82 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



plants appear, and tliin them to two or three iuches apai't. 

 As soon as the leaves of the plants are two or three inches 

 long, prepare a piece of ground, in an open and warm, 

 situation, for theii- reception, by digging in plenty of rotten 

 manure, and make shallow drills with a di-aw-hoe, about 

 an inch and a half deep and a foot apart ; into these drills 

 plant the yoimg endive in cloudy weather, at a foot 

 asunder, and water them well if the weather is at all dry, 

 repeating this frequently afterwards. If the seed is sown 

 in diills, the plants should be successively thinned, till 

 they are a foot from each other, and the thinnings planted 

 out in the manner above dh-ected, while those that are 

 left will grow much larger and finer than if they had been 

 planted out, as endive thrives better when not transplanted. 

 The object intended to be accomplished by the drills, be- 

 fore recommended for transplanting the young endive 

 into, is to preserve the plants from drought, and retain 

 the water about the roots that is applied artificially. 



To blanch endive, (and the same system will do for 

 lettuces, if required, or cabbage.) on a dry day gather up 

 all the leaves, and tie them up vrith a piece of string, if no 

 bass is at hand, which latter is much the best material for 

 this pui-pose. They ought to taper at the top like a sugar- 

 loaf, so as to keep out rain. In a fortnight or more all 

 the inner leaves will, for want of hght, become white. 



It is well known that all blanched plants soon rot, and 

 therefore only a few should be blanched at a time. Endive 

 is seldom used, except in salads dressed with oil and 

 vinegar, which, though very common among the poorer 

 classes on the Continent, are by no means so even among 

 the middle classes in Britain. The wild endive, a native of 

 Britain, is planted on the Continent for the roots, which 

 are roasted and used as coffee. 



10. — Cresses. 



The garden Cress, of which the curled sort is the best, 

 contains a good deal of nitrogen, on which the flavour 

 chiefly depends, and the same may be said of American 

 or Belleisle cress, water-cresses, and scurvy grass. 



For a bed three feet broad and five feet long, an ounce 

 of seed will be enough. 



