While we see around us abundant evidence of the fostering care of Horticultural Societies in the improved appearance of our grounds, and the increasing attention to the cultivation of the finest kinds of fruits, we regret that so little has been done to improve culinary vegetables. Our zealous amateurs and enterprising commercial gardeners keep us well posted up in the novelties suitable for the, pleasure ground and flower garden. We have select lists of fruits adapted to every section of country, presented to us in the valuable reports of the Pomological Society. Greenhouse plants and their culture, have prominent positions in our gardening periodicals. But we look in vain for an essay on Cabbage culture, or even for a reliable and respectable list of the best varieties of vegetables. We think that one of the principal objects of Horticultural Societies ought to be the improvement of edible vegetables, and although this department of Horticulture is by no means neglected, still it occupies a subordinate position in the schedules of most societies.

Many of our cultivated vegetables have run into numerous varieties, some of them quite inferior and unworthy of cultivation; we hope some one of our competent vegetable growers will favor the readers of the Horticulturist with a select list of the most esteemed sorts.

This is a long preface to a few remarks we have to make relative to the introduction of a new ingredient for a winter salad, which can be had in profusion, at trifling cost, within the reach of every one, and pronounced by connoisseurs in these matters as being a very superior article. It consists of the blanched leaves of Succory or Wild Endive, now become a common and in many oases a troublesome weed in the fields and road sides in this neighborhood.

" The Succory, Chiccory, or wild Endive, (Cichorium Intybus), has long been cultivated on the continent of Europe, the leaves as food for cattle, and the roots cut in pieces, dried and ground, mixed with coffee; the leaves blanched, that is, grown in the dark, is a favorite salad ingredient in France, known as Barbe de Capucin, and its use in this latter form we desire to make more extensively known, as we feel assured it will be appreciated by all who like a good salad in winter.

Summer Treatment

To procure good plants, seeds must be sown annually about the first or second week in July, if sown much earlier they will run to seed, which materially deteriorates the roots for the purpose in question. The soil being deeply spaded and moderately enriched, sow the seeds in shallow drills eighteen inches apart. As they proceed in growth thin out the plants to stand ten or twelve inches apart; the usual operations of weeding and hoeing must not be neglected, and should the weather prove very dry the soil between the rows may be forked over to keep it loose and mellow, and preserve an uninterrupted growth, that the plants may gain strength without running to seed. Towards the end of October, the plants should be carefully lifted, and all the leaves cut off; it is now ready for its winter quarters.

Winter Treatment

To those familiar with gardening operations, it would be sufficient to state that the roots are now gently excited to growth, and the leaves blanched; but to many it may be necessary to enter slightly into details. Those who are in possession of a greenhouse, will find the floor underneath the plant stage, an admirable situation for its growth, while those who have no such convenience, will find a warm dry cellar equally suitable. Procure some common inch boards and construct a rough box similar to a garden frame. The sides should be eighteen inches deep all round. Fill in nine or ten inches of soil, tramp it firm, and plant the roots in rows nine inches apart all over the surface. Water must be carefully applied; very little will suffice, and none until the plants are growing freely. The box should be kept constantly covered with boards; unless light is completely excluded, the blanching operation is imperfect.

In gathering the leaves, those on the outside should be pulled singly off. Chitting with a knife is liable to injure the heart which should not be disturbed. A frame six feet by four, will afford a daily salad for nine or twelve weeks, sufficient for any ordinary family.

In order to save seeds a few roots should be left out in the fall, or the best plant-ed out of the box in spring; the plant is a hardy perennial and seeds profusely.