134 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



celery or cardoons ; and in wet seasons this is 

 the better way, as the crop is less liable to suffer 

 from damp. In six weeks the leaves and their 

 stalks will become completely blanched : they 

 are then fit for use, and should be gathered., and 

 treated as has been recommended for cardoons. 

 This is a process seldom attended to, because in 

 its production the artichoke plants are destroyed, 

 and therefore it should only be practised upon an 

 old plantation, which may be intended to be de- 

 stroyed at all events. It is, however, a good 

 substitute, should any accident befall the car- 

 doon crop, or in the event of their being 

 neglected to be sown in time. 



§ 5. — THE HOP, ETC. 



As substitutes for the asparaginous 

 plants already noticed, we may enume- 

 rate the following, which, although now 

 not in general demand, have occasionally 

 been used in times past, and may, under 

 certain circumstances, be so again. 



The Hop (Humulus lupulus Wild.) belongs 

 to the natural order Urticese, and to the class 

 Dicecia, and order Pentandria, in the Linnaean 

 arrangement. The introduction of this va- 

 luable plant as an article of culture into Bri- 

 tain took place during the reign of Henry 

 VIII.; it was brought from Flanders, where, 

 and also in many parts of Europe, it has been 

 cultivated from time immemorial. It is never- 

 theless indigenous to Britain : we have found it 

 in the heart of the Grampians. The generic 

 name is derived from humus, fresh earth, it 

 preferring such soils. According to the " En- 

 cyclopedia of Plants," p. 835, " Lupulus is a 

 contraction of Lupus salictarius, the name by 

 which, according to Pliny, it was known because 

 it grew among the willows, to which, by twining 

 round them, and choking them up, it proved as 

 destructive as the wolf to the flock." It 

 seems to have been unknown to the ancient 

 Greeks, as it is unnoticed by their authors ; and 

 Pliny is the first of the Roman authors who 

 makes mention of this plant. A very interest- 

 ing account of the introduction and early cul- 

 ture of the hop into England is given in Phillips' 

 " History of Cultivated Vegetables," vol. ii. 

 p. 233. 



As an article in the manufacture of malt 

 liquors, it is well known. It is with its rela- 

 tion to culinary purposes we have at present 

 to do. D. Rembert Dodoens is the first who 

 has alluded to this plant as a kitchen herb. He 

 says, " Before its tender shoots produce leaves 

 they are eaten in salads, and are a good and 

 wholesome meat." The young shoots, gathered 

 in spring when about 3 or 4 inches above 

 ground, were formerly used by country people 

 as a substitute for asparagus, which in flavour at 

 least they very much resemble. These sprouts 

 are still to be found in Covent Garden Market, 

 and in the green markets on the Continent are 

 by no means unfrequent. 



It is propagated by division of the root early 



in spring. It succeeds best in a deep soil, well 

 enriched. The plants are set in what is called 

 hills, or prepared mounds, at 7 or 8 feet apart, 

 and three or four plants are set in each ; but for 

 garden culture, to procure the tops while young, 

 the plants are set in lines 3 feet apart, and the 

 plants 1 foot asunder in the row. They are very 

 liable to the attacks of various species of aphis ; 

 hot lime, and, more recently, flowers of sulphur, 

 are applied for their destruction. 



The Milk TJiistle (Carduus Marianus L., Sily- 

 bum Marianus Gal. — the Virgin Mary's milk or 

 blessed thistle) belongs to the natural order 

 Compositse, sub-order Carduacese, and the class 

 Syngenesia sequalis in the Linnsean arrange- 

 ment. The generic name is derived from 

 the name of a plant used by the old Greek 

 writers, not now known ; that of milk thistle, 

 &c, from an old dogma that the leaves of the 

 plant, which are sprinkled with white blotches, 

 were so marked by the milk of the Virgin 

 Mary having accidentally fallen upon it. A 

 native of Britain. 



Uses. — It is not now cultivated, but rises up 

 in most old gardens spontaneously, where no 

 doubt it had formerly been grown, as the young 

 leaves were once used in spring salads, or boiled 

 as a substitute for spring greens. The young 

 stalks, when peeled and soaked in water to ex- 

 tract the bitter taste from them, were cooked 

 and eaten much in the way of sea-kale. The 

 roots, when two years old, are used much in the 

 way of salsify, which they very much resemble, 

 and the receptacle of the flower is cooked and 

 eaten like artichokes. There is little culture 

 required beyond a good soil, in which it luxuri- 

 ates very much. 



The Cotton Thistle (Onopordum Acantldum) 

 ranks in the same natural order as the last, 

 and also in the same class and order in the 

 Linnaean arrangement. The name is derived 

 from onos, an ass, and perdo, to consume — be- 

 cause this plant is eaten by that animal : the 

 specific name from its leaves, resembling those 

 of the acanthus. It is erroneously called the 

 Scottish thistle. It attains the height of from 

 6 to 10 feet, and is densely covered with a 

 white cottony down. Indigenous to chalk pits 

 and fertile lanes. 



The receptacle was formerly used as a substi- 

 tute for the artichoke, and its leaves and their 

 foot-stalks as one for cardoons. It may be cul- 

 tivated in the same way as cardoons. 



The other substitutes for the plants in this 

 chapter are — Silene inflate H. K., the bladder 

 campion, indigenous to Britain ; Phytolacca de- 

 candria L., the Virginian poke, a native of Vir- 

 ginia, the tops of whose shoots are eaten as a 

 substitute for asparagus ; Ornithogalum pyrenai- 

 cum, or Bath asparagus — the flower-stems used 

 for a like purpose ; Tamus communis, or black 

 bryony — also a substitute for the same; Arctium 

 lappa, or the burdock — the young shoots also 

 used for the same. The two last may be found 

 abounding in moist rich soils, by the edges of 

 woods, lanes, &c. 



