King Henry. Tota Bona. Goose-foot. Blitum Bonus Henricus.

A hardy perennial plant, indigenous to Great Britain, and naturalized to
a very limited extent in this country. Its stem is two feet and a half
in height; the leaves are arrow-shaped, smooth, deep-green, undulated
on the borders, and mealy on their under surface; the flowers are
numerous, small, greenish, and produced in compact groups, or clusters;
the seeds are small, black, and kidney-shaped.

_Propagation and Culture._--"It may be propagated by seed sown in April
or May, and transplanted, when the plants are fit to handle, into a
nursery-bed. In August or September, they should be again transplanted
where they are to remain, setting them in rows a foot apart, and ten
inches asunder in the rows, in ground of a loamy nature, trenched to the
depth of fifteen or eighteen inches, as their roots penetrate to a
considerable depth. The following spring, the leaves are fit to gather
for use; and should be picked as they advance, taking the largest first.
In this way, a bed will continue productive for several years.

"Being a hardy perennial, it may also be increased by dividing the plant
into pieces, each having a portion of the root and a small bit of the
crown, which is thickly set with buds, which spring freely on being
replanted.

"Most of the species of this genus, both indigenous and exotic, are
plants of easy cultivation, and may be safely used as articles of
food."--_M'Int._

_Use._--The same as Spinach.

CHAPTER VII.

SALAD PLANTS.

Alexanders. Brook-lime. Buckshorn Plantain. Burnet. Caterpillar. Celery.
Celeriac, or Turnip-rooted Celery. Chervil. Chiccory, or Succory.
Corchorus. Corn Salad. Cress, or Peppergrass. Cuckoo Flower. Dandelion.
Endive. Horse-radish. Lettuce. Madras Radish. Mallow, Curled-leaf.
Mustard. Nasturtium. Garden Picridium. Purslain. Rape. Roquette, or
Rocket. Samphire. Scurvy-grass. Snails. Sweet-scented Chervil, or Sweet
Cicely. Tarragon. Valeriana. Water-cress. Winter-cress, or Yellow
Rocket. Wood-sorrel. Worms.

* * * * *

ALEXANDERS.

Alisanders. Smyrnium olusatrum.

A hardy, biennial plant, with foliage somewhat resembling that of
Celery. Stem three to four feet high, much branched; radical leaves
pale-green, compound,--those of the stem similar in form, but of smaller
size. The branches of the plant terminate in large umbels, or spherical
bunches of yellowish flowers; which are