214 THYME TURNIP. 



blanching, peeling, and boiling, it may also be eaten. 

 As there are more members of the same family, 

 which still flourish in memorial of the curse, those 

 who delight in them may be regaled with greater 

 variety; but to such persons one of the tribe is 

 particularly recommended, namely, the sow thistle, 

 which has this additional aptness, that it may be 

 eaten either boiled or raw. 



Thyme. This sweet plant, were it not cultivated 

 for kitchen use, ought rather to be ranked among 

 the flowers. The broad and narrow leaved and 

 the lemon-scented are the chief varieties which are 

 cultivated. Used for making a border, if it be 

 regularly cut over, it will last for many years. 

 Seedlings, where the plants have not been cropped, 

 grow up of their own accord, and may be trans- 

 planted, or the seed, which is gathered ripe in 

 autumn, may be sown in spring; but the plant is 

 more easily propagated by slips or by parting the 

 roots. A dry and rather poor soil is the most fa- 

 vourable to its growth and the strength of its fra- 

 grance. 



Turnip. The ambitious, who by early sowing 

 strive for the earliest turnips, reap after a season 

 of fair promise, the futility of their scheme in a 

 crop of shot stems, with bulbs no bigger than a 

 radish. It is difficult to say whether the turnip 

 is annual or biennial : the season of sowing, the 

 state of the weather, the richness or poverty of the 

 soil, may determine the issue whether the growth 

 shall immediately proceed to the production of 



