148 AMERICAN GARDENER. 



of greens, when it is young. It is a sort of wild 

 ndh>e. The French, who call it (from the 

 shape of its leave) Dent de lion, er Lion's tooth, 

 use it, bleached as salad, and, if fine, large and 

 well bleached, it is better than Endive, much 

 more tender, and of a better flavour. It is very 

 common in rich pasture land in England; and cat- 

 tle and sheep, particularly the former, prefer it, 

 as far as my observation has gone, to every other 

 plant in che pastures. It is full of milk coloured 

 juice, and fuller of it than either the Endive or 

 the Lettuce. In the spring (June) 1817, when I 

 cane to Long Island, and when nothing in the 

 shape of greens was to be had for love or money, 

 Dandelions were our resource ; and I have always 

 since that time, looked at this weed with a more 

 friendly eye. 



219. DOCK. I have frequently mentioned 

 the leaves of this weed as being sold in the mar- 

 ket at New York. This weed and the Dandelion 

 are the gardener's two -vegetable devils. Nothing 

 but absolute burning, or a sun that will reduce 

 them to powder, will kill their roots, any little 

 bit of which will grow, and that, too, whether 

 lying on, or in, the ground. Both bear seed in 

 prodigious quantities. The Dock (which is the 

 wild Rhubarb ) puts forth its leaves very quickly 

 after the Dandelion ; and hence it is that it is 

 resorted to as greens in the spring. This is 

 however, a coarse green compared with the Dan- 

 delion. However, it is better than no greens at 

 all after five months of winter, which has left 

 nothing green upon the face of the earth. If a 

 rod or two of ground, on the south side of a wood, 

 were trenched and made rich, and planted witty 



