Vegetable, of Which There Are Several Varieties, Should Be Well Frost-Bitten Before It

vegetable, of which there are several varieties, should be well frost-bitten before it is fit for use; after which the frost should be drawn out by placing it in a cool cellar, or in cold water. The parts used are the tender tops or crown of the plant, with the side sprouts, which should be well boiled, so as to be tender before being dressed and eaten. In season as soon as the frost takes hold of them, and continues good nearly all winter.

<p<emph rend="bold">Broccoli.</emph>--This excellent plant is a variety of the cauliflower, but considered not quite so delicate in flavor, the head or flower of which being somewhat of a purple cast, while that of the cauliflower is of a creamy white. However, the qualities and varieties of both broccoli and cauliflower have become, by cultivation, so nearly alike--especially of the white varieties--that it requires the botanist to distinguish between them. Broccoli are in season from September to November, and may be kept longer if hung up by the roots in a cool place.

<p<emph rend="bold">Brussel-sprouts.</emph>--This plant is one of the species of the cabbage kind, producing in the axils small heads resembling those of the cabbage on a large stalk. They are very tender, and much esteemed by those who use them, which is generally in the winter-time, cooked as greens. They stand the frost well, are in season from September to January, but are not much cultivated here.

<p<emph rend="bold">Cabbage.</emph>--There are several varieties of this excellent plant. The "early York" is a great favorite, and widely cultivated, on account of the excellence of its flavor, and its early maturity. There is also the "early dutch,"flat dutch," which the Dutch commonly slice and call it kohl-slaw, or salat, meaning simply cabbage salad; but the progress here has corrupted it to cole or cold slaw. There are also other kinds, more particularly used for <emph rend="italic">saur-kraut</emph>, or <emph rend="italic">sour-kraut</emph>, called the drumhead, Bergen, etc. Another, called the "savoy," a curled-leaf cabbage, is by some considered the finest of all varieties, it being very tender, of a fine flavor, rather a small head, but solid, and generally sold for

higher prices than those that are much larger. The red cabbage is another variety, and is generally used for pickling. Young cabbage is found in our markets in May and June, when it arrives from the South; but the season about here commences in July, and continues until cold weather; then, if they are put in a good cellar, or properly buried, they can be kept almost the whole year. The <emph rend="italic">London Chronicle</emph>, of 1765, gives the following account of a large cabbage: "A gentleman of honor and veracity has furnished us with the following surprising instance of the fertility of the soil and mildness of the climate of the South American provinces, viz.: He saw, a few days ago, in a gentleman's garden, near Savannah, in Georgia, a cabbage-plant, which, having stood the winter three years, and seeded annually, rises from one root and spreads over a circular form of thirty feet, measuring ten feet every way." In the year 1813, in the month of October, a cabbage was sold in the New York Market, which weighed forty-three pounds.

<p<emph rend="bold">Capsicum,</emph> or <emph rend="bold">peppers.</emph>--<emph rend="italic">See Peppers.</emph

<p<emph rend="bold">Cardoons.</emph>--This plant is a species of the artichoke, but much larger and taller; the stalk part of the leaf and mid-rib, when properly blanched, will be crisp and tender. They are used for soups, stews, salads, etc. The <emph rend="italic">Gardener's Chronicle</emph> says: "When a cardoon is to be cooked, the solid stalks of the leaves are to be cut in pieces, about six inches long, and boiled like any other vegetable, in pure water (not salt and water), till they are tender. They are then to be carefully deprived of the slime and strings that will be found to cover them; and, having been thus thoroughly cleansed, are to be plunged in cold water, where they must remain until they are wanted for the table. They are then taken out, and heated with white sauce or marrow. The process just described is for the purpose of rendering them white, and of depriving them of the bitterness which is peculiar to them. If this is neglected the cardoons will be black, not white, as well as disagreeable." In season from September until March.

<p<emph rend="bold">Carrots.</emph>--There are several varieties of this vegetable, of different forms and colors--white, yellow, scarlet, etc.--used for the table. They are a very useful root, either in soup, stews, haricot, puddings, pies, etc., and are to be found nearly or quite throughout the year in our markets. The young carrots, which commence the season, are from the South, which arrive about the 1st of May; then from Long Island, about the 1st of June, and continue on, with new crops, until November, when those intended for the table are put in earth or sand for winter and spring use, in fact, until the young carrots are again found on sale.

<p<emph rend="bold">Cauliflower.</emph>--This fine vegetable, of which there are several varieties, is one of the luxurious plants which generally command a high price. The large, solid, creamy, white heads are considered the best. When the leaves are much wilted, and the head has dark soft spots through it, they are stale and not good. The early kinds appear about the 1st of May, and so continue on, in succession of crops, until the frost destroys them. Besides plain boiling, they are much used for pickling, soups, etc.

<p<emph rend="bold">Cavish, scavish,</emph> or <emph rend="bold">scabious.</emph>-This is a common field-plant, which, in the early spring months, makes excellent greens. The young leaves grow in tufts of a longish shape, pointed at both ends, of a light green color, but of a pleasant taste. The young stalk is also good, both of which are soft and mucilaginous. The stalk produces a small yellow flower when in bloom. They will bear considerable boiling to be good.

<p<emph rend="bold">Celeriac,</emph> or <emph rend="bold">turnip-rooted celery.</emph>--This tuberous-looking root has a sweeter taste and stronger odor than the common celery, and, when properly cooked, is very tender and marrow-like. The tops look much like celery, but are quite short and green, and are much used in soups, etc. The root, however, is large, stout, and quite rough, and when sliced and stewed German-fashion, it is excellent. It is also boiled, then prepared as a salad. It is found for sale in the fall and winter months.

<p<emph rend="bold">Celery.</emph>--There are several varieties of this excellent plant, of which the white solid, red solid, and the white dwarf are now generally preferred. The latter, I think, is the sweetest and tenderest in February and March. In buying, select the solid, close, clean and white stalks, with a large, close heart, as they are apt to be the most crisp and sweet; however, early in the season all celery is a little bitter. The season commences about the middle of August, and as soon as the frost is found, celery becomes sweeter and better. It is found constantly in our markets afterwards, until about the 1st of April.

<p<emph rend="bold">Chard,</emph> or <emph rend="bold">Swiss chard.</emph>--This plant is one of the best of the beet tribe, but, unlike that vegetable, the root is not usually eaten, but the large succulent leaves, which have a very solid rib running along the middle. The leafy part, being stripped off and boiled, is used as greens; while the midrif, or stalk, are dressed like asparagus; and when they have been properly blanched, by art, they have a pleasant, sweet taste, and are considered very wholesome. They are not much cultivated here, however.

<p<emph rend="bold">Chicory,</emph> or <emph rend="bold">wild endive.</emph>--The part of this plant used is the long root, which looks somewhat like salsify, and the leaves, when young, can be used as a salad. The root has a smell like liquorice, and is principally used in the making or mixing with coffee, when the root is properly prepared; that is, by cutting it up in half-inch pieces, then dried in the air, after which it is browned in an oven or kiln, then ground with either coffee, rye, beans, corn, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, acorns, or other cheap substances, when these mixtures are attractively placed before the public, and sold at high prices--often for pure coffee. Chickory mixed with either roasted rye or coffee, is considered wholesome; but as it is a cheap article, and when mixed with half coffee, should reduce the price to at least one-half--with rye, about one-quarter. Either article, however, should be purchased separately, then prepared to suit the taste, when the purchaser would know what he was using.

In an examination by commissioners in London, who found out of forty-two specimens of coffee, thirty-one to be adulterated with chickory only, while twelve had roasted corn in addition to chickory; one had beans, and one had potato-flour. The total result was, that one-third of the whole weight consisted of adulterants, and in some cases chickory was present to the extent of more than one-half. "It was found that some of the grocers use a 'coffee colorer,' of a rich brown color: it consists chiefly of burnt sugar, and appears to be used to deepen the color of poor coffee, or of coffee which has been chicoried. The sellers of cups of coffee at a cheap price are said to be very familiar with this 'improver.' The commissioners adduce some curious examples of the discrepancy between the quality and the high-sounding names of particular samples; thus, a packet of 'celebrated Jamaica' was found to be nearly all chicory; 'finest Java coffee' consisted of half coffee, much roasted corn, and a little chicory; 'superb coffee' was principally chickory and roasted corn, with very little coffee; 'fine plantation Ceylon' was nearly all chickory; 'fine Java' contained much chickory and potato; 'delicious drinking coffee' contained a large quantity of chickory and roasted corn."

The commissioners also examined thirty-four samples of chickory itself, purchased indiscriminately at different places, "and amongst them found carrot, parsnip, mangel-wurzel, beans, acorns, roasted corn, biscuit-powder, and burnt sugar. It had been stated in other quarters that such strange substances as burnt rags, red earth, and rope-yarn have been found in chickory; but this belongs to the transcendental regions of rascality."

<p<emph rend="bold">Cives, chives,</emph> or <emph rend="bold">shives.</emph>--This plant is a species of the leek, with small, awl-shaped leaves, growing in tufts; and these are only fit for use so long as they remain green and fresh. They possess a flavor peculiar to the onion family, and are principally used for flavoring soups, salads, omelets, etc. The Germans also make use of it in their

smear-kase, etc. It is in season from April to June, and usually found tied in small bunches. Foreigners are its principal consumers.

<p<emph rend="bold">Colewort,</emph> or <emph rend="bold">collards.</emph>--This is a kind of small cabbage, cut young and eaten as greens, but it is not much used in this country. It is, however, used in England throughout the winter, and is in season from August until March.

<p<emph rend="bold">Corn.</emph>--<emph rend="italic">See Indian Corn.</emph

<p<emph rend="bold">Corn salad, lamb's lettuce,</emph> or <emph rend="bold">fetticus.</emph>--This plant is principally cultivated as a winter and spring salad, and is of a mild, agreeable taste and flavor. The leaves should be eaten while young. They are sometimes boiled as spinach, etc.

<p<emph rend="bold">Cress.</emph>--There are several species of this warm and pleasant-tasted plant, the shoots of which are much used as an early salad. The most common is the water-cress, which appears in abundance from March until May, and then again from September until November. Another kind is called the

<p<emph rend="bold">Garden-cress,</emph> or <emph rend="bold">pepper-grass,</emph> which is also eaten when young as a salad. It has a pleasant, refreshing, pungent taste, and may be had during the spring. Another species, called

<p<emph rend="bold">Winter-cress,</emph> or <emph rend="bold">early hedge-cress,</emph> which is a much larger plant, and is considered a species of the mustard, is very pungent and biting. The young leaves are most of the year used as a salad. There is also another species of this plant, called by some

<p<emph rend="bold">Indian-cress,</emph> or <emph rend="bold">nasturtium.</emph>-<emph rend="italic">See Nasturtium.</emph> I might add another small variety, called

<p<emph rend="bold">Small water-cress,</emph> with much the taste of the family of cresses.

<p<emph rend="bold">Cucumbers.</emph>--This vegetable is called a fruit in botany, and a cold one it is, although pleasant to the taste of most people, yet they are not easliy digested, nor is there much nourishment in them; but when pickled, or made into

pickles, they are then considered less unwholesome. There are several varieties found in our markets, among which are the early, short and long, prickly, green, white Turkey, etc. The quite young or small ones, of various sizes, are used to make pickles--in fact, many persons call them pickles when asking for them. The very small ones are used for gherkins; the large, or those nearly full-grown, are hard, and commonly used as a salad; and when they begin to soften and turn yellow, or rather ripe, the Germans and others prepare them in such a manner as to make some very good dishes, among which frying is one of them. Cucumbers begin to show themselves from the South in April, from Long Island, etc., about the 20th of June, and so continue in our markets until November, after which they are found in a cured state, or pickled. Several other species of the cucumber have been tried, but with little success, for the table.

<p<emph rend="bold">Dock, yellow dock,</emph> or <emph rend="bold">patience dock.</emph>--The curly and narrow-leafed dock is much used in the spring months as greens. The broad, smooth leaf-dock, known as "horse-dock," is considered not fit for use, and some say it is poisonous. The former is often found in our markets when young, is tender and sweet, and makes a very fair dish of greens. The root is much used as a purifier of the blood.

<p<emph rend="bold">Dandelion.</emph>--This well known wild plant, by some called "piss-a-bed," is now much cultivated, and is found a very wholesome vegetable. Early in the spring--March and April--the young leaves are used for salads and greens, when it is found slightly bitter, but rather agreeable; and as it increases in size, it becomes full of bitter milk. However, by proper cultivation and blanching, it is found to be both pleasant and wholesome. The roots are also used, and much valued for their medicinal properties. In 1856, Messrs. Hills & Stringer, of New York City, introduced "dandelion coffee," made of the roots of this plant, which I found a very pleasant drink. It was then prepared for the visitors

to the Fair of the American Institute, then held in the "Crystal Palace."

<p<emph rend="bold">Egg-plant.</emph>--This plant is called "guinea-squash" at the South. There are several varieties of this excellent vegetable, of which the large, purple, oval-shaped kind is the best for the table. When cut into thin slices and fried, they have the taste of an oyster; but they should be firm and hard, or rather, not ripe. They are much used in other dishes, in soups, plain boiled, stews, etc. The white variety is much smaller, being about the size and shape of a goose-egg, and but seldom used--grown rather for ornament than use. The egg-plant is in season from June until October.