200 SEA-KALE BLACK PEPPER. 



pinnate and divided ; calyx undivided ; flowers blue or purple ; root- 

 leaves 2 or 3 feet long. 



SEA-KALE, or Colewort, Crambe maritima, C. 15. sp. 10-15. Ij 

 ft. This plant grows wild in Egypt, and spontaneously on the coast 

 of England. It is not much cultivated in this country, though its 

 merits commend it to general attention. It has been described as com- 

 bining all the good qualities of the cabbage ; and, as Dr. Curtiss says, 

 asweetner of the blood_in_the spring," &c. It thrives well on sandy 

 loam when transplanted. It shouTcTbe eaten when tender ; and it is 

 boiled like cabbage. It is propagated by seed, but it may be raised 

 by slips or pieces of the roots. The people of the coast watch its first 

 appearance, and cut it off underground, like asparagus, and boil the 

 herbage as greens. It is forced by taking up the roots and planting 

 them in hot-beds, and covering, as with others of the brassica, in the 

 winter. 



The ancient plant, Crambe, was probably derived from this plant. 

 The people of Ireland long used the wild plant before it was cultivated 

 in England, and it has therefore been but recently introduced as a 

 cultivated esculent. With Rhubarb, says Dr. Curtiss, it may save 

 many pounds for medical attendance, and people may soon say, < 1 

 grow my own medicine. 5 " It has been further said by others, it is 

 one of the most valuable acquisitions made to culinary vegetables within 

 the last 50 years ; none affording a more salutary esculent for 4 or 5 

 months of the year." The cultivated kale is soaked in water half an, 

 hour, well boiled in salted water, drained, laid before the fire a few 

 minutes, and dressed with melted butter, capsicum or tomato, vinegar; 

 or, use veal gravy, cream or milk, thickened with flour and butter. No 

 plant requires less culture; the processes being similar to those prac- 

 ticed with other varieties of the brassica. 



SPICES. 



BLACK PEPPER, pipper-nigrum, C. 2, O. 3, sp. 44-250, E. 6 ft., 

 the dried berry of a climbing plant growing in the E. Indies. The 

 pepper grounds are laid out into squares of six feet for each plant, by 

 the side of a shrub upon which it creeps and bears in bunches from 20 

 to 50 grains, like currants. When these begin to redden, they are 

 gathered, spread on mats in the sun, when they dry black, and are 

 packed for exportation. White pepper is the best of these berries, 

 gathered when ripe and stripped of their skin, being steeped in salt 

 water a week for this purpose ; they are then dried, rubbed between 

 the hands and winnowed. As the acridity is in the skin, principally, 

 these are less pungent than the black. Pepper is an article of much 

 commerce ; that from Malabar is best. The sales of the E. India Co. 

 have been six million pounds annually, 800,000 Ibs. being retained for 





