LONG-ROOTED VEGETABLES 41 



to a height of two or three feet. In a month or six weeks' time, 

 the head of leaves will have grown to a good size. The roots 

 are then taken up, and the splendidly blanched head of leaves 

 cut off with a small portion of the root attached. This head 

 makes a delicious salad or boiled vegetable. 



SALSIFY (Tragopogon por rifoli us) , the Vegetable Oyster, 

 combines ornamental (floral) qualities with useful food possi- 

 bilities. The flower, when the plant runs to seed, is pretty 

 and of a violet colour. The roots are six to eight inches in 

 length, about one inch in diameter, and possess a smooth yellow 

 skin. Seeds are sown in the spring, in drills, and the seedlings 

 thinned to about four inches apart. Good, well-dug, and finely- 

 pulverized soil grows the best roots, and the hoe and watering- 

 pot will be the principal things in demand during the growing 

 season. The general tap-root treatment may be given. The 

 jseed-drills should be kept moist, or germination will be uncer- 

 tain. The roots are boiled as a vegetable, and are a delicacy ; 

 while the young and tender leaves may be used as a salad. 



SCORZONERA (Scorzonera hispanica). A Spanish vegetable, 

 resembling Salsify in most points, especially culture, but it has 

 a black skin and yellow flowers. The roots, moreover, may 

 remain in the ground a second season, and continue to grow 

 larger, without deteriorating in flavour or texture a fine 

 [quality indeed ! Like Salsify, the roots are boiled as a vegetable, 

 and the young leaves used as a salad. 



RHUBARB, that popular medicinal vegetable-fruit of early 

 spring, requires a moist, deep, mellow, well-manured soil, which 

 'it does not always obtain, for this useful plant is more often 

 relegated to an out-of-the-way spot in the garden, on account 

 of the room it occupies, and left much to itself until its owner 

 requires its produce ; and then, perhaps, a small heap of manure 

 ilitter, leaves, or an old basket or box is thrown over the crowns 

 in order to force them to yield up their harvest. A far better 

 procedure would be to give the plant the richest and deepest 

 soil of the garden, and to drain the site well beforehand. Four 

 feet of root-run is none too much for Rhubarb ; and copious 

 supplies of liquid manure may be applied all through the growing 

 season with splendid results. The plant is propagated by 

 slicing the fleshy root into suitable pieces, each with one or 

 more crowns attached, and planting in good soil from three 



