t; yet their uses and
culture are nearly alike.

_Soil and Cultivation._--All of the sorts thrive best in rich, moist
soil; but may be grown in almost any soil or situation. The seeds are
sown in April or May, in drills fifteen or eighteen inches apart, and
covered half an inch in depth. The young plants should be thinned to
twelve inches apart; and, in July and August, the leaves will be
sufficiently large for gathering.

The varieties are propagated by dividing the roots in April or May; and
this method must be adopted in propagating the dioecious kinds, when
male plants are required. "The best plants, however, are obtained from
seed; but the varieties, when sown, are liable to return to their
original type. All the care necessary is to hoe the ground between the
rows, when needed to fork it over in spring and autumn, and to take up
the plants, divide and reset them every three or four years, or less
frequently, if they are growing vigorously and produce full-sized
leaves."

All of the sorts, whether produced from seeds or by parting the roots,
will send up a flower-stalk in summer; and this it is necessary to cut
out when first developed, in order to render the leaves larger and more
tender.

The plants will require no special protection or care during the winter;
though a slight covering of strawy, stable litter may be applied after
the forking-over of the bed in the autumn, just before the closing-up of
the ground.

_Use._--It enters into most of the soups and sauces for which French
cookery is so famed, and they preserve it in quantities for winter use.
It forms as prominent an article in the markets of Paris as does Spinach
in those of this country; and it has been asserted, that, amongst all
the recent additions to our list of esculent plants, "we have not one so
wholesome, so easy of cultivation, or one that would add so much to the
sanitary condition of the community, particularly of that class who live
much upon salt provisions."

The species and varieties are as follow:--

ALPINE SORREL.

Oseille des Neiges. _Vil._ Rumex nivalis.

A new, perennial species, found upon the Alps, near the line of
perpetual snow. The root-leaves are somewhat heart-shaped, thick, and
fleshy; stem simple, with verticillate branches; flower dioecious.

It is one of the earliest as well as the hardiest of the species,
propagates more readily than Alpine plants in general, and is said to
compare favorably in quality w