CHAPTER VI. 



ACETARI ACBOUS OR SALAD PLANTS. 



The use of salads is of the greatest an- 

 tiquity, and, in a sanitary point of view, 

 of great importance, particularly in warm 

 countries. In no country, however, are 

 salad plants more cultivated or used than 

 in France, where they form a very consi- 

 derable item in the food of the people. 

 The rich eat them as a luxury, the poor 

 from necessity. In Britain, if we except 

 the lettuce, endive, and celery, all of which 

 find a ready sale in our markets — the for- 

 mer during the heat of summer, and the 

 latter during winter — salads, in their 

 greatest variety, are confined mainly to 

 the gardens of the opulent. The artisans 

 in our large manufacturing towns are 

 yearly becoming greater consumers of 

 lettuce, radishes, and celery, in particu- 

 lar, and find benefit from their use. Man- 

 chester has long been famed for its celery, 

 and it has been grown to a larger size 

 there than elsewhere. The varieties grown 

 under the name of Manchester celery have 

 long held a place in our seed- lists. The 

 use of salads is only beginning to be ap- 

 preciated amongst the middle classes in 

 Scotland, and the natural prejudice against 

 " eating green meat " is daily subsiding — 

 a prejudice, by the way, not altogether 

 unfounded, from the coldness of our cli- 

 mate and habits of the people. Salads 

 can only be grown in perfection where 

 vegetation is of rapid growth ; and hence, 

 even in England, we do not meet with 

 the same excellent salads as are to be had 

 at every table d'hote in Holland, Belgium, 

 and France. 



§ 1. — CELERY. 



Natural history. — Celery or smallage (Apium 

 graviolens L.) belongs to the natural order Um- 

 VOL. II. 



belliferse, and to the class Pentandria, and order 

 Digynia, in the Linna^an arrangement. The 

 generic name is derived from Apon, water (Cel- 

 tic), from its growing in ditches and in watery 

 places. Cultivation has transformed it from a 

 coarse, rank, and even more thau suspicious 

 plant, to one of the most agreeable and whole- 

 some of all our cultivated esculents. It is a 

 native of several parts of Britain, especially near 

 the sea, and known in its wild state as smallage, 

 but never used by man, and not much relished 

 by other animals. It appears to have been first 

 cultivated in Italy, for in our oldest seed-lists 

 it is called " Upright Italian Celery," and of this 

 there was a red and white variety. Ray, a writer 

 of older date than any seed-lists, observes " that, 

 if neglected, it degenerates into its first unpalat- 

 able state." Phillips says, "Ache is the true 

 English name for this vegetable." 



Use. — The whole plant is used either in a 

 green or blanched state, as well as its seeds. In 

 the former, and also in the latter form, it is used 

 to flavour soups. The seeds, at that season when 

 the plant is scarce, are bruised, and put iDto a 

 small bag to prevent their mixing with the soup ; 

 and old seed, that has lost its vegetating proper- 

 ties, is employed for the purpose. In its blanched 

 form it is eaten raw, as a salad ; generally served 

 whole, sometimes cut into small pieces, but 

 usually, particularly if large, cut into four quar- 

 ters longitudinally, for greater convenience in 

 serving it. It is also stewed in white sauce, and 

 is sometimes made into an agreeable conserve. 

 In Italy and the Levant it is seldom blanched, 

 the green leaves and stalks being used either 

 stewed by themselves or as an ingredient in 

 soups. Medically, it is considered diuretic, and 

 a decoction of it has been found good in cases 

 of gravel. 



Propagation. — Although a hardy bien- 

 nial in its wild state, it must be considered 

 as little other than an annual in cultiva- 

 tion, unless when grown for its seeds, in 

 which case it is treated as a biennial. It 

 is invariably propagated from seed. 



Sowing and Planting. — For the earliest 

 crop the seed should be sown by the be- 

 ginning or middle of February, in pans, 



T 



