in quality will scarcely repay the cost of cultivation, where the
present variety would be the ceaseless competitor for the supremacy.

GOLDEN PURSLAIN.

Pourpier dore. _Vil._ P. oleracea var. aurea.

Similar to the Green Purslain, but differing in the paler or yellowish
color of the stalks and leaves.

GREEN PURSLAIN.

Pourpier vert. _Vil._

Leaves an inch and three-fourths in length, and upwards of an inch in
width, deep-green.

LARGE-LEAVED GOLDEN PURSLAIN.

P. sativa.

Leaves pale yellowish-green, larger than those of the preceding sorts.
The plant is a strong grower, and the leaves attain a remarkable size;
but the stalks are often comparatively tough and hard, and, for salad
purposes, much inferior to those of the Green or Golden varieties.

* * * * *

RAPE.

This plant is generally cultivated for its seeds, like Mustard. It is,
however, sometimes grown for salad; the seeds being sown in April, and,
for a succession, once in three or four weeks till August or September.
Sow thickly, in drills ten or twelve inches apart, and cover half an
inch deep. The soil should be rich and moist, in order to induce a rapid
growth, and thus to give a tender, succulent character to the young
leaves; these being the parts eaten. They are served like Lettuce, or
boiled and treated as Coleworts or Spinach. For mixing with Cress or
Lettuce, the plants are cut to the ground before the development of the
second leaves.

The species are as follow:--

ANNUAL ROUGH-LEAVED SUMMER RAPE. _Law._

Turnip Rape. Brassica rapa.

Root fusiform, small, hard, and woody; radical leaves lyrate, vivid
green, and without any appearance of the glaucous bloom for which the
biennial sorts are so distinguished; the stem-leaves are slightly
glaucous, smooth, or nearly so,--the lower ones cut on the borders, the
upper entire; the seeds are small, and similar to those of the common
field turnip, of which it seems to be either a variety, or the source
from which the latter has been derived.

COMMON OR WINTER RAPE. _Law._

Cole-seed. Brassica napus.

Biennial; root long, tapering, hard, and woody, like that of the species
before described. The leaves are smooth, thick, and fleshy, and of much
the same form as those of the Annual Rough-leaved Summer Rape; this
species, however, being readily distinguished, when young, by its
uniformly smooth leaves. The seeds, also, are larger than those of the