HORTICULTURE. 



271 



beds, and transplanted in May or June; but now the 

 seed is generally sown where the plants are to remain. 

 This is not done sooner than the middle or the end of 

 May, lest the plants should be inclined tothrowup flow- 

 er-stems. Some gardeners sow in small hollows, perhaps 

 three inches deep, and four feet distant from each' other 

 every way. Two or three seeds are placed in each 

 hollow, for security ; but only the strongest plant is 

 ultimately retained. Others sow in trenches, prepared 

 ms for celery, and keep the plants much closer in line, 

 not allowing more than nine or ten inches to each 

 plant; it is better, however, that they should have 

 more space. The cardoon requires a good deal of wa- 

 ter ; and in very dry weather this should be copiously 

 afforded, as it tends both to make the leaves succulent, 

 and to prevent the inclination to flowering. The 

 young plants that are rejected in either way, may be 

 transplanted, if wished ; but in this case it is useful to 

 preserve a small ball of earth with each plant, and 

 liberal watering is proper 



S70. In .September, when the leaves are large, they 

 arc tied up for blanching, leaving only the top free. 

 This is generally done with hay or straw bands, ana a dry 

 day must be selected for the purpose. At the same time 

 a hillock of earth i> formed around each plant, to the 

 height perhaps of a foot or eighteen inches ; and this 

 is smoothed on the surface, that the rain may run off, 

 and not fall into the centre of the plant*. In pro- 

 portion a* they advance in growth, additional band* 

 are added, and the earth is raised higher. When the 

 plant* are in trenches, they are gradually earthed up 

 like celery, without using bands: the earthing is of 

 course begun in July. In either way, the blanching 

 is completed in about two months. If severe frost 

 come on, the top* are covered with haulm or long lit- 

 ter. If cardouns be wanted more early, the tying and 

 earthing may be begun sooner; bat the leaf-stalk will 

 not probably be found so broad and thick s it ought 

 to be. 



A few of the strongest plants are sometimes left, to 

 produce their flowers and seeds the following year ; 

 but ripe iced is to be procured only in very favourable 

 seasons in this country. It is therefore generally im- 

 ported from Holland or France ; and it keep* for several 

 years. 



In France, the native prickly plant is sometimes cul- 



1 the name of Cardoon of Tours, and ii ac- 

 counted preferable to the common garden variety 

 formidable at* its spin**, Uu* great care is met nary 

 in working about it, to avoid personal injury ; a strong 

 leather dre, n.l thick gloves, are therefore worn. 

 , .rukly sort has not yet been introduced into Bri- 



TO. The Rampio* (Campanula Raptmcului ,\ . ; TVn- 

 tandria Mo*ofy*ia , Cam anutacrar, JIMS.) is a biennial 

 plant ; a nat.ve ofl.ngl.uid. but rare ; figured in Eng- 

 lish Botany, t. 283. The lower leaves are oval-lanceo- 

 4iid waved. The whole plant abound* with a 

 milk The part med is the root, which is of the 



ice and shape of a m.iH , white colour, 



and mild taste, or with on!y a slight degree of pungen- 

 cy and bitterness. It is eaten either raw, in fresh sa- 

 '*'!>. - mure commonly boiled like ajparagu*. It i- 

 moch mure esteemed in Fran< 'he name of mi. 



poftcr, than in thi country. There the root* and the 

 jrmna; leave* ire used together in the spring months. 



So little is it cultivated here, that Nicol does not speak Kitchen 

 of it in his Gardener's Kalendar." 



The seed is sown in the end of May, in a quarter 

 somewhat shady. If sown earlier, or in a warm sunny 

 Mtu.-ttion, the flower-stems would l>e apt to spring up 

 the first year, when, as repeatedly mentioned in similar 

 cases, the roots would become hard and unfit for use. 

 The seed is very minute, insomuch that, to enable the 

 gardener to sow it equally and thin enough, it should 

 be mixed with sawing* of timber. A thimble-full of 

 the seed is sufficient to sow a large bed. When the 

 plants are about an inch high, they are hoed, and thin- 

 ned out to the distance of three or four inches from each 

 other. They are afterwards to be kept free of weeds, 

 and the surface is occasionally stirred. The roots are 

 ready for use at the approach of winter, and continue 

 good till the spring growth commences. If a few plants 

 bo left, a flower-stalk rises, and the pale purple bell- 

 flowers appear in the end of July, followed by plenty 

 of seed in the autumn. 



Freth Salad and Soup Herbs ; Garnishes, f$c. 



i RAL of the principal plants which are used raw in 

 salads, are likewue employed in making soups ; t>uch 

 are lettuce, endive, and parslry. Others are merely sa- 

 lad plants ; such are cresses and radishes. 



LtUiux. 



.171. Lrttuee (Ijirttica tatira, I..; Si/tigrnetia P"/jr- Lettuce. 

 firmia 09*4/1* ; ( 'fucorarrte, Juos. ; I^iitur. F. ; Gar- 

 t-Hial.it, G.) is an annual plant, the original country of 

 which is unknown. Some authors indeed seem incli- 

 ned to consider it as merely an accidental variety, -prung 

 from some of the other species of Lactuca. It wn> cul- 

 tivated in F.ngland in the middle of the 1 6th century, 

 and probably much earlier. The leaves are large, milky, 

 frequently wrinkled, usually pale green, but varying 

 much in form and colour in the different varieties. The 

 use of lettuce as a cooling and agreeable salad is well 

 known ; it is also a useful ingredient in soups. It con- 

 tain*, like the other species of this genus, a quantity of 

 milky juice of an opiate nature, from which of late yean 

 medicine hat been prepared by Dr Duncan senior of 

 Edinburgh, under the title of lacmcarium, and which 

 be find* can be administered with effect in cases where 

 opium is inadmissible. 



378. Many varieties) are cultivated : but these are 

 generally considered as belonging to one or other of 

 two kind*, the COM (also called Roman and ice) and 

 the Cabbage lettuce ; the former with long upright 

 leaves, the latter with the leaves round, rather flaccid, 

 and growing squat upon the grminil. The sorts at pre- 

 sent most approved are, of the coss lettuces, the Egyp- 

 tian green, and the white COM or Versailles ; of the cab- 

 bage lettuces, the imperial, and the grand admiral, or 

 admirable. The large Roman and the Cilicia lettuce, 

 brown and green, are the kinds chiefly used in soups, 

 or for stewing. 



By means of successive sowings, and by care during 

 winter, fresh lettuce is now produced almost the whole 

 year round. The plants are used either when quite 

 young ami open, or when at full growth and cabbaged. 

 A small -owing is often made in January, the seed- 

 ling* being tramplair <-h. A considerable crop 



it sown in the end of February ; the main sowing is in 

 March and April ; and sometimes portion of lettuce 



