258 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



tion of R. Emodi, a sort seldom grown, and there- 

 fore valuable, as prolonging the season of this 

 excellent vegetable. 



Goliath. —Of medium earliness, and of large size. 



The European names for rhubarb are— Rhu- 

 barbe in French ; Ruibarbo in Spanish and Por- 

 tuguese ; Rabarber in German and Dutch ; 

 Rabarbaro in Italian. 



§ 2. — THE TOMATO AND EGG-PLANT. 



The tomato or love-apple (Lycopersicum escu- 

 lentum, Tou, L.) belongs to the natural order 

 Solanse, section Pericarpum baccatum, and to 

 the class Pentandria and order Monogynia in 

 the Linnsean arrangement. All of the genus 

 Lycopersicum, consisting of nine species and 

 several varieties, are cultivated in their na- 

 tive countries (Peru and South America) as 

 esculent fruits. The common tomato (L. 

 esculentum) was introduced to Britain in 1596, 

 and with its varieties much cultivated, although, 

 in most of Britain, requiring the protection of 

 glass. The name is derived from Lykos, wolf, 

 Persicon, a peach— in poetical allusion to the 

 beautiful appearance and deceitful value of the 

 fruit. The ripe fruit is in much request for 

 making tomato sauce, one of the most delicious 

 and wholesome of all sauces, both for meat and 

 fish. Medicinally considered, it is an excellent 

 substitute for calomel, and can be taken when 

 that valuable medicine cannot, and with much 

 less injury to the constitution. The ripe fruit 

 is much used in soups in this country, and in 

 France and Italy to such an extent that, to 

 supply the demand, whole fields of the plants 

 are cultivated. In a green state the fruit is 

 pickled, and when fully ripened, the juice is ex- 

 pressed and kept for winter use in the form of 

 ketchup. In the neighbourhood of London it 

 is grown to a great extent, and finds a ready 

 sale in Covent Garden market during Septem- 

 ber and October, and fetches a good price. It 

 is singular that some of the enterprising growers 

 for the metropolitan market have not thought of 

 producing a supply throughout the year, as few 

 fruits are more easily ripened. We believe we 

 were the first to exhibit ripe tomatos in Covent 

 Garden market — not for sale, but to show they 

 could be produced in March and April, and, in- 

 deed, throughout the London season. The 

 fruit seldom ripens in Scotland in the open air, 

 unless in a few very favourable situations ; nor 

 is there much demand for them, unless in fami- 

 lies of the highest order. It ripens in the vici- 

 nity of London and in the southern counties in 

 August and September, and keeps in good con- 

 dition throughout October. 



The plants are usually propagated by seed, 

 but will strike freely by cuttings taken off the 

 terminating side-branches; and when their cul- 

 ture is to be extended throughout the year, the 

 latter is the best mode, the plants so originated 

 running less to haulm, and fruiting in greater 

 abundance. They may be continued for several 

 years, if kept in a sufficient temperature ; but 

 when grown in the open air they perish annu- 

 ally, and, in fact, are annuals in their own 



countries. We have had plants in a constant 

 state of bearing for three years, when grown in 

 a pine-stove. The London practice is to sow 

 the seed in seed-pans, in a genial heat, about the 

 end of March, and, when the plants are about 2 

 inches high, to prick them off into large 60- 

 sized pots, in light rich soil, and keep them near 

 the glass in a growing state, admitting air on all 

 favourable occasions, till the beginning of May, 

 after which they are exposed more freely to 

 harden them off, to be fit to plant out at the 

 bottom of a south wall by the end of that 

 month. They should, however, not be set too 

 near the roots of the fruit-trees, as they exhaust 

 the ground exceedingly. When first planted 

 out, shelter them for a few days by sticking 

 branches in front of them, to ward off cold winds 

 and scorching sunshine. When fully established, 

 they should be as much exposed as possible, as 

 they require all the light and sunshine that even 

 a London climate affords to ripen them tho- 

 roughly. Some form beds of warm dung, cover- 

 ing them with frames and sashes, and treat them 

 the same as late cucumbers ; others plant them 

 at the base of sloping banks, covering the sur- 

 face with slates to attract heat, and train the 

 plants upon them. Some train the plant to a 

 single stem, rubbing off all side shoots as they 

 appear, which induces the flowers to issue from 

 the base of the leaves attached to the main 

 stem. Others train the main stem upwards 

 against a wall or paling, and lay in the side 

 branches in a horizontal direction ; and others 

 stop the leading shoot as soon as one or two 

 branches of flowers are formed, and retain them 

 in a very dwarf state, by which means a number 

 of plants may be grown in a small space. Our 

 practice is to forward them in pots placed in 

 pits or hot-houses, shifting into larger pots as 

 they advance in growth, and in May to plant 

 them in pits from which early potatoes and such- 

 like crops are removed, and to train them over 

 the surface of the beds like cucumbers, placing 

 slate under them for attracting a greater degree 

 of solar heat. We also grow them in pots 14 

 inches in diameter, in very rich soil, arranged in 

 a single row along the back of a pit, and train 

 the shoots to the wall, by which means little 

 space is occupied, so that the principal part of 

 the pit can be used for other crops, such as late 

 cucumbers and melons. For winter supply, we 

 grow them in large pots placed along the front 

 of a pine-stove, and train one leading shoot up 

 under each rafter, as at that time the vines are 

 withdrawn from the house. A cucumber or 

 melon house is the best situation for them dur- 

 ing winter, and a few plants will produce an 

 ample supply for a large family. Those planted 

 against walls, in the open air, produce abundant 

 crops, in most places of moderate climate, in 

 most seasons, but do not ripen well. If the 

 fruit, when fully grown, be cut off, taking at- 

 tached to it a foot or two in length of the stems, 

 and suspended under the roof of a pine-stove or 

 vinery, they will ripen to tolerable perfection. 



Only two species are cultivated in Britain, the 

 L. cerasiforme, or cherry-shaped, of which there 

 is a red and yellow variety; and these are, for 

 some culinary purposes, particularly for dress- 



