164 THE MANSE GARDEN. 



eats very tenderly in spring. It may be sown in 

 drills on a warm dry border in August, and must be 

 well thinned and cleared, in order to get hardy before 

 the frosts come on. Another cabbage lettuce, which 

 has obtained the name of drumhead, blanches well of 

 its own accord, and is the most tender of all the tribe. 

 It does not stand the winter, but is excellent for 

 summer and autumn use. To have lettuce at all 

 times, no other rule is necessary than to make suc- 

 cessive sowings, keeping pace with the eating or 

 the shooting of the crops. The milky juice com- 

 mon to this family is an opiate, and has been used 

 medicinally. 



Mangold, or Mangel-wurzel a species of beet. 

 The French, probably from mistaking the German 

 name, have called this " root of scarcity " a great 

 misnomer certainly, as it will grow by good manage- 

 ment to the amount of forty tons per acre. As it 

 begins now to be largely cultivated, it is more pro- 

 perly allied to the farm than to the garden ; but as 

 some part of the latter, both for the sake of economy 

 and the benefit arising from a change of crop, is fitly 

 allotted to the feeding of cows, this new plant is well 

 worthy of a place. It should grow to the size of a 

 sturdy leg ; but if it attain only to the thickness of 

 your wrist, either your ground wants trenching, or 

 you have admitted some error in the cultivation ; and 

 it will be important, therefore, either to acquire the 

 needful art, or to abandon a crop which, without 

 proper management, will prove indeed the " root of 

 scarcity." If your soil wants depth, rather choose 

 for it a plant that grows above ground : this must 

 get down ; but it will not, like an iron pike, force 



