FRENCH BEANS GARLIC KALE. 175 



as to climate ; the common will grow anywhere, 

 and needs no skill for its cultivation. Reaching to 

 the height of four or five feet, it is very ornamental; 

 and it is readily propagated by offsets. 



French Beans See Kidney Beans. 



Garlic Not designed for food to man in a state 

 of society; and hermits, if they choose, may find 

 enough of it growing wild in the woods and glens 

 which they naturally frequent. 



Kale. Nobody could be troubled with all the 

 varieties of kale. Some tall sorts, yielding a suc- 

 cession of leaves, while they grow to four or five 

 feet in height, are good for cows ; but the dwarf 

 curled is the only one which it is worth while to 

 plant in the garden for the use of the table. It is re- 

 markably tender, and has this quality in proportion 

 to the paleness of green and the degree of curl which 

 adorns its leaf. Such is the plaiting of its edges, 

 that the leaf of the best specimens resembles a 

 sponge, and is fully as thick as it is broad. Choose 

 such a stock, and save the seed, which will serve for 

 many years. As this vegetable loses much of its 

 delicacy when raised from plants that have stood the 

 previous winter, it is soon enough to sow in April 

 or March. As soon as the seedlings show the curl 

 of the leaf, thin them well out, or transplant a por- 

 tion, setting them a handbreadth asunder, in order 

 to preserve the dwarf quality and avoid long stems 

 taking care also to select the plants, for the parent 

 stock does not uniformly yield seed after its kind. 



Nothing can be easier than this attention to the 



