THE CULTURE OF SALADS. 



499 



crops to be gathered during winter are covered with long litter. 

 Italian Corn Salad or Mache Regence is sown in October,, and 

 is sown more tbinly than the preceding ; it is considered the 

 best variety. It may also be raised in the spare places between 

 the plants^ under cloche, in any open surface between plants 

 in frames, or any cool light garden structure. 



The Barbe de Capucin is the most common of aU salads 

 in Paris in the winter and early spring, and for its culture 

 the cloche is not required. It is perhaps too bitter for 

 some tastes, but is sometimes used by English families, and 

 is well worthy of culture in small gardens, being so very 

 easily forced when other salads are scarce. This salad is of 

 all others that which may be had with the least amount of 

 trouble by any person in possession of a spot of rough 

 ground, a cellar, or any dark place where a little heat 

 might be used to start the blanched leaves of the Chicory 

 in winter ; it is therefore desirable that it be brought 

 into common use. Should the taste be too bitter to those 

 unaccustomed to it, or who do not like bitter salads, the 

 addition of Corn Salad, Celery, or Beetroot, improves and 

 modifies the flavour, and makes it a very distinct and agree- 

 able salad. The gardeners of the commune of Montreuil 

 sow every year a large quantity of wild Chicory for the 

 purpose of forcing the Barbe de Capucin. For this 

 purpose the crop is sown in April. It is sown both 

 broadcast and in driUs, which are traced at a distance of 

 eight inches from each other. At least nine pounds of seed 

 per acre must be used. In the course of the summer the 

 ground should be turned up several times ; when the frost 

 sets in the roots are taken up with the fork, care being 

 taken not to break them. They are then laid by the heels so 

 as to have them always ready for use ; and in the course 

 of the month of October, the season when such work is 

 usually commenced, a hotbed about sixteen inches deep is 

 prepared, the heat of which is from 65° to 80° Fahr. 

 The most favourable position for such a hotbed is in a 

 cave or in a deep cellar without light or air. 



When the heat of the bed has somewhat abated, the 

 plants are tied up in bundles, having first carefully removed 



K K 2 



