DANDELION 



287 



Thick-leaved, or Cabbaging, Dandelion 

 (i natural size). 



People contented themselves with gathering Dandelions in the 

 meadows or fields until, as they became an important article of 

 commerce in the Central Market of Paris, it occurred to some that 

 it could be cultivated and 

 improved by the selection 

 of seed from choice plants. 

 Thus the plant was im- 

 proved to a remarkable 

 degree, as may easily be 

 seen by comparing the 

 produce of seeds gathered 

 from the wild plant with 

 that of seeds obtained from 

 the cultivated plants. 



Culture. — The seed 

 may be sown in March 

 or April, either where the 

 plants are to stand, or in 

 a seed-bed, from which the seedlings are to be pricked out, in 

 May or June, in rows, which should be 14 to 16 in. apart. The 

 plants are extremely hardy, and require no attention beyond 

 occasional hoeings and waterings. In autumn they commence 

 to yield, and will continue to do so all through the winter, if 



they are looked after. The 

 quality of the Dandelion 

 is much improved by 

 blanching, which may be 

 effected either by covering 

 the bed with a layer of 

 sand, or by placing an 

 inverted flower-pot over 

 each plant, having pre- 

 viously gathered the leaves 

 up together. The pot 

 should be large enough 

 to cover the plant without 

 pressing the leaves too 

 closely against one another. 

 In winter the plants lose 

 most of their leaves, but 

 an abundant new growth 

 takes place in spring, and 

 any plants which have not 

 yielded much the first yeardoso plentifullyin thespring of the second. 



Uses. — The whole of the plant is used for sakd ; if blanched, 

 so much the better. 



Improved Very Early Dandelion. 



