No. 34— Vol.6 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



269 



TURNIP CABBAGE. 



It is surprising that this valuable vegetable (the 

 Kohl-Rabi of tbe Germans, Chou-Ravc of the 

 French,) of which larg-u quantities are regularly 

 sold the whole simiMier in the German markets, is 

 not more cultiviited in England, as it is little infe- 

 rior to the caulidower ; and yet, from its requir- 

 ing less care and room, can be grown at a price 

 so much loiver,that a given weight of cau'iflower, 

 in the ra^rket of Aix la-Chapelle, costs five or six 

 times as much as the same weight of kohl-rabi. — 

 Tlie mode of cooking, however, makes all the dif- 

 ference. Half boiled, in the English way it 

 would be little thought of, but when cut as 

 in Germany into small oblong pieces, and 

 thoroughly though slowly boiled, or rather 

 stewed, it forms an excellent dish. The average 

 diameter of the bulb (for one more appropriate, to 

 the globular enlargement into which this variety 

 of the cabbage tribe expands, just above the 

 ground,) is from ;5 to 4 inches, but is often grown 

 much larger. One purchased in the market of 

 Aixla-Chipelle, in Ocrjoer last, measured 18 

 inches in circumference, and weighed (exclusive 

 of leaves anu root) 4 lbs. 9 oz. Prussian weight. 

 It could not be estimated to have cost more than 

 one halfpenny English ; and having been cooked 

 separately, by way of experiment, made a large 

 dish, more than enough for five persons, at dinner 

 though no other vegetable was eaten, as it was 

 preferred to ill the rest at the table. — Loudon. 



From Cobbetl's American Gardener. 

 PJLOWERS AND ORNAMENTAL, GARD- 

 K.N'NG IS GKNERAL,. 



PoLVANTHus. — Every thing that has been said 

 of the auricula, may be said of this. It is a very 

 pretty flower and universally esteemed. Blows 

 best out of the luil sun. Polyanthuses are best in 

 beds, for a great part of tbeir merit consists of 

 the endless variety which they present to the eye. 

 They have a delicately sweet smell, like that of 

 the cowslip. 



Popry. — A very bad smell, but is sought after 

 on account of its -reat variety in size, height, and 

 flower — and on account of its gayness. The seed 

 pods of some are of the bulk of a 3 lb. weight, 

 while those of otners, are not so big as a small 

 pea. The smallest, however, contains about one i 

 thousand seeds, and come up and flourish with 

 very little care. A beii a ah two or three hundred , 

 sorts in it, is a spectacle hardly surpassed in beau- \ 

 ty by any thing in the vegetable creation. It is 

 an annual, and well known as a medicinal plant; 

 but, is not so well known as a plant from the seed 

 of which sallad oil is sometimes made. The Ger- 

 mans, on the Rhine, cultivate whole fields of it 

 for this purpose. 



Primrose. — A beautif il little flower, of a pale 

 yellow, and delicate smell Comes early in the 

 spring, and continues a good while in bloom. Of 

 the fibrous rooted flowers if is the next to the 

 daisy in point of earliness. It is an univers.l fav- 

 orite ; and, in England it grows abundantly in 

 woods, patturi-s, and banks. Ii i- perennial, like 

 the cowslip, -ind is propagates in tiiesame manner. 



Ranunculus A flower ot the nature of the 



anemone, and is propagated and cultivated in the 

 same manner. These two flowers are usually 

 planted in beds, where tliey make a very fine show. 



Rhodouf.ndkon. — This is a beautiful shrub, 

 with along narrow leaf, and gr,iat bunches of blue 

 pink or white flowers ; the b- Us, or pods, contain- 

 ing which appear the year before the flowering. 



Roses. — It would require volumes to describe 

 the variety and excellencies of this plant. They 

 may be propagated from seed ; but as the seed 

 seldom comes up till the second year, they are 

 (except the China rose) propagated by suckers. — 

 These come out near the old s.ems, during the 

 summer, and are dug up in the autumn and plant- 

 ed out. In the spring they are cut down near the 

 ground, and the next year they blow. The China 

 rose is so easily raised from cuttings, that little 

 bits put in the ground in the spring, will be trees 

 and have n profusion of blossoms before the fall. 

 It stands the winter very well, and is beautiful for 

 the green-house. 



Syringa, or Mock Ora.nge. — A very stout 

 shrub, with blossoms much like the orange, and 

 with a powerful smell. Is propagated from suck- 

 ers, of which it sends out a great many. 



Sweet William. — A pretty flower — makes a 

 fine show — comes double by chance — and is very 

 handsome, whether double or single. Is propa- 

 gated from seed, the plants from which do not 

 blow till the second year. The sweet William 

 root does not last many years. It muy be propa- 

 gated by parting the roots; and this must be done 

 to have the same flower again to a certainty, be- 

 cause the seeds ilo not, except by chance, produce 

 flowers like those of the mother plant. 



Tube-rose. — This is a bulbous rooted plant, 

 that sends up a beautiful and most fragrant flower. 

 It is a native of Italy ; propagated and managed 

 precisely like the hyacinth. 



Toiip. — Beds of these, vie with those of carn- 

 ations and auriculas. A single root of the tulip 

 has somptimes sold in England for two or three 

 hundred guineas. There is an endless variety in 

 the colors. The bulbs, to have fine flowers, must 

 be treated like those of the hyacinth. The tulip 

 may be raised from seed ; but it is, as in the case 

 of the hyacinth, a thousand to one asninst getting 

 from seed a flower like the mother plant. 



Violet. — This is a little creeping plant that 

 comes on the banks under the shelter of warm 

 hedges. It excels in sweetness. There is a pur- 

 ple and a white. The plant is pcrtnnial, and 

 abundance of seed is borne annually by both. If 

 you propagate from seed, the flower does not 

 Come till the second year ; but, one plant, taken 

 from an old root, will fill a rod of ground in a 

 few years. 



Wall flower. — It is so called, because it will 

 grow, sow itself, and furnish bloom in this way, 

 by a succession of plants, for ever, upon old walls, 

 where it makes a beautiful show. It bears abun- ! 

 dance of seed, plants from which produce flowers 

 the second year. Some come double. If you wish 

 to be sure of double ones, you must propagate by 

 slips of double-flowering plants. There are the 

 yellow and the mixed, partly yellow and partly 

 red. All have a delightful smell, blow early, and 

 are generally great favorites. , 



sheep, and very much prevents the rot in the lat- 

 ter. The best way of sowing it is with clover ; 

 and the common quantity of seed is two bushels to 

 an acre ; though in some lands where the clover 

 is likely to succeed very well, they sow eight 

 pounds of clover seed, and one bushel of rye seed 

 to an acre, and this makes a crop that will last 

 seven or eight years. Some mow it as hay, and 

 thresh it for the seed. An acre of grass, will 

 sometimes produce four or five quarts of seed. If 

 at any time a field of this grass is found to grow 

 thin, it is only necessary to strew on a bushel of 

 the seed, and roll it with a roller, and the plants 

 rising from this addition will make the whole crop 

 sufficiently thick. Rye grass has this peculiar ad- 

 vantage, that it kills weeds without any other 

 sown plant; even thistles cannot grow among it. 

 When rye grass is cut for hay before perfectly 

 ripe, the hay is the better ; but the seed will not 

 grow so well. When the seed is newly threshed, 

 it must not be laid too thick, for it is apt to heat, 

 and will therefore be unavoidably spoiled. 



Cobbetl's JVurserjj, Kensington, Feb. 7. — Some 

 of our readers having requested us to give an ac- 

 count of his garden, we called there with a gen- 

 tleman who was about to purchase some trees. 

 We found the veteran writer sitting in his garden 

 house, by a wood fire made in one of his cast-iron 

 American stoves, a table beside him covered with 

 newspapers, a few old books behind on a shelf. — 

 The garden contains about four acres of deep 

 sandy loam, admirably adapted for raising seedling 

 trees, and almost the whole of it is so occupied. 

 Among them IS theLocust;the particulars respecting 

 them are taken from the Register for Dec. 1825. 

 Locust, Robiuia Pseud-Acacia. Recommended 

 to be grown for pins for ship-building, and foi 

 hop-poles ; also for fuel and hedges. The dur- 

 ition of locust is ^aid to surpass that of all other 

 timber; it grows faster than the ash, and while a pole 

 of the latter tree lasts only three years, a locust 

 pole will last twenty or thirty. At Earl's Court, 

 near Kensington, a plantation was made, fifteen 

 years ago, of locusts, Scotch pines, sycamores, 

 limes, Spanish chesnuts, beeches, ashes, and oaks, 

 and measured in October last. It was found that 

 the locust grew faster than any other tree, in the 

 proportion of ".^7 to li'2. It is acknowledged, how- 

 ever, that the locust is not a tree to thrive to a 

 great age ; and two old specimens in Mr. Cob- 

 bett's garden, in the most favorable soil and situa- 

 tion, are striking proofs that it is nota tree to pro- 

 duce a great hulk of timber. 



RYE GRASS. 



This is a more hardy sort of gmss, and will 

 grow on any land: but it thrives best on sour, 

 clayey, and weeping grounds ; it neither receives 

 damage from the searching heats of the summer 

 nor the piercing frosts of winter. It is the 

 best of all winter food for cattle, the shorter it is 

 eaten the belter, and it springs earlier than any 

 other. There is no danger of overstocking it, for 

 if it be left to grow too much, the stalk will be- 

 come hard'ami'.sticky. It is best for liorses and 



Remedy for Poison. — The following singular 

 remedy is used much by the Hottentots, and by 

 many of the colonists, who have borrowed it from 

 them. When a person is bit by any of the more 

 venomous snakes, a lowl is instantly procured, and 

 the fleshy part of the breast being cut open, it i& 

 pressed fresh and palpitating to the envenomed 

 wound. The virus is by this means, rapidly ab- 

 stracted ; and if the |)oison be very deadly, the 

 the fowl speedily exhibits clear proofs of its ma- 

 lignancy, becomes drowsy, droops its head, ane 

 dies. It is withdrawn and a second cut open and 

 applied in the same manner ; a third, if requisite i. 

 and so on, until it appears, from the decreased in- 

 fluence in the poison on tlie fowls, that its de- 

 structive virulence is effectually subdued. The 

 worst crisis is then considered to be past, and the 

 patient in most cases recovers. — Lon- Weekly Rev, 



