VEG′ETABLE AL′KALI†. Potassa.
VEGETABLE JUICES. See below.
VEGETABLES. Vegetables are organic beings, which are distinguished from animals by a number of characteristics, but, like them, are composed of certain proximate principles, or compounds, which possess a high degree of scientific interest, and in many cases are invaluable to man. Among the most important of these are—albumen, gluten, gum, lignin, starch, sugar, tannin, wax, the fixed and volatile oils, the resins, and gum-resins, the alkaloids, and innumerable forms of extractive matter. Several of these substances are noticed under their respective names.
The method of propagating plants from their seeds, depending on their simple exposure, at the proper season, to warmth and moisture, under the protection of the soil, is well known; that by propagation from ‘slips’ and ‘cuttings,’ which will doubtless prove interesting to the amateur gardener, are noticed below.
The choice of slips and cuttings should be made from the side shoots of trees and plants, and, when possible, from such as recline towards the grounds, observing, when they are removed by the knife, to leave a little wood of
a former year or season’s growth attached to them, as such are found to take root more readily than when they are wholly composed of new wood. The time to take slips or cuttings is as soon as the sap gets into full motion. Before setting them the latter should be cut across, just below an eye or joint, with as smooth a section as possible, observing not to injure the bud. The superfluous leaves may be removed, but a sufficient number should be left on for the purposes of vegetation. The common practice of removing all or nearly all the leaves of cuttings is injudicious. In some cases leaves alone will strike root. When cuttings are set in pots, they should be so placed as to reach to the bottom and touch the sides throughout their whole length, when they will seldom fail to become rooted plants. In the case of tubular-stalked plants it is said to be advantageous to insert both ends into the soil, each of which will take root, and may then be divided, when two plants will be produced instead of one. An equable temperature, a moist atmosphere, a shady situation, and a moderate supply of water, are the principal requisites to induce speedy rooting. Excess of any of these is prejudicial. When the size of the cuttings admit, it is better to place them under a hand- or bell-glass, which will preserve a constant degree of heat, and prevent evaporation from the surface of the leaves, which is the most common cause of their dying, especially in hot, dry weather.
Qual. The vegetable kingdom furnishes by far the larger portion of the food of man, and indirectly, perhaps, the whole of it. The great value of culinary vegetables and fruit in a mixed diet need not be insisted on, since it is a fact which is almost universally known and appreciated.
In the choice of culinary vegetables observe, that if they are stiff and break freely and crisply, they are fresh, and fit for food; if, on the contrary, they have a flabby appearance, or are soft or discoloured, they are stale, and should be rejected.
The dose of the generality of vegetable substances that exercise no very marked action on the human frame is about 1⁄2 to 1 dr. of the powder, night and morning; or 1 oz., or q. s. to impart a moderately strong colour or taste, may be infused or boiled in 1 pint of water, and a wine-glassful or thereabouts taken 2 or 3 times a day.
Collection and Pres. The following general directions are given in the London Pharmacopœia for the collection and preservation of vegetable substances—(vegetabilia, Ph. L.):—