered as a good plant for the cot- 

 tage garden, more especially as it comes into pro- 

 ductive bearing in the earliest spring, a time when 

 fresh fruit cannot be obtained. 



New plantations may be raised either by sowing 

 the seeds or parting the roots. The latter is not, 

 however, an eligible mode of culture. As in most 

 cultivated plants, the produce of a sucker is, when 

 it has to make its own root, always inferior in vege- 

 tative power to that which is originally from the 

 seed, and vigorous vegetation is the quality most 

 sought for in rhubarb, the flowering sterns should 

 be removed, except in such plants as may be wanted 

 for seed. If the seeds are sown in spring, the plants 

 will be ready for planting out in autumn, and will 

 come up strong enough for use the next spring, 

 after which the plantation will last for many years. 

 The plants of the hybrid kind require from two feet 

 and a half to three feet of space for each, and those 

 of the other species about a foot less ; but the supe- 

 rior produce of the former, under favourable circum- 

 stances, will more than compensate for the greater 

 breadth required. 



ANGELICA Angelica Jlrchangelica is occasion- 

 ally to be found native in cold and moist places of 

 Scotland ; but it is more abundant in countries farther 

 to the north, as in Lapland and Iceland. This plant 

 was formerly much more in repute than it is at pre- 

 sent. It may be inferred from its common name of 

 angelica, as well as from another name, ' The Holy 

 Ghost,' which was sometimes given to it, that super- 

 stitious virtues were imputed to it. The chief of 



