162 Lc Bon Jardinier, 1839. 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. Le Bon Jardinier, Almanack pour V Annee 1839, accompagne 

 d"une Revue Horticole. By MM. Poiteau et Vilmoiin. 18mo, 

 pp. 1064, avec planches gravies. Paris, 1839. 



This excellent work continues to appear annually, accompanied every year 

 by a review, or register, of the horticultural improvements which have been 

 made in the course of the year, and by notices of the new plants that have 

 been introduced both into horticulture and agriculture. We have in the 

 second volume of this Magazine, p. 58., given a general idea of the plan of the 

 .Bon Jardinier, accompanied by some abridged extracts ; and in subsequent 

 volumes we have noticed the edition of the work for the passing year. The 

 supplementary part of the present volume is enriched by a greater number of 

 plates than usual, and by 34 pages, describing them and other novelties, at 

 which we shall take a hasty glance. 



Urdssica sinensis, L., the Pe-tsai ou Chou Chinois, Chinese Cabbage. — This, in 

 China, is considered one of the most valuable culinary vegetables, but it does 

 not appear to be much liked in Paris, where it has been cultivated by a 

 number of persons during the last two or three years. The leaves are thin, 

 and more like the leaves of a turnip than those of a cabbage ; but they 

 vary greatly in appearance, sometimes resembling a cabbage lettuce, and at 

 others an open borecole. The plants are of rapid growth, and speedily run 

 to seed ; so much so, that in China the spring sowing will ripen its seeds 

 in July, from which plants are raised which again ripen seeds in the autumn. 

 It is only in the latter season that the plant heads, or cabbages, like the 

 European sort ; but the leaves, being very tender, may be used without, being 

 blanched by cabbaging, like those of the common borecole. At Paris, the 

 Chinese cabbage is sown in July or August, transplanted in three or four 

 weeks afterwards, and in two months cabbages will be formed. M. Vilmorin, 

 however, has found that the Chinese cabbage always succeeds best when 

 sown where it is finally to remain. In regard to climate, this cabbage appears 

 to be about as tender as cauliflower or broccoli ; and therefore, as a potherb, it 

 is never likely to come into general use either in France or England. Seeds, 

 we observe, are advertised for sale in London at one shilling a packet. 



Sindpis pekinensis Lour., Willd., 2. p. 485., Chinese Mustard. — The same 

 missionaries who brought the Chinese cabbage to Paris brought the Chinese 

 mustard. This plant, of which an account has been given in the Horticultural 

 Transactions, is grown in the south of China for its leaves, which, when boiled, 

 have a powerful and rather disagreeable odour, much relished, however, by the 

 Chinese. In this countiy, when the leaves are eaten raw like salad, they 

 taste like those of the common cress, with somewhat of the piquancy of 

 mustard seed. Its growth is as rapid as that of the common mustard. The 

 plant appears to be nearly as hardy, and may be considered as an additional 

 salad plant. 



Convolvidus Batatas L. — The sweet, or Spanish, potato has ripened seeds 

 in the garden of M. Sageret, in Paris, from which young plants have been 

 raised. Among these, it is hoped that some will be found hardier than others, 

 and on that account more likely to succeed under open air culture. 



Cichorium Yntybus L. — A variety of this plant has been obtained from seed, 

 with large leaves, and the heart full, or cabbaged, like that of the garden 

 endive. M. Jacquin obtained this improved variety by sowing and selecting, 

 for several generations ; the soil, and other circumstances, being rendered as 

 propitious as possible. The result is interesting ; not only on account of the 

 variety produced, but as pointing out the mode in which other improved 

 varieties of wild plants may be obtained. It has always appeared to us as 

 highly probable, that the wild endive and the garden endive were only one 

 species. 



Tropa^olum tuberosum has produced, in the Jardin des Plantes, tubers as 



