261 



HORTICULTURE. 



Kitchen 

 Garden. 



Shallot. 



Shallot. 



to promote the swelling of the bulbs. The crop is 

 taken up in August, when the leaves begin to wither. 

 The roots are tied in bunches, and hung in a dry room 

 for use. Garlic is used in seasoning various kinds of 

 dishes, being in general introduced only for a short 

 time into the dish while cooking, and withdrawn when 

 a sufficient degree of flavour has been communicated. 

 It is much more employed in French cookery than 

 in ours. An ordinary sized bed commonly furnishes 

 a sufficient supply for the use of a large family in this 

 country. 



Shallot. 



S4 , Tne shallot (Allhim ascahnictcm, L.) is a per- 

 ennial plant, a native of the Holy Land, where it was 

 observed by Hasselquist. Eschalot (or Eschalolte, F.) 

 is the more correct denomination, the name being de- 

 rived from Ascalon, a town in Palestine. In some old 

 books it is styled barren onion, from the circumstance 

 of its seldom sending up a flower-stalk. In size and 

 general growth the plant resembles the chive ; but it 

 produces bulbous roots composed of cloves like garlic. 

 These are used for culinary purposes in the manner 

 of garlic ; but they are milder, and do not communi- 

 cate to the breath the offensive flavour which garlic or 

 even raw onions impart. 



The culture of shallots is greatly similar to that of 

 garlic ; only the offsets or cloves are planted more 

 early, and tne crop is somewhat sooner taken up. The 

 smallest and longest cloves form the best sets, being 

 least subject to grow mouldy. A good soil is desira- 

 ble for them ; but one that has been manured for a for- 

 mer crop is to be preferred ; for in soil newly dunged, 

 the plants are much more apt to be infested with mag- 

 gots. Mr Marshall very properly recommends plant- 

 ing in autumn where the soil is dry, and in spring 

 where it is naturally damp. The severest frosts seem 

 to have no effect in injuring the roots. The crop is 

 taken up, in the end of summer, when the leaves be- 

 come discoloured ; and the bulbs are hung up in nets 

 in a cool airy place, for use. 



Mr Machray at Errol mentions (Scottish Hort. Mem. 

 i. 275), that he has found soot mixed with the manure 

 given to shallot beds effectual in preventing the ap- 

 pearance of maggots ; while the shallots were impro- 

 ved in size. But Mr Henderson, gardener at Delvine 

 in Scotland, has recommended the planting of shallots 

 in autumn, as the surest way of enabling them to 

 escape or withstand the attacks of these vermin, (Scot- 

 tish Hort. Mem. i. 200.) He plants his shallots about 

 the middle of October, the ground being previously 

 manured with old well-rotted dung mixed with house 

 ashes. He mentions, that he had, on one occasion, a 

 parcel of spring planted shallots only seven feet distant 

 1'rom those planted in autumn ; and that the former 

 were totally destroyed by the maggot, while the latter 

 proved productive and good. 



Rocambole. 



Boewnbole. 345. The Rocambole (Allium Scorodoprasum, L. ; 

 Ail d'Espngne of the French) is a perennial plant, in- 

 digenous to Sweden and Denmark. It has compound 

 bulbs like garlic, but the cloves are smaller; it sends 

 up a stem two feet high, which is bulbiferous. We 

 know that the rocambole was cultivated by Gerarde in 

 1596, but it was probably introduced long before. The 

 cloves are used in the manner of garlic or shallot, and 



nearly for the same purposes. At the top of the stem, 

 along with the flower, in July and August, small bulbs 

 (which have sometimes been called teedi) are produced; 

 these may likewise be used, anil indeed they are, strict- 

 ly speaking, the proper rocamboles. 



The plant may be propagated by means of either 

 sort of bulbs ; but those of the root are most speedily 

 productive. They are commonly planted in the spring ; 

 but in dry ground they are put in, in the autumn, the 

 produce being in this way of a larger size. Those 

 plants which do not push up a flower-stem naturally 

 produce the strongest root-bulbs ; and if it is not wish- 

 ed that the plants should fruit, the smaller the offsets 

 planted the better. The culture is otherwise the same 

 as that of garlic. A few rows of rocambole are suf- 

 ficient. 



Spinach Plants. 



Spinach. 



34G. Spinach (Spinacia oleracca, L. ; Dicecia Pen- . 

 iandria ; Alriplices, Juss. Epinard, F.) is an annual *""' 

 plant, with the leaves large, the stems hollow, branch- 

 ing, and, when allowed to produce flowers, rising 

 two feet high. It is dioecious, or the male and the 

 female flowers are produced on different plants ; the 

 former come in long spikes; the latter appear in clus- 

 ters, close to the stalk, at every joint. Spinach is the 

 only dioecious plant cultivated for culinary use. West- 

 ern Asia is the country of which our garden spinach 

 is considered as originally a native. It has been cul- 

 tivated in Britain from the earliest times of which we 

 possess any horticultural record, for the sake of tho 

 leaves, which are used in soups, or boiled and mashed, 

 and served up with butter, and eggs hard done. 



There are two principal varieties, the prickly-seeded, 

 with triangular, oblong, or sagittate leaves ; and the 

 smooth- seeded, with round or blunt leaves. The for- 

 mer is the more hardy, and is employed for winter cul- 

 ture ; the latter has more succulent leaves, and is pre- 

 ferred for summer crops. 



For the winter crop, therefore, the seed of the prick- 

 ly kind is sown in the beginning of August, when rains 

 may soon be expected. A light dry but rich soil is 

 preferred; and a sheltered situation is desirable. When 

 the plants shew four leaves, the ground is hoed, and 

 the spinach moderately thinned ; and the hoeing is 

 repeated, as the growth of weeds may require. In 

 October and November, the outer leaves of the spinach 

 are generally fit for use; and in mild weather, during the 

 winter and early spring, successive gatherings may thus 

 be procured. In February, some fine dry days gene- 

 rally occur, and at this time the surface of the ground 

 around the winter spinach is stirred, the plants cleaned, 

 and finally thinned out. With due attention, the prick- 

 ly spinach thus proves productive till April or May. 



The first sowing of smooth-seeded or round-leaved 

 spinach is commonly made in the end of January, on 

 a sheltered border. This early crop, if sown broad- 

 cast, is at first thinned out to three inches apart, and, 

 at subsequent hoeinps, to eight or ten inches. Succes- 

 sive sowings are made in February, March, and April, in 

 the ordinary garden compartments, and these are at once 

 thinned out to six or eigi't inches apart. In some places 

 these crops are placed between, wirte rows of cabbages, 

 as they afford a crop before the cabbages advance much 

 in growth. Sometimes radish seed is sown along 



