93 



MY GARDEN. 



In some gardens — especially when the. owner has lived in France — 

 Burnet {Poterium Sanguis orba, fig. 135) is grown. It is a wild 

 plant of our district ; the leaves are used in salads, and give to 

 them a peculiar cucumber-like flavour. We grow the plant, but I do 

 not remember that we have ever made much use of it. 



We have in our streams a plant called the Brookhme {Veronica 

 Beccabunga), which is sometimes eaten by those who cannot get any- 

 thing better. In Paris, large quantities of Corn Salad {Valerianella 

 olitoria, fig. 136), or Lamb's-lettuce, are eaten. It is most disagreeable 



Fig. 136. — Corja Salad. 

 FiG. z3S.-SaIad Burnet. P,^ rs^.-Oxalis. 



to me, and is in my opinion utterly worthless ; it should be exter- 

 minated from a garden as a useless weed. Some persons, however, 

 never like a salad without it. 



One of my pretty glen plants, the Oxalis Acetosella, or Shamrock 

 (%■ 137), is said to make a delicate salad. Its flowers are so beautiful 

 that it is one of the loveliest objects in spring. In some woods-as in 

 the Arncliff-e woods in Yorkshire-it covers the ground, but with me i 

 is a delicate plant, from which we can only spare one or two leaves at a 

 time, to taste the exquisite acidulous flavour which it possesses. 



In France, Dandelion leaves {Taraxacum Dens Leonis) are much 

 employed as a salad, though they are but rarely used by Englishmen. 

 From the influx of foreigners during the siege of Paris, there was a sale 

 for It in Covent Garden market. Dr. Hogg procured for the Horti- 

 cultural Society some seed from plants which had been continuously 

 selected for five years. Specimens of the plants, with leaves of large 

 size and of mild flavour, were exhibited in i8;i. Both Dr. Hogg and 



