AMEEICAN HOME GARDEN. 71 



while a globe that grows above ground is seldom of first-rate 

 quality. It is a good form, but not the standard. 



Receding from the globe, we find the " heart" form, the 

 lower portion of the globe elongated, and tapering to a strong, 

 deep root, Fig. 80 e, p. 186. The heaviest croppers are mostly 

 of this form ; but its usually large top and coarse habit, togeth- 

 er with the difficulty of gathering, in respect to which it is as 

 bad or worse than the globe, render it undesirable. 



The egg form is desirable as an improvement upon the heart- 

 shaped in roots that have not yet been brought to better forms. 

 In ruta-baga the obtuse egg form, Fig. 80 &, p. 186, is at present 

 perhaps the best that is found in general cultivation, although 

 occasionally very superior single roots are met with which are 

 nearly globular in form, and without the habit of wholly bury- 

 ing themselves in the earth during growth. 



There are uncouth, or fancy forms, such, for instance, as 

 Dale's hybrid, Fig. 80 a, p. 186, which, while they serve as a 

 distinctive mark of certain kinds, have little or nothing else to 

 recommend them above others. Originators of new varieties 

 and others interested directly or indirectly are apt to favor 

 such, and generally claim for them some peculiar merit ; but 

 the aim of the true cultivator should be to combine superiority 

 of quality with excellence of form, and this experience has 

 shown to be readily attainable. 



In heading vegetables the same changes and varieties of form 

 are found. The cabbage, and lettuce, &c., are either loose col- 

 lections of leaves, or screw form, or conical, or heart-shaped, or 

 globular, or cheese-shaped, or flat. Of these the heart-shaped 

 for early, and the cheese form or the globular for winter cab- 

 bages, and among lettuces the screw and the globe forms, may 

 be regarded as the best, and no plant of them which does not 

 come near or up to this standard should be used in the produc- 

 tion of seed. 



COLOR OF VEGETABLES. 



Although in rooting vegetables color as well as form may 

 seem to be of secondary importance, yet the practical cultivator 

 is aware that it is so commonly associated with certain quali- 



