VEGETABLES DESCRIPTION AND CULTURE. 329 



character of this book, but its value in restoring fertility 

 to soils is so great that gardeners will find it a useful 

 plant. It occupies a prominent position as a soil restorer 

 from the fact that it has the property of drawing a large 

 per cent, of nitrogen from the atmosphere and giving it to 

 the soil when the plants are turned under. The best 

 varieties to use for green manuring are Black, Clay, Red 

 Ripper, Unknown. Some of the varieties of cowpeas are 

 also excellent for table use, viz. : Large lady, Small lady, 

 Mush, Rice, Sugar and White Crowder. 



CHESS, AMERICAN.— (Barbarea vulgaris.) 



A biennial Cruciferous plant with yellow flowers, the 

 radical leaves of which are lyre-shaped, and the upper 

 ones pinnatifid, and cultivated in some gardens as a win- 

 ter salad. Often called water-cress at the South. 



Sow either in drills or broadcast in a moist place, the 

 last of August, September, or early in October, giving 

 water in dry, hot weather. Let the plants remain six or 

 eight inches apart. Preserve a few good plants for seed. 



Use. — It is generally liked as a winter or early spring- 

 salad, somewhat like the water-cress, but more bitter. 



The Winter Cress (B. proecoco) resembles the foregoing, 

 but is a perennial plant with larger leaves. The use and 

 culture are the same. Less bitter than the former. 



CRESS, GA'RD'E'N.—fLepidium sativum.) 

 Cress, or Peppergrass as it is called, from its pungent 

 taste, is a hardy Cruciferous annual, probably from Per- 

 sia, and has been cultivated in England since 1548. 



There are three sorts, of which the common Curled and 

 the Normandy are the best; the broad-leaved sort is 

 coarse and inferior. 



Culture. — Cress likes a light, moist mould, and in sum- 

 mer a shady border is to be preferred. It is propagated 



