THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
sometimes kept by simply putting them in tightly-sealed 
bottles without any boiling. In this case the Gooseberries, 
not being ripe, absorb the oxygen from the small quantity 
of air in the bottles without injury. If the bottles, after 
being sealed, are placed in hot water for a few minutes this 
absorption of oxygen takes place much more rapidly with 
the formation of carbonic acid. Unless the fruit is quite 
green the former method is undoubtedly the best. 
Green Peas can be preserved in the same manner as 
Gooseberries and Currants. 
Green Gooseberries are frequently preserved by placing 
them, when dry, in a stone jar or other vessel, and burying 
it in the soil below the reach of frost.— ( The Genesee 
Farmer.) 
THE CRUCIFERrE, OR CROSS FLOWERS. 
From Hogg's Natural History of the Vegetable Kingdom. 
{Continued from page 240.) 
“ BRASSICEiE.—Of all the tribes of the Cruciferae this 
is by far the most important, as it contains a number of 
plants which both in themselves and their products occupy 
a prominent position in agriculture, commerce, and in do¬ 
mestic economy. It is properly the Cabbage Tribe. 
“ On Dover cliffs, and in many places on the coast of 
Dorsetshire, Cornwall, and Yorkshire, may be seen a wild 
plant with variously indented, much-waved, and loose, 
spreading leaves of a sea-green colour, and large yellow 
flowers. In spring the inhabitants collect the leaves of this 
plant, and, after boiling them in two waters to remove the 
saltness, use them as a vegetable along with their meat. 
This is Brassica oleracea, the Wild Cabbage or Colewort , 
from which have originated all the varieties of Cabbage, 
Greens, Cauliflower, and Broccoli. It would be quite beyond 
the intention of this work to enter minutely into a treatise 
on all the varieties of the Cabbage tribe which are cultivated 
in gardens, and neither shall we do so ; but as it is a subject 
which is no doubt interesting to many to know somewhat of 
the arrangement and distribution of these plants, we shall 
devote a short space to that purpose. Starting with the Wild 
Cabbage as it is found on the sea-cliffs of this country, we 
have the plant in its simplest and normal form. In this 
state it is the true Colewort or Collet, although the name is 
now applied to any young Cabbage which has a loose and 
open heart. Brought into cultivation, we have it improved 
in character, though still with the loose open leaves, and in 
this form it is called Greens, Kale, or Borecole {B. oleracea 
acephala). Of these there are many varieties both as re¬ 
gards the form and colour of the leaves, and the height of 
the plants, and among them are included the Thousand¬ 
headed and the Cow or Tree Cabbage. Advancing a step 
farther in improvement, we find it assuming the headed or 
hearting character, and with blistered leaves; then it is 
known by the name of Savoys and Brussels Sprouts {B. o. 
bullata). Another of its headed forms, but with smooth 
glaucous leaves, is the Cultivated Cabbage of our gardens 
(B. o. capitata), and all its varieties of green, red, tall, 
dwarf, early, late, round, conical, flat, and all the forms into 
which it is possible to squeeze it. A more singular develop¬ 
ment is that presented by Kohl-Rabi, or, as it is sometimes 
called, Turnip Cabbage and Knol-Kohl {B. o. caulo-rapa), 
wherein the stem swells out like a large turnip on the 
surface of the ground, and from which the leaves proceed 
all round it, the top surmounted by a large cluster of leaves 
issuing from it. Although not generally grown as a garden 
vegetable, if used when young and tender, it is wholesome, 
nutritious, and very palatable. The only other forms which 
the Cabbage presents in a cultivated state are those in which 
we find it under the names of Cauliflower {B. o. botrytis 
cauUJlora) and Broccoli {B. o. botrytis asparagoides), both of 
which are so well known as not to require any further 
remarks. 
“ B. campestris represents, also, several very important 
plants, and is known by the names of Wild Navew and 
Colza. In this its simplest form it is extensively cultivated 
in the north of France, Holland, and in Belgium, for its 
seeds, from which is expressed a valuable oil called Colza 
Oil. It is also grown in England for the same purpose. 
GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION, August 18, 1857. 319 
Colza Oil is much used for burning in lamps, for which it is 
well adapted, as it produces very little smoke; for scouring 
cloths, and for domestic purposes. It dries slowly, soon 
becomes rancid and acrid, and furnishes a soft soap. It 
contains in a hundred parts forty-six of stearine and fifty- 
four of oleine. The Swedish Turnip , now so extensively 
cultivated as an agricultural crop, is a form of this plant 
more fully developed, as is also the Turnip-rooted Cabbage 
{B. c. napo-brassica). 
“ B. rapa is the origin from which the cultivated Turnip 
lias sprung, whether of the field or garden varieties. In its 
wild state it furnishes an oil similar to that of Rape and 
Colza, but it is less productive in this substance than these 
are, and is therefore only grown because of its adaptability 
to poor soils, on which they do not luxuriate. The use of 
the Turnip in its cultivated state is too well known to 
require any description. 
“ B. napus is the common and cultivated Rape or Coleseed. 
This plant is extensively cultivated for its herbage, which 
furnishes an excellent winter food for sheep; and for its 
seeds, from which is obtained the oil called Rape Oil , so 
extensively used for machinery, the residue, after the oil is 
expressed, being known among farmers as Rape Cake. This 
cake was used formerly for feeding cows, pigs, and calves 
during winter; but it is now more highly esteemed and ex¬ 
clusively used as a valuable manure, from the great quantity 
of nitrogen which it contains. There is a variety of this, 
called by the French Chou Navette, and by us French Turnip 
(B. n. esculcnta), which is employed in flavouring all the 
foreign soups. Stewed in gravy it forms a most excellent 
dish, and being white and of the shape of a carrot, when 
mixed alternately with those roots on a dish they are very 
ornamental. 
“ Sinapis nigra , or Black Mustard, grows wild in many 
parts of this country in corn-fields and by waysides ; and S. 
alba, or White Mustard, is a native of the south of Europe, 
but now naturalised in many parts of this country. It is 
from the ground seed of these two species that Flour of 
Mustard , so much used as a condiment, is obtained. The 
original Durham Mustard was made from the ground seed of 
S. arvensis, the common wild Charlock, which grew very 
plentifully in the neighbourhood of that city ; and in places 
where it abounds its seed is still collected and sold for the 
purpose of mixing with the black and white. White Mustard 
is grown very extensively in the fens of Lincolnshire and 
Cambridgeshire, in Essex and Kent, but the greater bulk is 
produced in the fens of the two former counties. Used 
medicinally Mustard seed swallowed whole is laxative, and 
a remedy in dyspepsia and other complaints attended with 
torpid bowels and deficient excitement. The bruised seeds 
or powder, in the quantity of a large tea-spoonful, operate as 
an emetic. In smaller quantities it is a safe stimulant of 
the digestive organs; and, as it is frequently determined to 
the kidneys, it has been beneficially employed in dropsy, 
administered in the shape of a whey, made by boiling half 
an ounce of the bruised seeds or powder in a pint of milk, 
and straining, and a wine-glassful to be taken several times 
a day. But it is mainly as a rubefacient that Mustard is 
most highly prized. Mixed with water in the form of a 
plaster, it very soon produces redness with a burning pain, 
which, if continued, becomes insupportable. When speedy 
or violent action is not required it is generally mixed with 
rye meal or wheat flour, and care should be taken not to 
allow the application to continue too long, as blistering with 
obstinate ulceration may result. Mustard is very rarely to 
be obtained pure, it being always more or less extensively 
adulterated; but, as the substitutes are generally of a harm¬ 
less description, no alarm need be excited on that account, 
the result being merely less acridity and pungency. Rape 
seed, Turnip seed which is too old to vegetate, wild Radish, 
and wheat flour are the principal ingredients; the last is 
generally added after the seed is ground, but the others are 
ground along with it. An oil is obtained from the seeds by 
expression, and called Oil of Mustard, which has the same 
properties as those of the other plants of this family. It is 
of a greenish-yellow colour, with little smell, and a mild and 
not unpleasant taste, and yields on saponification an acid 
for which the name of Erucic Acid has been proposed. 
When the seeds have been pressed and all the fixed oil has 
been extracted, the residue left behind is much more 
