56 



BtrCKTHORN. 



says, is very delicate wlien dressed, and quite diiferent in 

 flavour from the sprouts. 



Culturt. — The plants are raised from seed, of which an 

 ounce may be requisite for a seed bed, four feet by ten feet. 

 Van Mons,in the paper already referred to, says, " The SLed 

 is sown in the spring, under a frame, so as to bring the 

 plants forward ; they are then transplanted into an open 

 border with a good aspect.'' By thus beginning early and 

 sowing successively till late in the season, he says, " we 

 contrive to supply ourselves in Belgium with this delicious 

 vegetable full ten months in the year ; that is, from the end 

 of July to the end of May." The plants need not be placed 

 at more than eighteen inches each way, as the head does 

 not spread wide, and the side leaves drop off. In this, as 

 in every other respect, the culture is the same as that of 

 the borecole. 



Gathering the crop. — Morgan says, the sprouts must have 

 some frost before gathered ; but this Van Mons assures us 

 is an erroneous opinion. In Belgium, the small cabbages 

 are not esteemed if more t^ian half an inch in diameter. It 

 is usual to cut off the top about ten or lifteen days before 

 gathering from the stem. In spring, when the sprouts are 

 disposed to run to ilower, their growth is checked by taking 

 up the plants, ana setting them in the ground in any shaded 

 *spot. 



To save seed, — Van Mons says, it is usual to save seeds 

 indiscriminately from plants which have and those w^hich 

 have not been topped ; but that he intends to save from the 

 tops only, hoping thereby to improve the progeny. What- 

 ever mode be adopted, the grand object is to place the 

 plants where they will be in no danger of receiving the fa- 

 rina of any other of the brassica tribes. — Loudon, 



BUCKTHORN.— ma/?m?/5.— There are many plants of 

 this genus ; but we shall take notice of but one species, 

 principally on account of its use in forming hedges. The 

 kind used for that purpose is the rhamnus catharticus^ or 

 purging buckthorn. It is common in a wild state in Eng- 

 land and other parts of Europe, as well as in the United 

 States. Gen. E. H. Derby, of Salem, Mass. has cultivated 

 this plant, and is, we believe, the first person w^ho applied 

 it to the very important use of forming hedges ; for which 

 purpose it is said to be much preferable either to the haw^- 



