CHAP.. I. CULINAKY VEGETABLES. 157 



excellent sort for slicing up in Tomato salads, and is one of the 

 best Tomatos for general cultivation. The Boyal Horticultural 

 Society have had it on trial at Chiswick, and awarded it a first- 

 class certificate." 



The " Cherry " and the " Ked Currant " are small-fruited kinds 

 pretty for decorative purposes. 



The seed should be sown in October in seed-pans ; and the 

 young plants may be put out at the distance of three feet apart 

 almost anywhere in the garden, as it does not require high 

 culture. It is usual in Europe to keep pinching off the tops of 

 the stems, just above where they have opened their flowers ; but 

 such trouble is hardly needed in this country. It is well that 

 the plants should be grown in a different piece of ground each 

 year in succession. 



There is a small kind about the size of a Plum very common, 

 raised from country seed. This is sown about the beginning of 

 the Bains, and yields its produce in October. 



CONVOLVULACE.ZE. 



Batatas edulis. 



SWEET POTATO. 



ShuJcar-Kundo. 



One of the native vegetables of this country, and in common 

 cultivation in all parts of India. The plant is of a very exten- 

 sively trailing habit, and produces large handsome pink flowers 

 with purple eye ; the tubers it bears are of a long, cylindrical 

 form, of the thickness of a man's finger, and have a Potato- 

 like, mealy consistency, with a sweetish taste. There are two 

 varieties, the one with red and the other with white tubers. 

 The red tubers are accounted the best. When Potatoes are 

 not procurable, they serve as a useful substitute, though their 

 sweetness is far from agreeable to most persons. 



The tubers may be planted out in June, about a foot and a 

 half apart, in rows, and the crops will be ready for use in the 

 Cold season; but it is a vegetable rarely, I believe, if ever, 

 cultivated in gardens. 



