KITCEEN GARDEN.
271. TnE order in which culinary plants are arranged, or treated of, is not a matter of much importance. They may be divided into the cabbage tribe ; leguminous plantS; esculent roots, either tuberous or fusiform ; the alliaceous tribe; spinach plants ; boiling salads, including those plants, the stems and leaves of which are generally blanched ; fresh salads ; plants for soups, and for garnishings ; with the various sweet herbs, those used for preserves, and as medicines. The mushroom stands alone, being the only one of the fungi which is cultivated.
Several of the plants may no doubt be considered as be longing to more than one of these divisions ; but they shall be treated of under that title to which they seem chiefly allied, and only named under the others. In treating of each article, nearly the same method shall be pursued as has been adopted in speaking of fructiferous plants. The botanical name shall always be given, as the want of this has been found by experience to create considerable em barrassment and uncertainty, in consulting the popular treatises on horticulture published in France and Germany. The class and order of Linnaeus or Willdenow, and the na tural order of Jussieu, to which the plant belongs, shall also be mentioned ; and the French, German, or Italian names shall be set down, wherever it may seem of any im portance to mention them. The country to which the plant is indigenous shall be with the date of its introduction into Britain, if an exotic, or of its being used as food, if a native. Where different varieties are cultivated, as of peas, onions, lettuce, or others, the principal varieties shall be enumerated and described. The mode of culture shall then be detailed. The means of keeping or pre serving esculent roots and other culinary articles through the winter shall not be omitted ; and the way in which each plant is used in the kitchen, it may be proper generally to mention.
Cabbage Tribe.
272. Of all the classes of cultivated culinary vegetables, the cabbage tribe is the most ancient, as well as the most extensive. The Brasrica oleracea of Linnaeus (belonging
to the class Tetradynarnia, order Siliquosa, and to the na tural order Cruciferm of Jussieu) being extremely liable to sport or run into varieties and monstrosities, has, in the course of time, become the parent of a numerous race of pot-herbs, so very various in their habit and appearance, that to many it may appear not a little extravagant to refer them to the same origin. Besides the different sorts of white and red cabbage, and savoys, which form the leaves into a head, there are various sorts of borecoles, coleworts, and kale, which grow with their leaves loose in the natural way ; and there are several kinds of cauliflower and broc coli, which form their stalks or flower-buds into a head. All of these, with the turnip-rooted cabbage, and the Brus sels-sprouts, claim a common origin from the single spe cies of Brassica above mentioned. This original cabbage plant grows naturally on the sea-shores, in different parts of England, hut it has not been observed in Scotland. It is figured in English Botany, t. 637. It is a biennial plant; the stem leaves are much waved, and variously indented ; the colour is sea-green, with occasionally a tinge of purple. Early in the spring the wild cabbage or colewort from the sea-coast is said to be excellent, but it must be boiled in two waters, to remove the saltness.
Close Cabbages.
273. C0172712071 white cabbage (Brassica olcracea caidtata alba, L.)--some sort of cabbage, as remarketM r NVhite, in his History of Sclborne, must have been sed by our Saxon predecessors, for they named the month of Fe bruary sprout-kak. Cabbage was a favourite vegetable with the Romans ; and their Italian kind would doubtless be introduced during the long period of their sway in the south of Britain. To the inhabitants of the north of Scotland, cabbages were first made known by the soldiers of the en terprising Cromwell.