3L2 



On the Varieties of Winter Greens. 



use : it boils well, and makes a most tender, sweet, and deli- 

 cious green, provided it has been duly exposed to frost. In 

 some gardens the plant, after it it is cut off, is kept for the 

 sake of the shoots : this practice I cannot recommend, but 

 rather advise that the ground should be cleared for suc- 

 ceeding crops, and that reliance for future greens should be 

 placed on other kinds ; the side shoots being weak, and 

 having a propensity to run to flower, are of little value, and 

 do not grow either early or rapidly. 



The Purple Borecole, in its formation and habit, differs 

 nothing from the Green, the only peculiarity it has, is that 

 of being of a deep purple colour; as the leaves enlarge, 

 they have an inclination to become green, but the veins 

 still remain purple. The Germans are much attached to 

 this sort, which they call the Brown Kale, and dress it with 

 a rich sauce,* and sometimes mix chestnuts with it, stewing 

 them together. It is perhaps more capable of enduring 

 severe weather than the Green Borecole, which circumstance, 

 together with the singularity of its colour, will entitle it to 

 some place in the garden, though its inferiority to the Green, 

 in flavour, will exclude it when there is little spare room. In 

 boiling, the purple colour is entirely discharged from the 

 thin parts of the leaves into the water, leaving them of a dull 



* German Receipt for dressing Broum Kale. Take a quarter of a pound of 

 butter, put it over the fire till it is quite brown, then add one pint of veal broth 

 to it, while it is in a hot state ; season it with a little pounded mace, salt, and 

 lump sugar. Into the broth thus prepared put the hearts and tender leaves of 

 the Kale, after they have been washed clean ; let them stew till they become 

 quite tender, and reduce the liquor as low as you can without burning the Kale, 

 before you serve it. 



