MUSTARD. 187 



grains are given ; and 3 or 4 drachms have been used during the day. 

 This may be collected by any one on cutting the plant, and many 

 make a profitable business of it Leaves rounded; stem-leaves heart- 

 shaped ; flowers yellow, small one species with crisped and another 

 with 3-cleft leaves. 



Strong-scented Lettuce (letuca virosa) is found about hedges, walls, 

 and borders of fields; flowering in Aug. and Sept. It yields double 

 as much opium as L. sativa, but is not so good. 



MUSTARD, Sinapsis. C. 15. Crucifereae. A. 4ft. The seed was first 

 obtained from Esypt. It is much cultivated here and in Europe, and the 

 ground seeds are daily served on the table. An excellent sauce is made 

 of this, eaten with fish or flesh, as it promotes an appetite, warms the 

 stomach and helps dieestion. It is also a wholesome condiment mixed 

 with salads, in summer or winter. The seeds yield 35 pounds of mild 

 and sweet oil to a 100 of the seed, on pressure. The white are used 

 medicinally for asthma, rheumatism, palsy and for drafts in colds. A 

 teaspoonful 2 or 3 times a day of dry white seed is good for disordered 

 stomachs. A powdered infusion is used as an emetic, and in smaller 

 quantities, as an aperient and diuretic. The seed in pickles give a 

 fine flavor and render cucumbers more salutary. The leaves, when 

 young, are valued as a salad herb, with cress, radishes, &c., or boiled 

 with meats or greens. Two sorts are cultivated, the white, or S. al- 

 ba, and the black, or S. nigra ; the seeds of both afford the flowered 

 mustard of the table, but chiefly the latter, which is the common kind, 

 while the other is the best salad herb and is sown all times of the 

 year. The seed must be esteemed abroad from the fact that, beside 

 the vast quantity raised, England imports 17,517 bushels annually. 

 The French use the must of sweet wine with the mustard for the ta- 

 ble. All the species are hot and acrid, and they are often mixed. For 

 the oil or flour, the seed is sown in rich soil the last of March, and kept 

 free of weeds. Where once sown, it comes up spontaneously for many 

 years. Half or a quarter of a wine-glassful of the seed, swallowed fast- 

 in?, or early in the morning, is a powerful tonic and strengthener of 

 the digestive organs. 



For spring and summer, sow once in 10 or 12 days. In summer 

 sow in shallow drills, in shady places .from 3 to 6 inches apart, then 

 cover half an inch. In Europe the white seed is ground for the flour, 

 because milder. The black is larger, with dr.iker leaves ; it is grown in 

 fields for the seed and for medicine. In moistening the seed flour for 

 the table, milk is used, but it does not keep over two days. For the 

 mill, sow moderately thick, broad-cast, or in drills, rake or harrow in 

 thin, keep out the weeds and gather in Ausrnst. It is often found wild 

 among corn plants. It flowers in June and then produces round rough 

 pods. It germinates quickly, like cress ; and the seeds strown on a 

 wt flannel or cork in water, quickly put forth tender leaves, and thus 

 a salad is produced, at the fire-side, in a few days. 



