192 VARIOUS SALADS AND POT PLANTS. 



BURNET, Poterium sanguisorba. C. 21. O. 7. sp. 6-7 Eh. P. 2 

 ft. A hardy perennial plant, growing wild, but now much cultivated 

 for the use of the leaves in culinary purposes, especially as salads and 

 in soups. They have a warm pleasant taste. The French use them 

 much for soups. They continue green through the winter, in the ab- 

 sence of other salads. A drink was made of the plant which was 

 considered useful in many complaints ; it is also used in cooling drinks. 

 Tiiis species is sowed with clover. The leaves when bruised, smell 

 like cucumbers and taste something like the parings. All the species 

 are easily cultivated. It is found a foot high on dry soils. Its flowers 

 appear in greenish heads in July. A few seeds are sown annually 

 in the spring in drills, then transplanted into rows 6 inches apart. 



CORCHORUS. C. 13. O. 1. Tiliacese. sp. 7-25. 1-3 ft. The 

 name of a culinary plant and supposed to be the same as that known 

 as C. olitorius. This is extensively sown about Allepo as a pot-herb, 

 and eaten with meats ; in France it is called maue-de juif. 



SALSAFIE, Tragopogon porifolius. Dh. B. 4 ft. This plant belongs 

 to the genus goafs beard. It is a hardy plant resembling the parsnip, 

 growing in meadows with purple flowers. It is wholesome and nu- 

 tritious, has a sweetish and delicate flavor and forms a variety of 

 excellent side dishes during the winter. The root, when dressed with 

 cream, is delicious. Scrape them lightly, lay them in water, for an 

 hour, boil till quite tender, take out and drain. Make a thick batter 

 of eggs and flour, dip in the roots and fry with a small piece of butter 

 till brown. In the spring it may be dressed like asparagus. It is 

 sometimes called the vegetable oyster from a similarity of taste. The 

 root is long, white, tapering and fleshy. It grows wild in the S. of Eu- 

 rope. It is propagated by seed sown on light, rich soil, in April, in 

 shallow drills a foot apart ; and the plants are thinned, hoed, and 

 when taken up in Nov. are laid in sand for winter use. As with all 

 such vegetables, if the winter be mild and the roots take a 2d growth, 

 they must be taken out and relaid. The flowers are of a dull purple 

 color, closing at mid day. It should be found in every garden ; its 

 value has not been appreciated here. 



COMMON NETTLE, C. 21. O. 4. Uritica. sp. 32-69. A 1-3 

 ft. A plant common in this country on waste land and pastures. The 

 tops and leaves are eaten when tender and boiled, as greens, which, 

 when mixed with other food for poultry, is said to promote their laying 

 eggs. A rennet is also made by the liquor of boiled nettles and salt, 

 in the proportion of three pints of the former to a quart of the latter j 

 a table spoonful of it will coagulate a bowl of milk. The fibrous 

 stalks, dressed like flax, or hemp, may be made into canvass or paper. 

 The boiled roots give a yellow color to woolen, linen or cotton. The 

 stings of nettles are curious. They are slender and hollow, with a 

 minute hole at the bottom and a bag at the base. The pressure, when 



