Milk- Thistle.
393. The Milk-Thistle, or Our Lady's Thistle (Car duus Marianas, L.; Syngenesia Polyganzia equalis ; Ci varacephalce, Juss.) is a biennial plant, a native of nritaill, (Eng. Bot. t. 976.) It is at once distinguished by the beautiful milky veins which form an irregular network on the leaves. Some readers may be surprized to find a native thistle ranked among our esculent plants ; but it is certainly not more unpromising at first aspect than the artichoke or thecardoon. When very young, it is eaten as a salad; the tender leaves, stripped of their spines, are sometimes boiled and used as greens ; the young stalks peeled, and soaked in water to extract a part of the bit terness, are said to be excellent ; early in the spring of the second year, the root is pretty good, prepared like salsify or skirret ; the receptacle is pulpy, and eats like that of the artichoke. The young plants are sometimes blanched like endive, and used in winter salads : for this purpose the seeds are sown in spring, and the plants are allowed tc remain about a foot and a half distant from each other ; in autumn, the leaves are tied together, and the earth drawn up close to them, till they be whitened. The plant, how• ever, is but rarely cultivated for any culinary purpose.
It grows naturally, or has been naturalized, near all the old castles or strongholds of Scotland, such as the castles of Edinburgh, Stilling, and Dumbarton. From this circum stance, and the formidable spines of the calyx, many con sider it as the " true Scots thistle," the national badge, But the way--thistle (Carduus lanceolatus) is incomparably more common in that country. The Gardeners' Lodge of Edinburgh, it may be remarked, generally adopts the cot ton•thistle (Onopordum acanthiuni) as its emblem ; but ap• parently without any good reason, that plant existing only in one or two pal is of the country. It may be added, that the rept esentations of the Scots thistle, whether carved on ancient buildings, impressed on the coins of the realm, or emblazoned on armorial bearings, as seen in seals or in old engravings, bear equal resemblance to all of thes.:, or, to speak more correctly, are equally unlike any thistle described by Line, us, as they are dissimilar to each other, Burnet.
394. Burnet (Poteriztm Sanguisorba, L. ; Montecia Poly• andria ; Rosacete, Juss.; petite pimprenelle of the French,,' is a perennial plant, growing naturally in some parts of England, in dry upland pastures. It is figured in " Eng lish Botany," t. 860. The leaves are pinnatcd ; they form a tuft next to the root, but are alternate on the stem ; the leaflets are partly round-shaped, partly pointed, ani much serrated on the edges. The stem rises fifteen inches high, and the flowers form small greenish or purplish heads.
Burnet leaves are sometimes Ott into salads, and occa sionally into soups ; and they form a favourite ingredient for cool tankards. When slightly bruised, they smell like cucumber, and they have a somewhat warm taste. They continue green through the winter, when many other salad plants are cut off, or in a state unfit for use. The plant is easily raised by sowing the seeds in alumni), soon after they are ripe ; or it may be increased by parting the roots. A few plants are sufficient, as it is not much in use. To promote the production of young leaves am: shoots, the stems are two or three times cut over dining the summer.
Rape.
395. Rape, or Coleseed,(Brassica ..A'apus,) is sown thick as a salad herb, to be cut while in the seed-leaf, in the same war as mustard. A variety of this plant affords the small niipch turnip or navew, already treated of, § 318. Some colfsider rape leaves as a good stomachic, and take them boiled.
In the same‘way, radish seed (Raphanus sativus, § 329.) is sometimes sown thick, and cut in the seed-leaf lo use.
Horse radish.
396. Horse-•adish (Cochlea,* ?irmoracia, L.; 7'etradyna mia Siliculosa ; Cruciferte, Juss.) is a perennial plant, grow ing naturally in marshy places and by the sides of ditches, in some parts of England, and figured in " English Bo• tally," t. 2223. The leaves are very large, and vary consi derably in appearance, being sometimes entire, or only crenated, sometimes deeply pinnatifid; the flowers are white, and conic in loose panicles. It has long been culti vated in gardens ; the root scraped into sin eds being a well known accompaniment of the roast beef of old England, and also used to give a zest to winter salads. The soil should be rich and deep, in order to induce the plants tc strike their roots freely. Crowns, having about two or three inches only of root attached to them, make very good plants; but cuttings of the knotty parts of the roots, pro vided always they be furnished with one or two buds or eyes, are often preferred, as they arc to be planted entirely under the soil. They are generally planted, in February or March, in lines, leaving a foot and a half between each and for the first season, therefore, a slight crop of spinach or lettuce may be taken between the lines. The sets are placed at the depth of at least a foot ; if the soil be light, fifteen inches is not too deep. The roots are not dug for use till the second year; and they are raised only when wanted, the pungent quality escaping rapidly as the root dries. The bed lasts for four or live years; care be ing taken, in digging the roots, to leave the stuck plant. or original set, untouched, removing for use only the upright straight root of twelve or fifteen inches in length, produced by planting at that depth.