d Salsify. Vegetable Oyster. Purple Goat's Beard. Tragopogon
porrifolius.

The Salsify is a hardy biennial plant, and is principally cultivated for
its roots, the flavor of which resembles that of the oyster; whence the
popular name.

The leaves are long and grass-like, or leek-like; the roots are long and
tapering, white within and without, and, when grown in good soil,
measure twelve or fourteen inches in length, and rather more than an
inch in diameter at the crown.

_Soil and Cultivation._--The Oyster-plant succeeds best in a light,
well-enriched, mellow soil; which, previous to sowing the seeds, should
be stirred to the depth of twelve or fifteen inches. The seeds should be
sown annually, in the same manner and at the same time as the seeds of
the carrot and parsnip. Make the drills fourteen inches apart; cover the
seeds an inch and a half in depth; and thin, while the plants are young,
to four or five inches asunder.

Early sowings succeed best; as the seeds, which are generally more or
less imperfect, vegetate much better when the earth is moist than when
dry and parched, as it is liable to become when the season is more
advanced. Cultivate in the usual manner during the summer; and, by the
last of September or beginning of October, the roots will have attained
their full growth, and be ready for use. The plants will sustain no
injury during the winter, though left entirely unprotected in the open
ground; and the table may be supplied directly from the garden, whenever
the frost will admit of their removal. A portion of the crop should,
however, be taken up in autumn, and stored in the cellar, like other
roots; or, which is perhaps preferable, packed in earth or sand. Roots
remaining in the ground may be drawn for use till April, or until the
plants have begun to send up their stalks for flowering.

_Seeds,--production and quantity._--For the production of seeds, allow a
few plants to remain during the winter in the open ground where they
were sown. They will blossom in June and July. When fully developed, the
stem is about three feet in height, cylindrical, and branching. The
flowers are large, of a very rich violet-purple, and expand only by day
and in comparatively sunny weather. As the flowers are put forth in
gradual succession, so the heads of seeds are ripened at intervals, and
should be cut as they assume a brownish color.

The seeds are brownish,--lighter or darker as they are less or more
perfect