VEGETABLES. 219 



tected at night if frost threatens after they are planted. As 

 they grow and extend, the shoots should be regulated and 

 stopped beyond each fruit. When the plants are growing 

 freely, liquid manure should be liberally applied, as the most 

 vigorous growth generally gives the finest fruits. In selecting 

 them for exhibition, the fruit should be young and symmetrical, 

 not old and coarse. The points of merit are : (1.) Quality, the 

 flesh fresh, solid, and tender; (2.) form, globular or oblong, 

 and free from irregularities; and (3.) size, which should be 

 moderate, neither too small nor too large of the kind. When 

 cut, the flesh should be thick and sweet. 



THE SALAD PLANTS. 

 In the preparation of salads a large variety of plants are 

 employed more or less by connoisseurs, of which the following 

 are the chief : — 



Beet. Corn Salad. Onion. 



Borage. Cress. Purslane. 



Burnet. Dandelion. Radish. 



Celeriac. Endive. Rampion. 



Celery. Horse-Radish. Rape. 



Chervil. Lettuce. Sorrel. 



Chickory. Mint. Tarragon. 



Chives. Mustard. Tomato. 



These are generally exhibited in collections of a certain 

 number of kinds; and when well grown and set up in fair 

 quantities in a neat style, on a proper tray or stand, they are 

 objects of much interest to the visitors at a horticultural show. 

 Tor a collection of twelve kinds, the number usually specified 

 in schedules, the following are a good selection : — 1. Beet, 

 2. Celery, 3. Chervil, 4. Common Cress, 5. Endive, 6. Horse- 

 Radish, 7. Lettuce, 8. Mustard, 9. Onion, 10. Radish, 11. Tar- 

 ragon, 12. Tomato. The cultivation of salads is a compara- 

 tively easy matter, but it is too often much neglected, with the 

 result that the plants are poor, tough, juiceless articles, and 

 very unfit for the purpose of making a rich nourishing salad. 

 They mostly all thrive well in a light, rich, friable loam, and 

 delight in heat and moisture, so that many of them are amen- 



