HOME GROWN VEGETABLES 153 



like Carrots, splendid roots nearly 18 inches long of Salsafy or 

 Oyster Plant may be had by November. When properly cooked 

 and served they form a really excellent dish. Scorzonera requires 

 identical treatment, and where one is appreciated the other is sure 

 to be welcome. Good Turnips are often at a premium late in the 

 year, and Kohl Rabi makes a very good substitute. Sown in drills 

 in April, 15 inches apart and thinned out to 1 foot in the rows, 

 good roots will be available for winter use ; the purple variety is 

 best for winter. They require more cooking than Turnips. While 

 every gardener is familiar with the ordinary Purple Sprouting variety 

 which proves so valuable in early spring, the merit of Christmas 

 Sprouting Broccoli for providing a dish at midwinter is sadly over- 

 looked. Plants from an early April sowing grow nearly 4 feet 

 across, and give an abundance of good sprouts to be cooked like 

 Asparagus during the festive season. It is more dwarf and compact 

 growing than the ordinary variety, and stands severe frosts with 

 impunity. Green Sprouting Broccoli is a great acquisition to the 

 winter vegetables. The young shoots are produced in great abund- 

 ance, and if picked while young make a delicious vegetable, even 

 to those who often rate Winter Greens unpalatable. Stewed Celery 

 is well known, in fact, owing to the great demand for it, many 

 gardeners wish it were not so ; it is a trifle disheartening to get 

 up nearly a dozen of one's best sticks, only to find later more 

 than half the stick has been thrown away. In such cases it will 

 be as well to try to introduce Celeriac, the roots of which make 

 a valuable winter vegetable, and do not require nearly so much 

 time spent upon them during the summer as Celery does. 



Black Scab in Potatoes 



Q. My Potatoes are attacked by the black scab disease. Can it 

 be cured 1E. 0. H., Hants. 



A. The disease may be introduced with the seeds or sets, or it 

 may be present in the soil from a diseased crop. If scabbed 

 Potatoes are used for seed without having been sterilised, the result- 

 ing crop will almost certainly be diseased, and in addition the fungus 

 will pass into the soil, where it is capable of living for several years. 

 But scabbed Potatoes may be used for seed without the slightest 

 danger of spreading the disease if they are immersed for two hours 

 in a solution of pint of commercial formalin (formaldehyde 40 per 

 cent.) mixed with 18 gallons of water. The Potatoes are then spread 

 out to dry, when they may be cut and planted in the usual manner- 



