soil; but when foliage and
luxuriant growth are desired, for the covering of arbors, trellises, and
the like, the soil can hardly be made too rich.

The planting should be made in April or May. As the seeds are quite
large, they should be covered two inches deep. When planted in drills,
they are made three feet apart, and the young plants thinned to six
inches apart in the drills. The growing crop may be supported by staking
or bushing, as practised with pease; or the taller-growing sorts may be
shortened in, which will induce a strong, stocky habit of growth.

While the plants are young, they will require some attention, in order
that they may be properly attached to the stakes or trellises provided
for their support; after which, little care need be bestowed, beyond the
ordinary stirring of the soil, and keeping the ground free from weeds.

_Use._--The unexpanded flower-buds, and the seeds while young and
succulent, have a warm, aromatic taste, and are pickled and used as
capers. The young shoots are eaten as salad; and the flowers, which are
large and richly colored, are used for garnishing. Few ornamental plants
are better known or more generally cultivated than the Nasturtium.

The species and varieties are as follow:--

TALL NASTURTIUM.

Tropaeolum majus.

Stem from six to eight feet high, succulent; leaves alternate, smooth,
rounded,--the leaf-stems being attached to the disc, or under-surface;
flowers large, on long stems, yellow,--the two upper petals streaked and
marked with purple; the seeds are large, somewhat triangular, convex on
one of the sides, of a drab or pale-brown color, and retain their
germinative properties five years,--from a hundred and eighty to two
hundred are contained in an ounce.

DARK-FLOWERING.

A variety of the preceding; differing only in the brown color of the
flowers. Cultivation and uses the same.

VARIEGATED.

Also a sub-variety of the Tall Nasturtium, with orange-yellow flowers;
each of the petals being stained or spotted with purple.

Other varieties occur, differing in color, but equally useful for the
purposes before described.

SMALL NASTURTIUM.

Dwarf Capucine. Tropaeolum minus.

Much smaller, in all respects, than the common Dwarf variety of
_Tropaeolum majus_; the stem rarely measuring more than two feet in
length, or rising above a foot in height. The flowers are yellow; the
lower petals with a blotch of scarlet at their base, and the upper ones