6 A Study of the Dandelion. [January, 
and rounded leaves. In Martyn’s Millers Dictionary, 1807, the 
leaves of the dandelion are said to vary from pinnatifid or deeply 
runcinate in a very dry situation to nearly entire in a very moist 
one, generally smooth, but sometimes a little rough, and Leonto- 
don palustre is described as scarcely more than a variety, as vary- 
ing very much in its leaves which have few notches or are almost 
entire, the plant smoother, neater, more levigated and more glau- 
cous than the common dandelion. In Geneva, N. Y. on the 
grounds of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, a 
large number of varieties are to be commonly noted, both in the 
habit and appearance of the plant and irrespective of difference 
of soil or exposure, as varieties may readily be separated whose 
roots are intertwined. Some plants grow with quite erect leaves, 
others with their leaves closely adpressed to the soil; some have 
broad, others narrow leaves; some have runcinate leaves, others 
leaves much cut and almost fringed, and yet others the leaves 
nearly entire ; some have almost sessile leaves, some have smooth 
leaves, others roughened leaves; some have thin, others thick 
leaves; some as varieties grow to a larger size, others are always 
dwarfer ; some have an open manner of growth, others a close, etc. 
The use of the wild plant as a vegetable seems to have been 
common from remote times, but its culture is modern. In 1836 
a Mr. Corey, of Brookline, Mass., grew dandelions for the Boston 
market, the seed obtained from the largest of the wild plants 
(Mass. Hort. Soc. Trans., 1884, 128); in 1863 dandelions are de- 
scribed among garden esculents by Burr (Field and Gard. Veg. 
of America, 345), but the context not indicating any especial _ 
varieties ; in 1828 Fessenden (New Am. Gardener) says the wild 
plant is used but never cultivated. In 1874 the seed appears for 
sale in seed catalogues (Briggs Bros. Cat., 1874), perhaps earlier, _ 
and the various seed catalogues of 1885 offer six names, one of 
which is the “ common.” In England, dandelion culture is not 
mentioned in Mawe’s Gardiner, 1778, nor in Martyn’s Millers 
Dictionary, 1807; the first notice I find is in the Gardeners’ 
Chronicle, 1846 (p. 340), where an instance of cultivation is noted, 
the herbage forming “a beautiful and delicate blanched salad.” 
In 1880 its culture had not become common, as this year its cul- 
tivation in France, and not in England, is noted (Jenkins Jour. 
R. A. S., xvi, 94). In France, Noisette, 1829 (Man. du Jard., 
1829, 356) gives cultural directions, and says the wild plant fur- 
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