The Field and Garden Vegetables of America Part 71

Indian Cress. Capucine, of the French. Tropaeolum, sp. et var.

This plant is a native of Peru; and, though generally treated as an annual, is a tender perennial. When cultivated for its flowers or seeds, it should be planted in poor, light soil; but when foliage and luxuriant growth are desired, for the covering of arbors, trellises, and the like, the soil can hardly be made too rich.

The planting should be made in April or May. As the seeds are quite large, they should be covered two inches deep. When planted in drills, they are made three feet apart, and the young plants thinned to six inches apart in the drills. The growing crop may be supported by staking or bus.h.i.+ng, as practised with pease; or the taller-growing sorts may be shortened in, which will induce a strong, stocky habit of growth.

While the plants are young, they will require some attention, in order that they may be properly attached to the stakes or trellises provided for their support; after which, little care need be bestowed, beyond the ordinary stirring of the soil, and keeping the ground free from weeds.

_Use._--The unexpanded flower-buds, and the seeds while young and succulent, have a warm, aromatic taste, and are pickled and used as capers. The young shoots are eaten as salad; and the flowers, which are large and richly colored, are used for garnis.h.i.+ng. Few ornamental plants are better known or more generally cultivated than the Nasturtium.

The species and varieties are as follow:--

TALL NASTURTIUM.

Tropaeolum majus.

Stem from six to eight feet high, succulent; leaves alternate, smooth, rounded,--the leaf-stems being attached to the disc, or under-surface; flowers large, on long stems, yellow,--the two upper petals streaked and marked with purple; the seeds are large, somewhat triangular, convex on one of the sides, of a drab or pale-brown color, and retain their germinative properties five years,--from a hundred and eighty to two hundred are contained in an ounce.

DARK-FLOWERING.

A variety of the preceding; differing only in the brown color of the flowers. Cultivation and uses the same.

VARIEGATED.

Also a sub-variety of the Tall Nasturtium, with orange-yellow flowers; each of the petals being stained or spotted with purple.

Other varieties occur, differing in color, but equally useful for the purposes before described.

SMALL NASTURTIUM.

Dwarf Capucine. Tropaeolum minus.

Much smaller, in all respects, than the common Dwarf variety of _Tropaeolum majus_; the stem rarely measuring more than two feet in length, or rising above a foot in height. The flowers are yellow; the lower petals with a blotch of scarlet at their base, and the upper ones delicately striped with the same color.

It yields abundantly; and, though the pods are comparatively small, they are generally preferred to those of the Tall Nasturtium for pickling.

PICRIDIUM.

Garden Picridium. Picridium vulgare.

A hardy, annual plant, from the south of Europe. Stem eighteen inches high; leaves six to eight inches long, irregular in form, but generally broad at the ends, and heart-shaped and clasping at the base; flowers yellow, compound, produced in cl.u.s.ters; the seeds are long, slightly curved, four-sided, brown or blackish-brown, and retain their vitality five years.

_Sowing and Cultivation._--The seeds should be sown in April or May, in drills a foot apart, and half an inch in depth. As the plants, when allowed to run to seed, produce but little foliage, it is necessary, in order to secure a continued supply of fresh leaves, to cut or nip off the flowering-shoot as it makes its appearance. Under proper management, the leaves grow rapidly, and are produced in great abundance.

_Use._--The leaves have a pleasant, agreeable flavor; and, while young and tender, are mixed in salads.

PURSLAIN.

Portulaca.

Purslain is a hardy, annual plant. Most of the cultivated kinds are but improved forms of the Common Purslain (_P. oleracea_), introduced into this country from Europe, and so troublesome as a weed in most vegetable gardens.

Stem usually about a foot in length, succulent and tender; leaves fleshy, broad and round at the ends, and tapering to the stalk; flowers yellow, resting closely in the axils of the leaves; the seeds are black, exceedingly small, and retain their germinating powers ten years.

_Soil, Propagation, and Culture._--Purslain thrives well in all soils,--dry, wet, or intermediate; and is propagated by seeds sown in shallow drills at any time from April to July.

_Use._--The plants may be cut for use when they have made a growth of four or five inches. They are mixed in salads, eaten boiled as Spinach, or pickled.

The species and varieties are as follow:--

COMMON PURSLAIN.

Portulaca oleracea.

Abundant in gardens, cultivated fields, and waste grounds. The Green and the Golden Purslain are improved sub-varieties. The Common Purslain is used in all the forms in which the cultivated sorts are used; and, though some of the latter are considered more succulent, the difference in quality will scarcely repay the cost of cultivation, where the present variety would be the ceaseless compet.i.tor for the supremacy.

GOLDEN PURSLAIN.

Pourpier dore. _Vil._ P. oleracea var. aurea.

Similar to the Green Purslain, but differing in the paler or yellowish color of the stalks and leaves.

GREEN PURSLAIN.

Pourpier vert. _Vil._

Leaves an inch and three-fourths in length, and upwards of an inch in width, deep-green.

LARGE-LEAVED GOLDEN PURSLAIN.

P. sativa.

Leaves pale yellowish-green, larger than those of the preceding sorts.

The plant is a strong grower, and the leaves attain a remarkable size; but the stalks are often comparatively tough and hard, and, for salad purposes, much inferior to those of the Green or Golden varieties.

RAPE.