SUNDRY VEGETABLES 301 



PARSLEY. Apium petroselinum. 



Parsley can be readily grown in California by the use of a 

 raised bed for fall sowing for winter use and by sowing in the early 

 spring for flat culture for summer use. The culture is like that for 

 lettuce except that the plants need wider spacing and extra care 

 has to be taken to protect the seed from drying out, as it is long 

 in germinating and can not be deeply covered. Good firming of the 

 ground after previous deep culture is desirable, and a light mulch 

 will help to retain moisture and facilitate watering without crust- 

 ing the ground. 



ROSELLE. Hibiscus subdariffa. 



This interesting plant, resembling in its growth okra or gumbo, 

 is a native of tropical Asia and Africa, and has been widely distrib- 

 uted through semi-tropical countries, where it has been found to 

 possess considerable resistance to drought and to yield very 

 acceptable food products. It has recently been introduced 

 in California the seed having been distributed by the 

 State University. The plant is very ornamental, the dark 

 red stems and pods showing through the rather scant dark 

 green foliage. The flowers are of a yellowish white with 

 a dark red center, two inches across and lasting only an 

 hour or so during fair weather. The juice extracted from the fleshy 

 calyces or husks is used with water to make an acidulous cooling 

 drink, but is of most value in jelly-making. The mucilaginous prop- 

 erties of the juice render the "setting" of the jelly certain, with a 

 reasonable amount of cooking. The dark cherry color of the jelly 

 and the sprightly acid make it nearly if not equal to currant jelly. 

 Irrigated plants produce a more highly colored fruit, but come into 

 bearing later. Unirrigated plants put their strength into fruit, but 

 the irrigated plants start lateral branches, which ultimately produce 

 several pods, while the unirrigated plants have but one pod. As 

 the plant will endure quite heated and arid situations, it promises to 

 be of much value for jelly-making where currants do not thrive. 

 The plant should be given ordinary garden culture, sowing the seed 

 when danger of frost is over. Enough of the pods should be al- 

 lowed to ripen to yield seed for the following year. 



SEA KALE. Crambe maritima. 



This plant is but little grown in California, and then only by 

 professional gardeners. It requires long use of the ground and con- 



