656 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



Alen$on Shallot, with bulbs still larger than those of the Jersey 

 Shallot and likewise with glaucous foliage. There is also a variety 

 of the Jersey Shallot grown with silver-white bulbs, mild, and 

 agreeable in flavour, but difficult to keep. The Ghent Shallot and 

 the Russian Shallot differ but little from each other, and resemble 

 the common Jersey Shallot. They are vigorous-growing plants 

 with rounded bulbs. 



SKIRRET 



Sium Sisarum, L. Umbellifera. 



French^ Chervis. German, Zuckerwurzel. Flemish, Suikerwortel. Danish, Sukkerrod. 

 Italian, Sisaro. Spanish, Chirivia tudesca. Portugtiese, Cherivia. 



Native of China. Perennial. Authors generally concur in 

 describing the Skirret as a native of China. It was introduced 



into France at a very early 

 period, as it is mentioned by 

 Oliver de Serres as a plant 

 commonly cultivated in his 

 time. He considered it to 

 be a native of Germany, and 

 to have been introduced from 

 that country into Italy by 

 the Emperor Tiberius. In 

 any case the plant appears 

 to have been more generally 

 cultivated two or three cen- 

 turies ago than it is at the 

 present day. 



It is a plant with numerous 

 swollen roots, forming a 

 bunch from the upper part 

 of the neck, somewhat like 

 Dahlia roots, but much longer 



natural size; detached roots. , , T 



| natural size). an< ^ more slender. Leaves 



composed of large, shining 



dark green leaflets ; stems 3 to 4 ft. high, channelled, smooth, 

 usually produced in the second year, but often in the first ; flowers 

 small, white, in umbels ; seeds brown, oblong, curved, often cylin- 

 drical, and marked with five longitudinal furrows. Their germi- 

 nating power lasts for three years. Roots grayish white ; flesh firm, 

 very white, and sweet. The centre of the root consists of a woody 

 core which, if not removed before cooking, is very detrimental to the 

 root as a vegetable, and is not easily separated from the fleshy part. 

 CULTURE. Skirret may be propagated either from seed, offsets, 

 or divisions of the roots. The seed is sown in autumn or early in 



Skirret 



