1TC • THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, June 16, 1857. 
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“Properties and Uses. —All the parts of the plants of j 
this family are distinguished by a volatile acridity, often j 
united with nitrogen and sulphur, which cause them to 
emit such a disagreeable odour during decomposition. None 
of them are poisonous, but their properties are antiscorbutic, 
pungent, and stimulant. Here are found some of the most l 
important and valuable of our garden vegetables and farm 
plants. The Cabbage tribe, including the Broccolis, Cauli- 
iiowers, and all kinds of culinary winter greens; the Mustard, 
Cress, Water-cress, Radish, Turnip, Sea-Kale, and numerous 
others, all belong to this extensive family. It is to the 
presence of a volatile oil that the Cruciferre owe their acrid 
aud pungent flavour, and their more or less aromatic odour. 
Some authors have attributed them to the presence of 
ammonia in these plants; but this substance does not exist 
in a fixed state; analysis has not been able to detect it in 
the recent juice or in the distilled water; but, as these 
plants contain much nitrogen, it may be that during 
fermentation it may form ammonia by the decomposition of 
the water. This oil exists in the whole of the family, and 
in all the organs of these plants, but with various degrees 
of intensity, so that it renders them either simply exciting 
or more or less irritant; thus the root of the Horse-radish, 
the large leaves of the Garden-cress, the seeds of different 
kinds of Mustard, produce redness, and even inflammation 
on the skin, when applied for a certain space of time. This 
is not the case, however, in a great number of the plauts of 
this family; the acrid and volatile principle only exists in 
such proportions that their acrid flavour is subdued by the 
presence of a sufficient quantity of water or of mucilage to 
render them agreeable. The leaves of different species of 
Cress, of Scurvy-grass, Water-cress, and, in general, the 
greater part of this family, are useful, either alimentarily or | 
medically; but, as their active principle is very fleeting and ' 
volatile, they should always be used in a fresh state. 
“ The medical action of the Cruciferre is active and in- ; 
stantaneous. They stimulate energetically the different ] 
functions of the constitution, or act more especially on , 
only one of them. In the first case they rank among the 
general stimulants, and are called antiscorbutics, because it ! 
is against the scurvy that they are most frequently, and 
with the greatest advantage, employed. In the other case 
they are considered emmenagogue, sudorific, or diuretic, 
according as they stimulate the relative organs. 
“From this family we also obtain a great number of 
wholesome and nutritious vegetables, which have been 
obtained by the cultivation of the "wild species. Such are I 
the Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Radish, and Turnip, j 
which, by culture, have acquired a development of watery, 
sugary, and mucilaginous principles, which tend to destroy 
or conceal the acrid taste so prevalent in those in a wild 
state. 
“ Another uniformity of character is found in the seeds. 
Besides the volatile principle which exists more or less in 
all in different degrees, they contain a greater or less 
quantity of fat oil, which is obtained by expression. 
“ARABIDiE.—In this tribe we meet with some of the 
greatest favourites of the flower garden—the Ten-week, the 
Brompton, and the Queen’s Stock; the Wallflower, the Yellow 
Rockets, the Dame’s Violets, the pretty Wall-cresses, the 
Water-cress, and the Winter-cress. 
“ Nasturtium officinale, or Common Water-cress, is met with 
in the wild state in rivulets, springs, aud ponds, throughout 
almost the whole of this country, and is extensively used as 
a wholesome and beneficial salad. Like all the members of 
the family to which it belongs, it is useful in scorbutic af¬ 
fections and visceral obstructions. The Water-cress, which 
was formerly obtained from the natural beds only, is now 
extensively cultivated in several places in the neighbourhood 
of London, for the supply of the metropolitan, and, indeed, 
the provincial markets also. The best Water-cress beds are 
on chalky or gravelly soils, and hence those about Winches¬ 
ter, watered by the Itclien, those at Riverliead, in Kent, aud 
at the source of the Thames, near Cirencester, in Glouces¬ 
tershire, have long been celebrated. But when the plant is 
cultivated artificially, and if the rills to be planted are 
muddy at the bottom, the mud must be removed, and a bed 
of gravel substituted. The depth of water requisite for the 
culture of the W ater-cress is from four to live inches, and 
the width of the bed can be regulated according to circum¬ 
stances ; but in planting such a bed, or in gathering Water- 
cresses from natural beds, great care should be observed not ' 
to mistake that poisonous plant, Slum nodifforum, or Water- 
parsnip, which so much resembles the Water-cress. The 
Water-cress has been found to contain iodine. 
“ Barbprca prcecox is cultivated under the names of 
American Cress and Belleis/e Cress , and is esteemed by many 
as a spring salad. It has the flavour of the Water-cress, 
and those who are partial to that flavour, without being able 
to obtain the true Water-cress, frequently cultivate this 
throughout the whole year as a substitute. B. vulgaris, 
cultivated by the name of Winter Cress, and called by the 
French Herbe de Ste. Barbe, is also used as a salad plant in 
the spring; but it has a nauseous, bitter taste, and is in 
some degree mucilaginous. In Sweden it is used as a culi¬ 
nary vegetable, the leaves being used as we do Kale. 
“ Cardamine pratensis , that beautiful wild flower of spring, 
clothing as with a bridal mantle our moist meadows and 
river banks, and known by the name of Lady's Smock and 
Cuckoo Flower, is also used as a salad in the north of 
Europe. The leaves are slightly pungent and somewhat 
bitter; and from the whole plant the juice is expressed, and 
taken in a dose of a wine-glassful by the inhabitants of ; 
northern countries, who live extensively on salt fish and 
meats. It is esteemed an excellent remedy in scorbutic 
diseases, obstructions of the liver, and jaundice. About a 
century ago it was highly extolled as a remedy against 
epilepsy; but taken imvardly it has little sensible effect j 
upon the system, and is therefore only regarded as a popular j 
nostrum. 
“ Bent aria diphylla, or Tooth wort, is used by the natives 
of North America, by whom it is called Pepper-root; the 
roots having a pungent, mustard-like taste. 7 ). bulbife.ru, 
which grows wild in most shady woods in England, is said, 
when dried, to have a greater pungency than the Pellitory of 
Spain, and was formerly used as a remedy for toothache.” 
(To be continued.) 
LARGE SWARM OF BEES. 
Your correspondent “ IIighfield ” states that he hived 
on the 3 6th of May what appeared to him a very strong 
sw arm, being sufficient to fill a couple of quarts. Perhaps it 
will surprise him when I state that 'on the lltli of May a 
swarm w r as hived here which I should think would have 
filled two gallons. It was certainly the largest swarm of 
bees I ever recollect seeing, and I have been familiar with 
bee-keeping from boyhood. Another sw r arm wo had on the 
13th, two days later: this was a very fine swarm, but not 
quite so large as the first. The “stocks” were well fed 
during the whole of the winter with honey, barley-sugar, 
and sugar and beer, which I have no doubt mainly con¬ 
tributed to their strength. 
Are you aware of any swarming previous to the lltli ? 
' We had three in May, viz., on the lltli, 13th, and 23rd, all 
hived in beautiful condition, but upon the old principle, the 
| old cottage straw hive.— G. Fry, the Gardens, Manor House, 
! Lee , Kent. 
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TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Melons and Vines in Pots ( E . P.).—Stop the Melon shoots—you 
have acted right—and set the fruit as soon as you can get the flower. 
Turn your Vines at once into nine-inch pots, and give them bottom 
heat if possible, and plenty of light, and ere long turn them into twelve 
or fifteen-inch pots, and you have no occasion to wait until 1859 for fruit 
from them. They ought to do well in 1858. We will try and go more 
l into detail as soon as we can find room, but did we do so we could only 
repeat what you seem to have seen in previous volumes, and as you are 
chiefly interested we think you ought to consult the index of contents 
for yourself. We also wish our correspondents not to imitate us in re¬ 
ferring to a late or a back number. We are obliged to do so, purely 
because we cannot command the time at this season of the year, and 
we are sure all our coadjutors will agree with us in thinking that those 
correspondents ought to be best attended to who, in making any refer- 
erice, give us at once volume and page. 
Names of Plants (A Staines Subscriber). —Your plant is the 
common Fumitory, Fumaria officinalis. {Cheshire). —Yours is Lumium 
muculatum, or Blotch-leaved Dead Nettle, or Archangel, a very 
singular-looking plant. It flowers early, and once well planted, 
whether in the mixed border, rockery, or as a bedding plant, only 
requires its trailing stems to be thinned out now’ and then during tbc 
