The fruit is of an uniform pale yellow, or light sulphur colour; when fully grown, it is about nine inches long, and four inches in diameter, of an elliptic shape, the surface slightly uneven by irregular longitudinal ribs, the terminations of which uniting form a projecting apex at the end of the fruit, which is very unusual with this tribe. It is useful for culinary purposes in every stage of its growth: when very young, it is good if fried with batter; when large, or about half grown, it is excellent, either plain boiled or stewed with rich sauces for either of these purposes, it should be cut in thin slices.

It requires the same management as hand-glass or summer Cucumbers. Care must be taken that no other sort of Gourd is grown near it; if there should, no reliance can be placed on the goodness of its seed.

31. HORSE-RADISH.

Horse-radish, Cochlearia Armoracia, is a native of Britain, and is commonly found on waste spots about farm-houses, originating, doubtless, in the refuse of the garden.

Horse-radish is cultivated in different ways; but the following method may be recommended as simple and easy:

Trench the ground two feet or twenty inches deep, in February or March, having the trenches two feet wide the first trench must be taken out fifteen inches deep only, and the mould barrowed back to fill up the last trench when the quarter is completed. The bottom of the first trench must now be dug over five inches deep and levelled even; then place a line lengthwise, at six inches from the side, and plant some crowns of the roots, each cut with an inch or two of its root, at nine inches apart along the line: when this is done, remove the line twelve inches, which will be within six inches

of the side of the trench, the same as the first, and must be planted in the same manner. When this is done, turn over the second trench fifteen inches deep upon the roots so planted, which will level the work: dig up the bottom again as before, and plant the sets in the same manner, and proceed thus till the whole piece is finished. According to this method the rows will be a foot apart, and the sets nine inches distance in the rows. There will be nothing further required from this time than to keep the ground clean, and not to suffer any other crop to be grown upon the ground, as the Horse-radish will soon make its appearance, and occupy all the surface.

32. HYSSOP.

Hyssopus officinalis is a neat little evergreen tuft, and most ornamental and fragrant when in flower. It was once in considerable repute as a popular medicine, but is now almost out of use.

It is propagated by dividing the plant, and planting out the slips in March or April: they will thrive in almost any soil and situation.

33. JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE.

Helianthus tuberosus, or Jerusalem Artichoke, is a native of Brazil, and appears to have been introduced in 1617. The tubers are in considerable esteem on the Continent as a substitute for potatoes; and before that vegetable became plentiful, they were a good deal in use in this country.

The plant is cultivated in the manner of the Potatoe, by planting the small tubers in February or March, in rows four feet apart, and the sets eighteen inches from each other in the rows. In order to have the roots handsome, they should be taken up and transplanted into fresh ground every year.

34. KIDNEY-BEANS.

Phaseolus vulgaris, or Dwarf Kidney Bean, is the Haricot of the French. It is a half-hardy annual, a native of India, and introduced into this country in 1597, or probably earlier.

The species termed the Runner, Phaseolus multiflorus, is a tender perennial, a native of South America, introduced in 1633.

The following sorts are those principally cultivated in our gardens:

1. Battersea.

2. Black-Speckled.

3. Canterbury.
4. Chinese.

5. Dwarf Scarlet.

6. Early Dun, or Buff.

7. Early Purple-Speckled.
8. Large White.

9. Large Yellow.
10. Liver-coloured.
11. Negro.

12. Red-Speckled.
13. Small Yellow.

14. White Dutch.

15. Scarlet Runner.*
16. White Dutch Runner.

The Early Dun, Early Purple-Speckled, and Negro, are the sorts mostly used for forcing, and for the first crops in the open air; the other dwarfs are used for succession ones, some gardeners preferring one sort, and some another; but the Battersea, Canterbury, Black and Red Speckled, are those generally sown for the principal crops.

The Scarlet and White Dutch Runners are those

* It may be considered as a remarkable fact, that all our gardeners, who have written books on gardening, have never discovered, that the Scarlet Runner is a perennial plant; and it is also stated to be an annual, by such botanical authors as I have consulted; but the truth is, that it is a perennial: its roots are tuberous, similar to those of the DAHLIA, and, like that, may be preserved through the winter by the same means; when if planted out in April, they soon make their appearance above ground, and produce, for the second time, an early and abundant crop.

which are principally depended upon for the latest crops: these two last-mentioned sorts are most abundant bearers; and if the young beans are gathered as they become fit for table, the plants will be much more productive, and continue in a state of bearing much later in the season, than they will do if any of the pods are allowed to remain for the purpose of ripening their seeds.

35. LAVENDER.

Lavandula Spica, our common garden Lavender, is a native of the south of Europe, and highly valued for its fragrant flowers. The use of the distilled water of this plant is well known. Alcohol extracts the virtues of the flowers completely, and elevates in distillation all their odorous parts. The oil, however, on which their virtues depend, is obtained separate, in distillation with water, in the proportion, it is said, of one ounce of oil from sixty ounces of flowers.

Lavender flowers should be gathered and gradually dried, partly in the sun, and partly in the shade, by being spread upon a mat or sheet, removed out of the sun in the heat of the day, and placed in it mornings and evenings.

The spikes should be cut when the flowers on the under, or bottom part, begin to drop their corolla.

The plant is propagated by dividing it, and planting the slips in March or April.

36. LEEKS.

The Leek, Allium Porrum, is a biennial: it produces an oblong tunicated root: its leaves are broad and flat, rising and spreading out in opposite directions.

It is a native of Switzerland, and was introduced in 1562. The varieties are

1. Common.

2. London, or Flag Leek.

Leeks, like the Onion, require an open situation, and that the ground be good, light, rich, and upon a dry sub-soil. The first sowing may be about the middle of February; but the main crop ought to be sowed in the middle or end of March. When the plants are three or four inches high, they should be thinned out, leaving them about nine inches apart; or they may be planted in deep drills, nine inches from plant to plant, and the drills eighteen inches asunder. As the plants grow stronger, the earth may be drawn to them so as at last to fill the drills level, by which means the lower part of the bulbs will become blanched, and much sweeter than when it is more approaching to green.

37. LETTUCES.

Lactuca sativa, or Garden Lettuce, is well known as furnishing, among its numerous varieties, the best vegetable of the salad kind grown in the open garden. The cultivated Lettuce will, if sown in the spring, produce ripe seeds in August or September; and so far it is strictly an annual: but if it be sown in autumn, it will not produce seeds till the succeeding summer. It was introduced or cultivated in 1562, but from what country is unknown.

The varieties are numerous; but they may be arranged in two divisions, viz. the upright, oblong, or Cos Lettuces; and the round-headed, spreading, or Cabbage Lettuces.

Lettuces possess some medicinal properties; their milky juice is a slight opiate, and occasionally produces drowsiness; eaten at night, they are, with some persons, favourable to sleep; but as they also possess laxative qualities, they are apt, if eaten freely for several successive days, to derange the bowels, and to cause considerable pain and distention.