652 



RADICACEOUS ESCULENTS. 



common red and gigantic dark red are the best for a cottage garden. There are 

 various kinds of white-rooted and yellow-rooted beet, but these, being grown 

 chiefly for their leaves as spinach, will be noticed in the section on spina- 

 cecus plants. Seldom more than one crop of beet is required, and this is 

 sown in the last week of March or the beginning of April. For a bed four 

 feet and a half by twelve feet, or one hundred and fifty feet of drill, one ounce 

 of seed is sufficient. The ground should be prepared as for the carrot, and 

 the seed may be sown in drills at the same distances, and the same routine 

 culture given, with this difference, that blanks when they occur may be 

 filled up by transplanting when the plants are quite small. The plants come 

 up in a month. The crop will be ready for use in September, and may be 

 treated in all respects like a crop of carrots, and like them, if desirable, kept 

 in pits from December till the September following. Seed may be saved as 

 in the carrot, and it will keep nine or ten years. 



SuBSECT. VII. The Skirret^ ScorzonerUf Salsify^ mid (Enothera. 

 Though these plants are at present but little cultivated in British gar- 

 dens, yet we think a small portion of each deserves a place for the sake of 

 variety. 



1436. The skirret^ Slum Sisarum, L. (Chervis, Fr.) is an umbelliferous 

 tuberous- rooted perennial, a native of China, and in cultivation in British 

 gardens from the beginning of the sixteenth century. The part used is the 

 root, which is composed of fleshy tubers, about the size of the little finger, 

 and joined together at the collar of the plant in the manner of the tubers of 

 the ranunculus. The tubers were formerly esteemed as " the sweetest, 

 whitest, and most pleasant of roots," either boiled and served up with sauce, 

 or fried in various ways. The root is in season during the same period as the 

 parsnep. There are no varieties ; but when the plant is cultivated, it is 

 generally propagated by dividing the roots. Seed, however, may be obtained, 

 and its culture and management is in all respects the same as that of the beet. 

 The seed keeps four years. 



1437. The scorzonera^ or Viper's grass, Scorzonera hispanica, L. 

 (Scorzonere, or Salsifis d'Espagne, i^r.), is a chicoraceous fusiform -rooted 

 biennial, a native of the South of Europe, in culture in British gardens since 

 the middle of the sixteenth century. The root is straight, conical, and 

 about the thickness of a middle-sized carrot, with a black rind. It is used 

 boiled or stewed, in the mannei* of carrots or parsneps ; it comes into use in 

 August, and may be taken up m November, and preserved as long as may be 

 thought desirable. Though a perennial, it is always propagated by seed, of 

 which an ounce will be sufiicient for one hundred and fifty feet of drill. 

 The seed comes up in three or four weeks. The routine culture is the same 

 as for the carrot and parsnep, and seed may be saved in the same manner ; it 

 keeps good two years. 



1438. The salsify, or purple Goat's beard, Tragopbgon porrifolius, L. 

 (Salsifis, F):), is a chicoraceous fusiform-rooted biennial, not unlike the 

 scorzonera, to which, however, it is much to be preferred, but with much 

 narrower leaves, at a distance resembling those of leeks, a native of England, 

 formerly cultivated for its roots, which w^ere used like carrots and parsneps. 

 The seeds may be sown in March or April, and treated in all respects like 

 those of the scorzonera. The seed keeps two years. 



1430. The Spanish salsify, Scolymus hispanicus, L. (Cardouille, Fr.)^ 



