Dock. Sorrel. Udo 49 



The garden sorrel is a developed form of Rumex Acetosa, 

 native in Europe and scattered in this country. The com- 

 mon variety is Large Belleville. It has thinner, lighter 

 green and longer-stalked leaves than the spinach dock, with 

 spear-like lobes at the base, and the plant is not so tall 

 and stout. The leaves are very sour, and will probably 

 not prove to be so generally agreeable as those of the 

 spinach dock; but they are a week or ten days later, and 

 afford a succession. It is grown the same as the spinach 

 dock, but some leaves may be harvested the first year 

 from seed. The male plants are usually preferred, as they 

 do not reduce themselves by seed-bearing. 



Both th"e -spinach dock and sorrel may be grown about 

 12 inched apart in the row. Sometimes they are propa- 

 gated by suckers that arise near the crown. The seed 

 stalks should be kept down, and only part of the leaves 

 should be cut at any one time if the energy of the plant 

 is to be conserved to the utmost. 



Other species of Rumex are sometimes cultivated, as the 

 French sorrel, R. scutatus, by the French, and the dentate 

 dock, R. dentatus, by the Chinese. 



TJDO 



The udo is a Japanese plant introduced into this coun- 

 try nearly twenty years ago, and now considerably known 

 as an early spring vegetable. The plant is of the Ginseng 

 or Aralia family {Aralia cor data, Thunb.), a strong 

 hardy perennial; it sends up strong shoots in spring, and 

 if these shoots are allowed to grow through a box of light 

 sand, much after the way of growing witloof, they make 

 a delicate blanched vegetable, eaten after being boiled, or 



