730 THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



in the climate of Paris it is advisable to sow it in a hot-bed, 

 and treat the plants like Egg-plants or Tomatoes. 



USES. In the south of Europe the fruit is eaten raw and for 

 the sake of its slightly acid taste. 



Another species (P. peruviana, Hort.) produces yellow berries, 

 which are eaten raw or made into a preserve. It differs 

 but little from P. pubescens. P. Barbadensis, Jacq., is also in 

 cultivation. 



The plant introduced lately under the name of the Small 

 Mexican Tomato is probably Pkysalis edulis, Sims. It is a 

 true annual of rapid growth, and ripens its fruit perfectly in 

 the climate of Paris. Its properties are medicinal rather than 

 culinary. 



The Physalis Alkekengi, L., is a perennial plant, sometimes 

 grown for ornament under the name of Winter-Cherry. German, 

 Blasenkirsche. French, Alkekenge officinal. 



TURNIP 

 Brassica Napus, L. Crucifera. 



French, Navet. German, Herbst-Rube. Flemish and Dutch, Raap. Danish, Rce. 

 Italian, Navone. Spanish and Portuguese, Nabo. 



Native country uncertain. Biennial. The Turnip has been 

 cultivated from a very early period. There appears to be no doubt 

 that it originated either in Europe or Western Asia, but the precise 

 locality is unknown. The root is swollen and fleshy, variable in 

 shape according to the variety, being cylindrical, conical, pear- 

 shaped, spherical or flattened, and equally variable in colour, 

 white, yellow, red, gray, or black ; the flesh is white or yellow, 

 sometimes more or less sugary, and sometimes pungent and slightly 

 acrid. Leaves oblong, usually lyrate, and divided to the midrib in 

 the lower part, sometimes oblong entire, and always a light green 

 colour, and more or less rough to the touch ; flower-stem smooth, 

 branching ; flowers yellow, in terminal spikes, and succeeded by 

 long, slender, cylindrical, long-pointed siliques or seed-vessels, each 

 of which contains from fifteen to twenty-five very small spherical 

 seeds of a red- brown colour, and sometimes, though rarely, 

 almost black. Their germinating power lasts for five years. The 

 varieties of Turnips are exceedingly numerous, and we must 

 confine ourselves to the enumeration of the kinds which are most 

 commonly cultivated. 



CULTURE. The Turnip is an autumn-cropping plant, the main 

 crop always coming in late in the season, and the time of sowing 

 varying only a few weeks, according to the earliness of the different 

 varieties. In the neighbourhood of Paris, the latest varieties are 

 sown from June 25th to July 25th, and the earliest kinds from 



