SALSIFY SEA KALE. 349 



SALSIFY OR OYSTER PLANT ( Tragopogon porrifolius). 



The culture of this vegetable is the same in all respects 

 as for Carrots, which see. Like the Parsnip, it is hardy, 

 and can be left out during winter in any district without 

 injury from frost. It is rapidly becoming more popular. 

 It is stewed like Parsnips or Carrots, is used to make 

 soup, which has a decided flavor of the oyster, or is first 

 parboiled and then fried. There is but one kind. 



SCORZONERA OR BLACK SALSIFY (Scorzonera Hispantca). 



This is somewhat different in flavor from Salsify, and 

 is preferred to it by many. It has much broader leaves, 

 but is cultivated and used in the same manner. 



SEA KALE (Crambe mantima). 



Sea Kale is a favorite vegetable in European gardens, 

 but here, as yet, almost unknown. Anticipating that at 

 no distant day it may be as generally cultivsit^d as it de- 

 serves to be, I briefly describe the mode of culture. The 

 seeds of Sea Kale should be sown in the greenhouse, or 

 in a slight hot-bed in February or March, and when the 

 plants are an inch or two in hight, they should be potted 

 in two or three-inch pots, and placed in a cold frame to 

 harden, until sufficiently strong to be planted in the 

 open ground. They should then be set out in rows three 

 feet apart, with two feet between the plants, on land en- 

 riched as for any ordinary cabbage crop. If the plants 

 and the soil in which they have been planted are both 

 good, and cultivation has been properly attended to, by 

 keeping the plants well hoed during the summer, they 

 will have "crowns" strong enough to give a crop the next 

 season. In the northern states it will be necessary to 

 cover the TOAVS with three or four inches of leaves, to pro- 

 tect the plants from frost. Sea Kale is only fit for use 



