WILD PLANTS WOKTHY OF CL'LTUKE. 



how delicious many of our common fungi really are they would be much 

 more often gathered and used. One of the earliest to appear is the 

 St. George's mushroom (Agaricus (jamhosus), so called because it often 

 appears as early as on St. George's Day. It is the " mousceron," oi- 

 " mousseron," of the French, the moss champignon, why so called no one 

 knows, because it is a meadow or pasture growing species. From April 

 until November, when the " blewits " appear, we have a constant succession 

 of good and edible kinds — those interested may consult Cooke's " British 

 Edible Fungi " for figures and other details. 



The' seaweeds of our coast lines have not had much attention given 

 them since kelp-burning has been superseded by chemical products or by 

 barilla. Algin is a product of some importance, useful for size, as a mordaunt 

 in dyeing, and it is valuable for preventing the incrustation of boiler 

 tubes, &c. Algic cellulose is also valuable, and can be bleached, turned 

 and polished, or made into paper, and in combination with shellac forms 

 a cheap non-conductor of electricity of great value. Algin, as ■combined 

 with seaweed charcoal, is called " Carbon Cement," and is used in cover- 

 ing boilers and exposed steampipes, being one of the best of solid non- 

 conductors of heat at present known. As food plants some seaweeds 

 deserve attention. Green and pink laver may be eaten in soups, and 

 dulse as boiled in milk is a noted Scotch delicacy, as is " sloke " in Ireland. 

 Glue and jellies of various kinds are made from seaweed, as also an 

 excellent substitute for isinglass. Carrageen, or Irish moss, has long been 

 used as food, and as boiled for cattle feeding. It consists of • Cliouflms 

 crisims and other species. It is well to know that the more tender of all 

 seaweeds, like the young fronds and stipes of all ferns, may be boiled and 

 eaten in all cases of emergency. We have no true moss of any value as 

 an edible product, but bog moss, or sphagnum, and green wood moss, or 

 hypnum, of various kinds, are very valuable to the growers of tropical 

 orchids and of other greenhouse flowers. 



Amongst salads, pot-herbs, and other useful plants the best of native 

 origin are — mint (menthol), thyme (thymol), caraway, coriander, camomile, 

 yarrow, lettuce, endive or chicory, dandelion, angelica, mustard and cress, 

 burnet, horseradish, garden radishes, watercress, sorrel, scur\w grass, 

 eryngium roots candied, samphire for pickling, fennel, dill, marjoram, 

 savory, wormwood, elderflowers for toilet water, -wine or vinegar, hop 

 and nettle tops. Good King Henry {Chenopodium Bonus Hcnricus), leeks, 

 Alexanders (now supplanted by celery), to say nothing of edible lichens, 

 seaweeds, and fungi of many kinds to which we have already referred. 



How TO Select, Cultivate, and Improve the best of our 



Native Wildings. 



" To study, culture and with artful toil 

 To meliorate and tame the stubborn soil ; 

 To give dissimilar yet fruitful lands, 

 The grain, the herb, the plant that each demands ; 



These, these are arts pursued without a crime. 

 That leave no stain upon the wings of Time.'' 



The first thing is to feel a want, some ideal standard of excellence must 

 be set up, to which it is thought any particular plant or product may be 



