104 ACTION OF LIGHT AND HEAT 



tion still more than that of absorption, so that the plant 

 retains an excess of liquid, and becomes literally dropsi- 

 cal. This state of saturation diminishes both their 

 smell and their savor. Advantage is taken of this cir- 

 cumstance to soften the flavor of vegetables when too 

 strong ; that of celery, for example, is tempered by bury- 

 ing the stem in the ground, and sheltering it from the 

 light, the leaves alone are suffered to appear above ground. 

 In these the green color is developed, while the stem re- 

 mains perfectly white. 



Caroline. But since it is the leaves which occasion 

 the deposition ofcarbon, I should think the purpose would 

 be more effectually accomplished by covering them up 

 with earth also, or by stripping them off the stem. And 

 by depriving the plant of its means of evaporation, you 

 would also increase the retention of sap, and render the 

 plant more tender and less-strongly flavored. 



Mrs. B. But such extreme measures would check 

 vegetation, and render the plant diseased, if not actually 

 destroy it. 



It is with the view of making lettuces white and ten- 

 der that they are tied up, so that the external leaves are 

 alone exposed to the light. 



Caroline. It is not necessary for the gardener to per- 

 form such an operation on cabbages ; for Nature takes 

 this precaution so completely, that it is the external leaves 

 only which develope any color, the heart being quite 

 white and tender from a deficiency of carbon and a su- 

 perabundance of water. Endive is also artificially whit- 

 ened, and its flavor softened, by being covered with tiles ; 

 the green leaves of endive, which have not been thus 

 sheltered from the light are very unpleasant to the pal- 

 ate from their bitterness. But vegetables thus whitened, 

 though tender, are generally crisp, not soft. 



Mrs. B. That crispness would have been converted 

 into a hardness approaching to woody fibre, if the plant 

 had not been sheltered from the light. The crispness is 



580. Why is the smell and savor of plants diminished in the shade? 

 581. What is said of celery? 582. What mode of treating it is 

 proposed by Caroline'? 583. What objection is there to it 1 ? 584. 

 How are lettuces made to grow white and tender! 585. What does 

 Caroline say of the growth of cabbage 1 ? 586. And what of endive? 

 587. What would take place with the crispness, had not the plant been 

 sheltered from the light? 588 How are the different parts affected by 

 the operation of cooking? 



