HERBS AND SMALL SALADS. 



139' 



As regards varieties, a great improvement has 

 been maae during the last decade. Intermediate 

 forms of globular shape are amongst the test, and 

 are named French Breakfast, Kose Globe, OUve 

 Scarlet, Olive Violet, &c. Long-rooted varieties are 

 best represented by Long Scarlet, Short-top, and 

 Long Salmon. For frame- work, Wood's Early; 

 and for autumn sowing for winter use, China Rose 

 and Black Spanish, with ordinary red and white 

 Turnip. A large-rooted variety (white), resembling 

 in size the Paris Market Turnip, named Califomian 

 Mammoth, is useful also for winter, where sliced 

 Radish is acceptable. Seeds of this species should 

 be sown in shallow drill-rows, about July 20th and 

 August 1st, for successional supply. 



Rampion [Campanula rapunculus). French, 

 Maiponce ; German, Eapunzel ; Italian, Raperomo. — 

 This plant is a biennial, and a native of Britain, and 

 is a rare exception aa being an edible root amongst 

 Bell-flowers, or Campanulas. Wbile falling in alpha- 

 betical order, it also comes conveniently after the 

 Radish above, as the root when well grown greatly 

 resembles it, is white in colour, and of a more nutty 

 flavour. Its cultivation is not so general as it used 

 to be. This, no doubt, is owing to the fact that, 

 under the old careless system of culture, the roots 

 produced were more like eagle's claws, or a bundle 

 of large roots, than straight like the Radish; the 

 result being that they were with difficulty prepared 

 for table, and when so prepared they appea,red of 

 irregular and indefinable shape. The root is also 

 used in the salad-bowl, along with the tender young 

 leaves, which are formed in dense tufts. 



Prepare a bed for the seed in a somewhat shady 

 situation. The soil should be finely worked to a 

 depth of eight inches, and at the bottom of this a 

 layer of decayed manure should be placed. Poor 

 sandy soil will suit best above this manure, as it will 

 induce the young first root to grow straight down 

 without unduly branching. Sow the seeds about 

 the second week in May. As these are very small, 

 do not rake the bed over afterwards, but give the 

 surface a good watering with a fine-rosed watering- 

 pot to settle the seeds down. So soon as the young ■ 

 seedHngs appear, give another watering should the 

 weather prove dry, and subsequent ones as neces- 

 sary. Each watering given must be so copious, 

 however, as to penetrate down throughout the layer 

 of soil above the manure. "When the seedling plants 

 come up too thickly, thin them out to distances of 

 three inches apart. By choosing from amongst such 

 seedling plants such as possess straight roots, and 

 transplanting them into a rich bed, taking care to 

 make deep holes, and insert the young roots straight 

 to their depth therein, excellent produce may be 



secured. The roots require scraping before they 

 are ready for use. 



Rosemary {Roamariniis offieinaUa). French,, 

 Romarin ; German, Rosmarin ; Italian, Rosmarino. 

 ■ — The well-known and cultivated Rosemary once 

 existed in all but every garden. Even to this 

 present date it is very generally grown in the West 

 of England, the Principality, &c. The plant is 

 generallj^ propagated by means of seed-sowing. 

 These are sown upon a warm, sunny border. But 

 another common method is to draw downward 

 young side-shoots, which exist around the main- 

 stem, so abruptly as to detach the young shoot with 



KOSEMABT. 



a heel attached, to out away the jag 

 neatly, and to then dibble them out into a moist 

 situation, and shady, during the early spring and 

 summer months. Place such cuttings in moderately 

 deep, and press the soil very firmly around their 

 base. These wiU have rooted freely by the early 

 autimm. Whether propagated thus, or increased as ■ 

 seedlings, choose a damp period early in the month 

 of October, and transplant them into their perma- 

 nent quarters. They succeed best upon light, dry 

 soil, and, in more northern counties, beside low 

 fences, &c. A very few plants, if pruned back 

 annually after the flowering season, will suffice. 

 There are the green-leaved, the silver, and gold- 

 leaved varieties. 



{Salvia officinalis). French, Sauge ; Ger- ■ 

 man, Salbei; Italian, Salvia. — In the Sage we 

 possess a dwarf evergreen shrub, introduced from- 

 the South of Europe, and hardy enough to with- 

 stand all ordinary British winters, though it is some- - 



