672 ASPARAGACEOUS ESCULENTS. 



fifty patches. With the usual routine culture, the leaves will be three feet 

 or four feet long by the middle of October, when they should be first slightly 

 tied up with pieces of matting for a few days, and afterwards closely wrap- 

 ped round with hay- bands, so as completely to exclude the light from the 

 root to about two-thirds of the length of the leaves. In three weeks the 

 interior leaves will be fit for use. On the approach of winter, they may be 

 earthed up like celery, as high as the hay-bands, to protect them from the 

 frost ; or they may be covered with litter and thatched hurdles, for that 

 purpose ; or taken up with balls, and placed close together in an open airy 

 shed. 



In taking the plants for use, remove the hay-bands and the outer leaves, and 

 shorten those which are tender and blanched to the length of eighteen inches 

 or two feet, cutting off the root. One or two plants will make a dish. Seed 

 may be saved by protecting some plants, the leaves of which have not been 

 blanched, through the winter, in the spot where they have grown ; they will 

 flower in the following July, and ripen seed in August, which will keep five 

 or six years. 



SUBSECT. V. The Rampion. 



1500. The Rampion, Campanula Rapunculus L. (Raiponce, Fr.), is a 

 campanulaceous fusiform-rooted biennial, a native of England in gravelly 

 soil, and formerly much cultivated in gardens for its roots as well as its 

 leaves. The latter are excellent, eaten raw as a salad, or boiled as spinach ; 

 and the root, which has the flavour of walnuts, is also eaten raw like a 

 radish, or mixed with salads, either raw or boiled and cold. It is always 

 propagated by seed, which is so exceedingly small, that a sixteenth part of 

 an ounce is sufficient for any garden. It will come up in a fortnight. 

 As in the case of other biennials, if sown too soon, the plants will 

 run to flower the same season. The end of May, or beginning of June, 

 is considered the best time for a main crop; but a crop to come in 

 early may be sown in March. The seeds may either be sown broadcast 

 or in drills six inches apart, and from a quarter to half an inch in 

 depth; in either case covering the seed with not more than an eighth 

 of an inch of soil. The plants may be thinned out to three or four 

 inches apart, and the soil among them should not be deeply stirred, lest the 

 roots should be encouraged to branch, which they are very apt to do, and 

 are then unfit to be sent to table. The principal point in the culture of the 

 rampion, is to sow it in a deep sandy light rich soil, which can be penetrated 

 by the roots without difficulty ; and to supply water abundantly in very dry 

 weather. The roots may be taken up as wanted from November till April, 

 when the plants will begin to run; but by burying the roots out of the 

 reach of surface heat, hi the manner of potatoes (1416), they may be kept 

 through the summer. A few plants allowed to stand the second year will 

 produce abundance of seeds, which will keep two years. 



SUBSECT. VI. Substitutes for Asparagaceous Esculents. 



1501. Substitutes for asparagaceous esculents are to be found in the follow- 

 ing plants : The Hop, Humulus Lupulus L., the young shoots of which, 

 when they have risen three or four inches from the root, are boiled in the 

 hop districts, and eaten like asparagus, to which they are considered little in- 

 ferior. The Bladder Campion, Silene inflata H. K., a perennial common on 

 sea-shores, the tender shoots of which, when not above two inches long, have 



