SPINACEOUS PLANTS.— WHITE BEET. 



139 



as substitutes for spinach. The former still 

 is, and on the Continent it is grown very exten- 

 sively. 



The common sorrel {Rumex acetosa) has been 

 cultivated from time immemorial as a spinach 

 plant, as well as used in salads. In Ireland the 

 leaves are eaten with fish and other alkalescent 

 food. 



The mild-leaved sorrel (Rumex montanus H.K., 

 the Oxyria reniformis Smith). "The plant is 

 one of those singular individuals which has 

 the character of two distinct genera, and yet is 

 referable to neither. Wahlenberg made it a 

 Rheum, Linnseus a Rumex, and Mr R. Brown 

 what it now is." — Ency. of Plants, p. 295. It is 

 much used in France as a salad, and the male 

 plant of this species is recommended in the Bon 

 Jardinier to be planted as edgings. There are 

 several varieties of the common sorrel ; that 

 called by the French Voseille de Belleville is the 

 most esteemed, on account of the largeness and 

 succulent state of its foliage. We cultivate it in 

 preference to all the other sorts ; and in rich 

 moist soil the leaves attain a large size and 

 thickness. The sorrels are all of great import- 

 ance in French cookery, and are both agreeable 

 to eat and exceedingly wholesome ; and could 

 vulgar prejudice be got over, many an excellent 

 dish might be gathered almost the whole year 

 over from our roadsides. Phillips, in " Hist, of 

 Cult. Vegetables," vol. ii. p. 214, very properly 

 remarks : " Rarity being oftener coveted than 

 excellence, it is not surprising that we should 

 find this native vegetable discarded in an age 

 in which novelty principally stimulates art to 

 furnish our kitchens. The caprice of fashion 

 extends even to our vegetable food; and zeal, 

 which should emulate us to improve the vir- 

 tues of our own plants, is often wasted in ob- 

 taining those of distant countries whose quali- 

 ties are uncertain. Sorrel is scarcely known as 

 a pot-herb in this country, except at fashionable 

 tables, the small demand having now nearly 

 banished it from the metropolitan markets." 



The use of the sorrel is of great antiquity ; 

 Pliny observes that it renders meat more plea- 

 sant, and lighter of digestion. It is a valuable 

 anti-scorbutic, and is used as an ingredient in 

 salads, and when boiled, as a sauce for roast 

 meat, particularly veal and pork — it greatly assists 

 their digestion. It is an excellent substitute 

 for apple sauce for winter geese, and should, 

 like spinach, be boiled without water. It makes 

 a good substitute for spinach when beat up with 

 butter, and is greatly improved by the addition 

 of the yolk of eggs and cream. It enters into 

 most of the soups and sauces for which French 

 cookery is so famed, and they preserve it in 

 quantities for winter use. It forms as promi- 

 nent an article in the vegetable markets in Paris 

 as green pease do in those of London. It was 

 held in high repute in Britain about the time of 

 Henry VIII. and Elizabeth. Its use has, how- 

 ever, greatly declined since that time ; and yet, 

 amongst all our modern additions, we have not 

 one so wholesome, and of such easy cultivation, 

 or one that would add so much to the sanitary 

 condition of our peasantry, particularly those 

 who live much upon salt provisions. 



Propagation. — All the kinds may be 

 propagated by seed, which should be 

 sown in rows 18 inches apart, and the 

 plants thinned to 12 inches distance in the 

 line. Sow in March, in deeply-trenched 

 soil, moderately enriched by manure, and 

 rather inclining to damp. In autumn, 

 the old plants may be divided and plant- 

 ed in rows at the above distance. Even 

 fragments of the roots will, if planted, 

 make good strong plants during the fol- 

 lowing spring and summer. As flower- 

 stalks appear, cut them off. Keep the 

 ground clear of weeds, and annually fork 

 in some rich manure between the plants ; 

 or, still better, apply liquid manure with- 

 out disturbing the roots. 



General remarJcs. — The European names of 

 the common sorrel are — Oseille in French ; Ace- 

 tosa in Italian ; Sauerampfer in German ; Ace- 

 dera in Spanish ; and Veldzuuring in Dutch. 

 Those of the garden patience are — Rhubarbe des 

 monies in French ; Romice in Italian; Englische 

 or winter spinat in German. 



§ 6. — THE WHITE OR SICILIAN BEET. 



Natural history. — The white or Sicilian beet 

 (Beta cicla L.) belongs to the natural order 

 Chenopodese, and to the class Pentandria, and 

 order Digynia, in the Linnsean arrangement. 

 The generic name is derived from Bett, red, in 

 Celtic ; the specific name, according to De Theis, 

 is a corruption of sicula, under which name it is 

 spoken of by Catullus. According to Phillips, 

 beet is a name arising from the shape of its seed- 

 vessel, " which, when it swells with seed, has 

 the form of the letter so called in the Greek 

 alphabet." The white beet was introduced to 

 England from Portugal in 1570, where, and also 

 in Spain, it is an inhabitant of the sea- coasts. 



Uses. — This species of beet — for it is con- 

 sidered botanically as a distinct species from 

 beta vulgaris, the common, or red beet — is cul- 

 tivated entirely for its leaves, whereas the red 

 beet is grown for its roots. These leaves are 

 boiled like spinach, and put into soups ; and the 

 midribs and stalks, which are separated from 

 the lamina of the leaf, are stewed and eaten like 

 asparagus, under the name of chard. As a 

 spinaceous plant, the white beet might be grown 

 to great advantage by cottagers and farmers, as 

 it affords leaves fit for use during the whole 

 summer; — but we require as great a diffusion 

 of knowledge in the art of cooking amongst 

 those classes as we do as regards the production 

 of the article to be cooked. The great white 

 or Swiss chard is a large variety of this species; 

 the foot-stalks and ribs of its leaves are dressed 

 like asparagus, and thought equal to that popu- 

 lar vegetable. There are other varieties, differ- 

 ing mainly in the colour of their midribs and 

 stalks, each of which is, however, adapted to 



