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APPENDIX.

VEGETABLES.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE MOST USEFUL KNOWN.

IN THREE CLASSES.

CLASS I. Vegetable Roots.

CLASS II. Pulse, Vegetable Tops, &c.

CLASS III. Salads, Pickles, Savory Herbs, &c.

A part of the article on vegetables was prepared for the former edition. But its publication was then given up for the time, and the materials, so far as prepared, were given up to a friend, to be transferred, if he saw fit, to another publication. I have, in this article, consulted the first authorities.

PREPARATION OF THE SOIL.

The ground for the reception of fine seeds of vegetables, should be broken up in the preceding year, and well manured in autumn, and rendered fine in spring by repeated ploughing and harrowing or raking. Plough and manure deep for deep rooted vegetables; but manure near the surface only for all others. Potatoes and Indian corn answer well and produce large crops in ground newly broken up. Very fine seeds should be sown in a newly prepared fresh soil, and covered only a quarter of an inch deep; larger seeds deeper in proportion to their size: and the ground to be immediately trodden hard, or rolled with a heavy roller. This enables the earth to preserve its moisture at its surface, where at the same time the seeds may receive the necessary degree of heat from the sun and vegetate at once, striking root downwards. Fine seeds, if sown too deep, are liable to perish.

HOT BEDS.

By bringing forward many kinds of vegetables in a hot-bed, and transplanting as soon as the weather becomes sufficiently warm, you may be enabled to produce ample supplies of many kinds, a month earlier than in the open ground, many of our finest vegetables being natives of the tropical countries.

The materials for the formation of the bed may consist of leaves, tanner's bark, or fresh strawy manure from the horse stable. The

last for this purpose is to be preferred; but one third part of tan, mixed with two thirds of manure, makes a heat less violent, and more durable than manure alone.

A frame six feet square is composed of four boards; the front board a foot deep; the back or north board eighteen inches. This frame is covered with two sashes formed of small cheap glass, five by seven inches. The sashes may be provided with hinges on the back side, for the purpose of raising the front and giving air occasionally. The surface of the earth, as Mr Knight has recommended, should be inclined towards the horizon in an angle of 15 degrees. Prepare therefore the surface of the earth by sinking the front only to the required depth, and of a width and length exceeding that of the frame. The manure from the stable is now to be built up on this foundation by placing successive layers of manure with a fork to the height of about fourteen or fifteen inches, and pressed or trodden gently throughout, its surface corresponding in its inclination with its earthy foundation: the dimensions six inches wider on every side than the frame. On this the frame is placed, and covered with the sashes, and in about two or three days, if the weather is pleasant, cover the surface with rich loam from seven to twelve inches deep, and again put on the lights. If the excess of heat and fermentation is too great, raise the glasses a little in front, and when the earth is of the right temperature, or in about ten days from the commencement, plant your early cucumber, radishes, lettuce, cabbages, &c. &c., and as these increase in size, they may be trans planted either to the open ground or into other hot-beds, and allowed more space, and thence to the open field. In cold wet weather the sides may be protected by straw or litter placed around them; and the heat may be renewed by cutting down square the outside, and piling fresh manure around the sides and the frame. The hot-bed should be prepared in March, and made ready by the end of winter.

INSECTS. (See also Insects, p. 49.)

PYROLIGNEOUS ACID is not only destructive to insects, but protects the bodies of trees to which it is applied, even from their approach. CAMPHOR is powerfully repulsive, from its strong odor.

BITTER ALOES. - Plants, according to Mrs Tredgold, are completely protected against insects, by washing them in an infusion of bitter aloes, which does not in the least injure the plants, and the effects of a single application are stated to be lasting.

FLAME FIRES.- Samuel Preston of Stockport, Pa. has successfully destroyed insects in his garden and melon grounds, by flame fires of shavings, at night; the giddy insects rush into the fire from all quarters. He is satisfied that one shilling's worth of labor in an evening will secure a garden from their depredations, if not in time exterminate them. Fuel suitable may consist of the mowings of brush pastures or roadsides.

FLAMBEAUX. Dr Harris recommends as effectual to wind round the end of a stick about a foot and a half long, old rags and swingling tow, dipped in tar or melted brimstone; let this be stuck in the ground and set on fire; it will burn a considerable time, and prove the funeral pyre of myriads. Staves of tar barrels might probably answer as well.

CLASS I.-VEGETABLE ROOTS.

1. ARACHIS HYPOGEA,

Or Ground nut. An annual plant, with long trailing stalks. A native of Mexico, but now cultivated in the West Indies for its nuts, which are oblong and grow beneath the surface. These are used by the negroes as food. But in France they are now cultivated for the abundance of the oil they produce. This is said to be equally valuable for the table and other purposes to the oil of olives, and superior to that for burning. A bushel of the nuts produces by cold expression a gallon of oil; but more may be produced by heat, but of a quality inferior.

2. ARRACACHA, of the order of Umbelliferæ.

A plant from South America, which some have supposed may supersede the potato. Its main root divides into four or five large prongs. It is cultivated at Santa Fe and Caraccas, and is light, starchy, and wholesome. It is said to thrive best in the elevated regions of mountains, where the medium heat does not exceed 60°. It deserves trial with us.

3. ARROW ROOT. Maranta.

A perennial plant, a native of South America. The roots are tuberous, jointed, and produce a starch, one of the most nourishing of vegetable substances, and useful in medicine. Its successful cultivation has been introduced in the Southern States. It requires a light, rich soil, and is propagated by dividing at the root. It is very productive, for according to Mr Russell, from two small tubers, twelve bushels were produced in two seasons at St Helena.

4. BEET. Beta.

An annual plant, a native of the South of Europe. The leaves are long, thick, and succulent; the root large, of a tuberous or conical form, and sweet taste.

I shall describe the Beet under three heads.

1st. Those whose roots only, are used for culinary purposes. 2d. Poirees, or those whose tops constitute the main part which is used in cookery.

3d. Beets for forage of domestic animals.

I. BEETS.

1. Early Blood Turnip Rooted.

2. Early Dwarf Blood.

3. Long Blood Beet.

4. Early Orange, or Yellow Turnip Rooted.

5. Early White Scarcity.

No. 1 is of fine quality and is deemed earliest; it will grow in thin soils, and the tops are valuable for greens. No. 3 is the most valuable for the main crop. The roots of these varieties are a superior class of vegetables for boiling; they are also used as salads, and form a highly esteemed pickle. For an early crop, sow as early

in April as the ground will admit, and from thence to the early part of June for the winter crop; in rows a foot asunder and four inches apart in the row.

II. POIREES.

6. Sir John Sinclair's Beet, or Swiss Chard.

7. Green Beet.

The Swiss Chard has leaves nearly three feet long; the stalks are remarkably large, long, white, tender and succulent. They are boiled like asparagus, and the leaves like spinach. It is much used in Switzerland and in France, furnishing a very superior article for greens during summer. No. 7 is used for soups and stews.

III. BEETS FOR FORAGE OR THE FOOD OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

8. Mangel Wurtzel, or Disette, or Scarcity.

9. French Sugar Beet, or White Prussian.

Both these varieties grow about half way out of ground and of extraordinary size. For these reasons they are peculiarly calculated for being raised in large quantities as food for horses, cattle, &c.; both kinds producing enormous crops. In 1824, Messrs. T. & H. Little of Newbury, Mass. raised on a single acre a crop of mangel wurtzel weighing 74,518 lbs. The ground should be thrown in ridges two feet asunder by back furrowing, the top being levelled, the seed sown and covered two inches deep, and the ground well rolled; the plants being finally left a foot asunder in the row. Mangel wurtzel, according to the analysis of Sir Humphrey Davy, contains more nourishment than carrots, and late experiments seem to have proved it. No. 9 is the kind recommended by M. Achard as the best of all for sugar; formerly great quantities were made in France from this root, and the refuse affords a most nourishing and fattening food for horses, cattle, and swine. All kinds of beets should be gathered before hard frosts commence; wring off the tops and lay them in conical piles, cover first with leaves and then with earth, and before winter sets in, remove them to the cellar.

5. BREAD ROOT. Psoralea esculenta.

A southern perennial plant, a native of Missouri. Its roots are eaten like those of the potato, and with cultivation produces abundant crops.

6. CARAWAY. Carum carui.

A hardy biennial plant, rising three or four feet in height. The seeds are used in confectionary, cakes, &c., and to flavor alcohol. They are esteemed the finest of stomachics and carminatives. The roots are long and tuberous or conical, and esteemed even more delicious than the parsnip, and fully equal on all accounts even to Scorzonera. Cultivation the same as carrots, which see.

7. CARROT. Daucos carotta.

A hardy biennial, rising to the height of three or four feet. The roots long and conical, they are boiled with meat and fish and used in stews and soups. They are excellent food for horses and cattle, being but little inferior to mangel wurtzel.

4. Purple.

1. Early Short Orange (for forcing.) 2. Early Horn.

3. Long Orange.

5. Altringham.
6. Lemon.

No. 2 is fine for the table. No. 3 is fine for the table, and suitable for the main crop. The purple is highly prized in the West Indies. The Altringham and Lemon are the suitable kinds to raise for horses and cattle, from the very great crops they produce. Sown in April or May, in rich sandy loam, in rows a foot asunder, the plants being left four inches distance in the row; bury the seeds half an inch in depth, and roll the ground. Gather in the crops as soon as the first hard frosts commence, and house them before winter, in warm cellars.

S. S. 8. GINGER.

An herbaceous perennial plant, a native of the East Indies or the Western World; cultivated in New Spain, but especially in Jamaica to a great extent. The stalks rise like reeds to the height of two and a half feet; the leaves narrow and lanceolate; the roots creeping, in tuberous joints. In autumn the soundest roots are scraped clean and carefully dried in the sun. But the poorest roots are scalded previously to drying. Ginger forms the finest preserve in the world. For this purpose they are dug as soon as the stalk has risen six inches; these being scalded and peeled, are washed in cold water, and steeped during three days, the water being often changed; they are then preserved in sugar and placed in jars.

9. LEEK. Allium porrum.

1. Large Scotch.

2. London.

A species of onion. Its uses and cultivation are much the same. Sow in April or May. As the plants approach maturity, cover the bulbs with earth, to blanch, and give them a sweet flavor.

10. LIN-KIO. Ed. Enc. Art. China.

A species of Water Chesnut, which grows in China; of a cooling and agreeable taste. It is sometimes sold like filberts, in a green state; sometimes dried, powdered, and made into soup, and sometimes baked in the oven with sugar and honey. They sow the seeds at the end of autumn, in the shallowest places of ponds and rivers, in a south exposure.

11. ONION. Allium sepa.

1. White Portugal.

2. Yellow or Straw Color. 3. Large Red.

4. Tree Onion.

5. Potato Onion.

The White and Yellow are esteemed superior to the Red, onion. The Tree onion is a perennial, producing bulbs on the summit of its stalks, which are valuable for pickling or other uses; it is propagated from the bulbs of its tops or roots. Sow the seeds of onions from the tenth of April to the first of May, in rows a foot asunder, the plants finally to be thinned to two inches apart; the seeds to be covered one fourth of an inch, and the ground rolled. For an early crop sow early in autumn, and protect during winter by a covering of litter. Another is the mode recommended by Mr Knight for

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