Mar.] 



THE CULINARY GARDEN. 



101 



as is very often practised, the plants are drawn up weak and 

 slender, and are liable to be destroyed by vermin. 



SALSAFY, SCORZONERA, AND SKIRRET. 



Salsafy, Scorzonera, and Skirret, are all raised from seed, 

 and are used in the kitchen, in autumn and winter. They 

 may be sown about the end of the month, for if sown at an 

 earlier period, they often run to seed, and are thereby ren- 

 dered wholly useless. 



SOWING SAVOYS. 



Savoy-seed for a prmcipal crop, to serve from about Michael- 

 mas to Christmas, should be sown about the middle, or towards 

 the latter end of the month, in an open situation. 



But if it be desired to have savoys well cabbaged in the end 

 of August, or any time in September, they should be sown in 

 February, or at least the fii*st week of this month. Savoys 

 answer best on a light rich soil; poor or exhausted ground 

 should be well manured. Allot an open compartment, that 

 the seedlings and advancing plants may grow stocky, and not 

 draw up weak and long-shanked, as they are liable to do in 

 close situations or narrow borders under walls. Gardeners 

 distinguish two chief sorts, green savoy and yellow savoy, and 

 of each of which there are, round-heading, oblong-round head- 

 ing, sugar-loaf heading, &c. The round-heading is the most 

 permanent. In these varieties, there is no material difference, 

 though the green has certainly the best appearance at table, 

 and always proves the hardier, in standing long rigorous sea- 

 sons : both sorts are, in general, hardy enough to stand our 

 ordinary winters. 



The seeds of this vegetable are possessed of the propeity 

 of retaining their vegetating properties for six or eight years, 

 provided that they were sufficiently ripe, when gathered ; and 

 we are informed by Bastien, that the seed-growers of Auber- 

 villiers assert, from their own experience, that the seeds ob- 

 tained from the middle flower-€tem, will produce plants sooner 

 fit fur use, than those which have originated from seeds ga- 



