620 CATALOGUE OP CULINARY VEGETABLES. 



and pickling; comprehending rhubarb, Oxalis crenata, angelica, elecam- 

 pane, the samphire, caper ; and the Indian-cress, radish, kidney-bean, onion, 

 red cabbage, &c., included in other sections; and among fruits before given, 

 the cucumber, love-apple, egg-plant, capsicum, &c. 



Aromaceous esculents, syn. sweet herbs; comprehending thyme, sage, 

 clary mint, marjoram, savory, basil, tansy, and some of those in other sections. 



Fungaceous esculents; comprehending the mushroom, truffle, and morel. 



II. HERBS ; plants used for their fragrance, for medicinal purposes, or as poisons 



for vermin. 



Odoraceous herbs, syn. fragrant herbs, plants used in domestic distillation ; 

 comprehending lavender, rosemary, peppermint, and others included in 

 preceding sections. 



Medicaceous herbs, syn. medicinal herbs, plants used in domestic medi- 

 cine ; comprehending chamomile, hyssop, wormwood, horehound, balm, rue, 

 liquorice, blessed thistle, blue melUot, and some others. 



Toxicaceous herbs, plants used in gardens for subduing or destroying- 

 insects ; comprehending the tobacco, white hellebore, foxglove, &c. 



1366. Propagation and seed-saving. The greater number of culinary 

 vegetables are annuals, or biennials, which are propagated by seeds ; but a few 

 are perennials or shrubby, and these are increased by division of the root, or 

 by cuttings or layers. The seeds are for the most part purchased annually 

 from the seedsman, whose business it is to procure from all quarters the 

 best kinds, and have them grown for him by a particular class of cultivators 

 known as seed-growers. The more select varieties are frequently grown 

 by private gardeners for their own use ; but this can only be done to a 

 limited extent, on account of the liability of varieties of the same species or 

 race, as of different kinds of cabbage or turnip, to become hybridised by 

 proximity, and by their flowering at the same time. The care and labour, 

 also, which are required for saving seeds on a small scale, is so disproportion- 

 ate to the produce, that it would render the seeds much more expensive 

 than if they were purchased ; and hence the practice is seldom resorted to, 

 except in the following cases : to preserve a valuable variety, which 

 could not with certainty be purchased true ; and to grow a large quantity 

 of only one or two kinds for the sake of selling to, or exchanging with, the 

 seedsman, for small quantities of the different kinds which may be wanted. 



1367. The selection of varieties is an important part of the gardener's care, 

 and one of more difficulty than in the case of fruit trees ; because in culinary 

 vegetables the kinds are continually changing, from the influence of soil, 

 culture, neglect, fashion, &c. ; so that a sort of pea, onion, broccoli, or cab- 

 bage, which is esteemed the best at one time, may in the course of a few 

 years be almost forgotten. The number of synonymes of varieties is also 

 very great, and though these were settled in most cases by the Horti- 

 cultural Society some years ago, yet from the frequent introduction of new 

 sorts the task would require to be undertaken almost yearly. In general, 

 dwarf-growing varieties come soonest to maturity, and, consequently, they 

 remain less time on the ground ; they also resist cold and drought better, 

 from their leaves lying close on the surface of the ground; and, for these 

 reasons, are preferable to tall-growing varieties. We shall, with the 

 assistance of several good practical gardeners, give a selection of the 

 best varieties in culture at the present time, recommending the amateur 



