326 



CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



the English name of Dandelion is a corrup- 

 tion. The French eat the stalks and tender 

 leaves of this plant with bread and butter. 



Children that eat of the dandelion in the 

 evening experience its diuretic effects in the 

 night ; from which cause, other European 

 nations, as well as the English, have bes- 

 towed on it a more vulgar name. Notwith- 

 standing this uninviting appellation, we have 

 always found it desirable to have some plants 

 taken from the pastures or road sides, and 

 planted in our garden to blanch for the 

 spring, as it is then an agreeable herb to mix 

 with other salads, and may be procured when 

 lettuce or endive are not easily obtained. 



We are told that when a swarm of locusts 

 had destroyed the harvest in the island of 

 Minorca, many of the inhabitants subsisted 

 upon this plant, without any ill effect. 



Goats are fond of the dandelion, and swine 

 devour it greedily ; sheep and cows are not 

 fond of it, and horses refuse it. Small birds 

 hunt for the seed, which they seem to relish. 



Boerhaave greatly recommended the use 

 of this vegetable in most chronical dis- 

 tempers, and held it capable of resolving all 

 kinds of coagulations, and the most obstinate 



