AND CULINARY VEGETABLES. 353 



and flavor, qualities which are not esteemed in oils. The 

 walnut-tree succeeds better in a northern than southern as- 

 pect ; for, as the young shoots are very liable to suffer 

 from a white frost, it is desirable that their vegetations 

 should be retarded till the spring is so far advanced, that 

 there will be little danger of their encountering that evil. 

 This tree grows remarkably well at the foot ofa mountain, 

 on account of the depth of soil produced by the quantity 

 of earth washed down. 



The cultivation of oleaginous herbs enters into the 

 course of cropping: they exhaust the soil almost as much 

 as grain, on account of the number of seeds to be ripened ; 

 they require, therefore, a considerable quantity of manure. 

 These herbs are generally of the cruciform family, con- 

 taining azote, an element of the animal kingdom which 

 forms excellent manure : so that, after the oil is express- 

 ed, the cake which remains serves to restore the exhaust- 

 ed soil. Rape is a species of cabbage with thin roots, 

 whose seeds yield excellent oil. 



The poppy is an oleaginous plant, with white, scarlet, 

 and violet flowers, while the seeds are white or black. 

 They yield oil, perfectly innoxious and wholesome, though 

 drawn from the same plant which supplies us with opium, 



Caroline. I confess I should always be apprehensive' 

 of its being adulterated with some mixture of its poison- 

 ous neighbor. Is not flax, also, an oleaginous herb ? 



Mrs. B. Yes. It is, however, chiefly cultivated for 

 its stalks, from which linen thread is fabricated ; but its 

 seed also yields the oil we call linseed-oil. It is much 

 used in the art of painting. Hemp is of the same descrip- 

 tion. There are some few oleaginous herbs of the legu- 

 minous family, such as the subterranean Arachis, (Arachis 

 hypogce,) a plant we derive from America, which has the 

 singular property of ripening its seeds under ground. 

 This plant requires a loose sandy soil in order that the 

 lower branches may be enabled to bury themselves in the 

 ground. In a state of cultivation, the earth should be 

 heaped over them, as is done with potatoes. The upper 



1914. What is said of the oil from the walnut 1 ? 1915. Where 

 will the walnut tree best grow why? 1916. How do oleaginous 

 herbs affect the soiU 1917. What is said of the poppy? 1918. 

 And of flax and the oil obtained from its seed? 1919. Ami what is 

 said of the subterranean Arachis? 



30* 



