664 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Part III. 



4074. Propagation and cnltu7-e. The plant may be raised from seed ; of which half an ounce will suffice 

 for a bed three feet by four. It may either be sown in spring or early in autumn. It may also be very 

 readily propagated by parting the roots early in spring. When the plants are of two or three inches 

 gro\vth, transplant into rows, or a bed, at six inches plant from plant Cut down all flower-stalks not 

 intended for seed. 



SuBSECT. 17. Wood-Sorrel. — Oxalis acetosella, L. {Eng. Bot. 762.) Decan. Pentag. L. 

 and Geraniacece, J. Oseille, Fr. ; Saiierampfer, Ger. ; and Acetosa, Ital. 

 4075. The ivood-sorrel is an indigenous perennial plant, found in woods, and by 

 hedge-sides, and in moist, shady situations. It has a scaly, bulbous, articulate root, and 

 ternate, obcordate, hairy leaves. The flowers rise from tlie root singly, are of a pale flesh 

 color, and appear in April and May. 



4076. Use. The leaves form a very grateful addition to salading, and communicate 

 an agreeable relish to dishes of mashed greens. 



4077. Culture. The plant is readily propagated by dividing the roots, and may be planted in a moist 

 shady situation in bog earth. Here, by preventing the plants from coming into flower, and cropping the 

 herb of a part of the plantation two or three times in the season, a supply of fresh young leaves may be 

 obtained from April to October. 



SuBSECT. 18. Small Salads. 

 4078. By small salads gardeners and cooks understand the small herbs, or very young 

 plants, which are used in the seed-leaves ; such as cress, mustard, radish, and rape ; also 

 the lamb-lettuce. Others, such as son-el, are either pot-herbs or salad-herbs. Some- 

 times the white cabbage, lettuce, endive, and succory, are also sown, to be cut in the 

 seed-leaf. The sinall salads are occasionally used by themselves, when there is a de- 

 ficiency of the greater salad-plants, the lettuce, endive, celery. Sec. But when both kinds 

 can be had, they are in general combined. 



4079. Culture. Sow very thick in drills, or on beds of very finely pulverised soil, watering in dry wea- 

 ther to accelerate germination and the succulency of the plants. £arly in spring sow under glass, or in a 

 warm sheltered situation, and in winter in pots and boxes to be placed in some of the forcing-houses, 

 or in the stove ; or sow in the borders of the forcing-houses, or in hot-beds or pits, &c. Observe, that a sup. 

 ply is wanted in most families throughout the year. 



4080. Gathering. Cut off the seed-leaves and about half their foot-stalks, as soon as the former are ex- 

 panded ; some prefer letting small salading grow till one or two of the proper leaves appear, in which 

 case it is of a stronger flavor. 



Sect. VIII. Pot-herbs and Garnishings. 



4081. Pot-herbs and garnishings require but a very small portion of the kitchen-garden, 

 perhaps not above two or three poles, even in the largest, and with tlie exception of 

 parsley, marygold, and Indian cress, they are rarely found in those of the cottager. 



SuBSECT. 1. Parsley. — Apiian Petroselimim, L. Pent. Trig. L. and Umbelliferce, J. 

 PersU, Fr. ; Petersilie, Ger. ; and Petroselino, Ital. 



4082. The parsley is a hardy biennial, a native of Sardinia, and introduced in 1548. 

 It is so common as to be naturalised in several places both of England and Scotland. 

 Tlie root-leaves are compound, and much curled in some varieties. The flowers are 

 pale-yellow, and appear in June ; they have usually one leaflet at the origin of the uni- 

 versal umbel ; and an involucre of from six to eight short folioles, fine almost as hairs, 

 to the partial umbel. " It may be right to notice, that the poisonous plant called fool's 

 parsley (^JEthusa Cynapium), a common weed in rich garden-soils, has sometimes been 

 mistaken for common parsley. They are veiy easily distinguished : the leaves of fool's 

 parsley are of a darker green, of a different shape, and, instead of the peculiar parsley 

 smell, have, when bruised, a disagreeable odor. When tlie flower-stem of the fool's 

 parsley appears, the plant is at once distinguished by what is vulgarly called its beard, 

 three long pendent leaflets of the involucrum. The timid may shun all risk of mistake 

 by cultivating only the curled variety. This last, it may be remarked, makes the prettiest 

 garnish." {Neill, in Ed. Encyc.) 



4083. Use. The leaves of the two first varieties are used as pot-herbs at all seasons 

 of the year ; also as a garnish. The third kind is esteemed for its large white carrot- 

 shaped root, drawn in autumn and winter, like parsneps, for the table ; and occasionally 

 to be used in medicine, being considered a remedy for the gravel. 



4084. Varieties. These are — 



The common plain-leaved ; seldom cultivated | The broad-leaved, or large-rooted Hamburgh ; 

 The curled thick-leaved ; most esteemed | cultivated for its carrot-shaped root. 



4085. Culture of the pot-herb kinds. " One sowing in spring will mostly furnish young leaves all the 

 year ; though to answer a constant demand, many persons make successive sowings from February to 

 May. Some also sow early in autumn for young parsley in winter and spring ; but such a supply is bet- 

 ter provided by cutting down established plants. Sow in a single drill, along the edge of any compart- 

 ment, or occasionally in rows nine or twelve inches asunder. Draw small drills, something less than an 

 inch deep; in which drop the seed moderately thick, and cover a little above half an inch. The plants 

 will come up in tliree or four weeks, and when two or three inches high, may be gathered as wanted, 

 all the summer, winter, and following spring, till May, when they will go to seed. Have always a young 

 crop sown timely in the spring, to succeed the declining old plants. In gathering pot-herb parsley, cut 

 close and regular. In summer, when the plants grow rank, yielding more leaves than can be used, cut 

 them in close to the bottom, and they will shoot up stocky in a regular close growth. Observe also to do 



