46 
AMERICAN KITCHEN GARDENER, 
CORIANDER. 
Coriandrum sativum. 
Coriander is a hardy annual plant, which originated in the East 
Culture .—This plant delights in a sandy loam. It is raised from seeas, 
which may be sown in March, or as soon as the frost will permit, when the 
weather is mild and dry. The quantity of seed requisite for a bed six feet 
long and four feet wide, sown in rows nine inches apart, is half an ounce. 
The seed should be buried half an inch. 
Use .—The seeds have a pleasant flavor, and, when incrusted with sugar, 
are sold by the confectioners under the name of coriander comfits. They are 
also used in the bitter infusions and preparations of senna, the disagreeable 
taste of w T hich they completely overcome, and for various other purposes, 
both by druggists and distillers. 
CRESS. WATER. 
Sisymbrium nasturtium. 
A genus of plants, of which the principal is the common water-cress, 
found in springs and brooks. It is perennial, and produces white flowers 
that are in bloom in J une or July. Lasteyrie tells us, that in Germany, great 
pains are taken to propagate the water-cress, and gives the following account 
of their mode of doing it: “ The water,’ 7 he says, u most favorable for its 
production, is that in which it grows naturally, and which in winter pre¬ 
serves heat enough to prevent it from freezing. The situation on which to 
form a cress plantation ought to have a little slope or inclination, because 
water in a state of repose, alters the flavor of the plant. Having chosen the 
place, it is formed into heights and hollows alternately; the latter are des¬ 
tined for the cresses, and the former for the culture of other plants. The 
size of the hollows is made to depend on the quantity of water you can 
bring into them, and the demand for the article to be raised. If the soil oi 
the hollows is not sufficiently rich, better earth must be brought to amend it, 
and if the bottom be marshy, you throw over it some inches of sand. Your 
next step is to cover it wffth water for some hours, after which you drain 
and sow or plant. At the end of a few days, you let in the water, and drain 
as before, and continue these processes until the cresses appear, if sown, or 
unti" they have taken root, if planted. Tne quantity of water let in is 
always to be regulated by the growth of the plant; for though it cannot live 
