EGG PLANT. 
57 
ywithoui coloring them with that poisonous metal, copper, or rendering 
them too acrid with stimulant spices,) they are an excellent antiseptic; yet 
we consider them Highly improper either for children or wet nurses.”— 
Dom. Encyc. 
DANDELION. 
Leontodon Taraxacum. 
This is a hard} perennial plant, which is found growing spontaneously In 
Great Britain ai: l the United States. Loudon says that this vegetable, 
“though regularly produced in London market, is seldom or never cultivated, 
being generally to be found in sufficient luxuriance by the sides of hedges 
and dry ditches. It might easily be propagated either by seeds or roots, 
and, if introduced as a garden plant, should have a rich, deep soil, and be 
carefully tied up and earthed round to blanch it effectually. Cut off all the 
flowers as they appear, to prevent the dispersion of the seed and the weak¬ 
ening of the plant. When salad is scarce, the dandelion might be dug up 
from road-sides in winter, and forced in pots like succory. 
44 Use .—The leaves in early spring, when just unfolding, afford a very 
good ingredient in salads. The French sometimes eat the young roots, and 
the etiolated [blanched or whitened] leaves with thin slices of bread and 
butter. When blanched, the leaves considerably resemble those of endive 
in taste. The root is considered an equally good substitute for coffee as chic¬ 
ory, and may, like that plant, be stored in cellars and barrels, for producing 
winter salad.”— Caled. Hort. Mem. iv, 138. In this country, the dandelion 
has, we believe, been used for greens, or pot-herbs only, and we have never 
known it subjected to cultivation. 
EGG-PLANT. 
Solarium Melongena. — Melongcne , Ft. — Tollapfel , Ger. 
“There are two varieties of this plant, the white-fruited and the purple, 
cultivated for culinary purposes; the latter kind is preferable, and, when 
sliced and nicely fried, approaches, both in taste and flavor, nearer to that ol 
a very nice fried oyster than, perhaps, any other plant. 
“ This delicious vegetable may be propagated by sowing the seed on a 
slight hot-bed the beginning of April or in March; and towards the latter 
