272 



HORTICULTURE. 



Kitchen 

 Garden. 



seed is sprinkled in along with onions or carrots, the 

 lettuces being drawn before they can hurt the other 

 cr P- Lettuce seed is sown at broad- cast, and is merely 

 raked into the ground. The plants bear transplanting 

 very well, particularly in showery weather ; and a part 

 of each crop should be regularly transplanted, to come 

 in season immediately after those left in the seed-beds. 

 They may be transplanted very young; when they 

 have four or six leaves, they are fittest for this purpose. 

 They are placed from ten to fifteen inches apart, 

 according to the size they are likely to .attain. 

 When it is wished to forward the cabbaging of cos let- 

 tuce, the leaves are sometimes tied together, in the 

 manner practised with endive. If the winter do not 

 prove very severe, lettuces will stand without much 

 injury close by the foot of a south wall, and be fit for 

 tise in January, February, and March. In some places 

 they are protected by hoops and mats ; in others, by 

 means of glass-frames ; and sometimes a few cabbage 

 lettuces are kept on a slight hot-bed. 



When it is wished to save seed, the best plants of the 

 approved kinds are selected, and planted at a distance 

 from all others, so as to avoid any intermixture of pol- 

 len. I ("the plants have stood over winter, they pro- 

 duce their flowers more abundantly, the stem becom- 

 ing thick, and rising between two and three feet high ; 

 and such plants also ripen their seed more certainly 

 and early. 



Endive. 



Esdive. 373. Endive (Cichorium Endivia, L. ; Syngenesia 



Polygamia cequalis ; Cinaroccphake, Juss.) is an annu- 

 al, or at most a biennial plant, a native of China and 

 Japan. The root-leaves are numerous, large, sinuate, 

 toothed, smooth ; the stem rises about two feet high, is 

 branched, and produces pale blue flowers. It was in- 

 troduced into this country about the middle of the 16th 

 century. 



There are three varieties ; Broad-leaved Batavian, 

 Green curled leaved, and White curled leaved. The 

 curled varieties having less of the bitter quality, are 

 now generally preferred ; and the green curled, being 

 the hardiest sort, is adopted for the late or winter crops. 

 Endive is one of the principal ingredients in autumn 

 and winter salads, and is frequently used for stewing, 

 and for putting in soups. 



The seed is not sown till after the middle of May, 

 ften not till near the middle of June ; because, if sown 

 earlier, the plants would be apt to run to flower. An- 

 other sowing is made in July. The seeds are scatter- 

 ed thinly, so that the plants may not rise in clusters, 

 and become weak. When they are about three or four 

 inches high, they are transplanted into a well prepared 

 bed of rich soil, in rows a foot asunder, and at the dis- 

 tance of ten inches from each other in the row ; or in 

 large drills, at the same distances, the blanching being 

 in this way facilitated. In dry weather, watering is 

 accessary. 



37-1. The blanching is the next operation; and on this 

 being well done, the tenderness, crispness, and mild fla- 

 vour of the endive depend. It is accomplished by ty- 

 ing up the heads with strands of bass-mat or small wil- 

 low twigs : this must be done when the plant is dry, 

 that is, when neither rain nor dew rests on it ; and 

 some nicety is requisite in gathering the leaves toge- 

 ther in regular order, so as not to cross each other, and 

 in rejecting such leaves as are unhealthy. The plants 



are at first tied two inches below the top ; afterwards 

 about the middle of the plant. In three weeks or a 

 month they are found to be blanched ; and they conti- , 

 nue fit for use in this state for about a fortnight. A 

 few plants are therefore tied up every week, when the 

 weather permits, in order to their being ready for use 

 in succession. 



The plants from later sowing are placed in sheltered 

 borders near a wall or hedge ; and when very severe 

 weather comes on, the rows are protected with dry 

 fern or any other light covering. After October, in- 

 deed, the mode adopted is to make some trenches or 

 small oblong mounds of earth, and to sink the plants 

 nearly to the head in these : here they become suffi- 

 ciently blanched in four or five weeks ; and if add/- 

 tional plants be sunk in the trenches every fortnight 

 when the weather happens to be so mild and dry as to 

 permit it, the endive season may be continued for a 

 long time. Endive thus blanched in the earth must be 

 dug out with the spade, and it requires to be very tho- 

 roughly washed. 



A few of the strongest and most early plants are se- 

 lected for producing seed. These are planted in the 

 beginning of March, in a sheltered situation, if possi- 

 ble near a paling, to which the flower-stems may be 

 tied, so as to prevent accidents from the wind. The 

 flowers come out in June, and are succeeded by ripe 

 seeds about the middle of July. The seeds are ga- 

 thered at different times, as they are observed to be- 

 come ripe. 



Panley. 



375. Parsley (Apium Pelroselinum, L. ; Penlandria 

 Digynia ; Umbellijerce) is a biennial plant, considered 

 as a native of Sardinia, but naturalized in several 

 places of England and Scotland. 



Three varieties are cultivated ; Common parsley, and 

 Curled parsley, for the leaves ; and Large-rooted or 

 Hamburgh parsley, for the roots. 



The common and the curled parsley are raised in 

 drills, generally on the edges of a border in the kit- 

 chen-garden. They are sown in February or early in 

 March, as the seeds lie from a month to six weeks in 

 the ground before springing. Parsley bears transplant- 

 ing, so that blanks in the edging may easily be filled 

 up in rainy weather. 



In order to have fresh parsley leaves through the 

 winter, it is worth while to lay some larch or beech 

 branches, or long broom, over the parsley border, and 

 above these, in hard weather, a little dry bean haulm, 

 braken fronds, bents or reeds, preferring the two latter 

 articles on account of their durability. Mr Nicol re- 

 marks, that in this way fine young parsley may be had 

 all winter, and may be gathered even from under the 

 snow. 



If a few strong plants be allowed to run to flower in 

 May or June, plenty of seed will be produced in Au- 

 gust. 



It may be right to notice, that the poisonous 

 plant called fool's-parsley (JElhusa Cynapiuni), a com- 

 mon weed in rich gardtn soils, has sometimes been mis- 

 taken for common parsky. They are very easily dis- 

 tinguished : the leaves of fool's-parsley are of a darker 

 green, of a different shape, and, instead of the pecu- 

 liar parsley smell, have, when bruised, a disagreeable 

 odour. When the flower-stem of the fool's-parsley ap- 

 pears, the plant is at once distinguished by what is 

 vulgarly called its beard, three long pendent leaflets f 



Kitchen 

 G aril en. 



