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HISTORY

*
O F

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES,

USED IN THE

ARTS, IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY,

AND FOR THE

FOOD OF MAN

ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

BOSTON:

LILLY, WAIT, COLMAN, AND HOLDEN.

COIMAN, HOLDEN, AND CO. PORTLAND J WM. JACKSON, NEW

YORK ; CAREY & HART, PHILADELPHIA J COALE &.

LITTELL, BALTIMORE.

1833.

ILLUSTRATIONS

No. Page

1. Grain of Wheat, upper and under sides, 28

2. Ear and Plant of Spring Wheat, 30

3. Ear and Plant of Winter Wheat, 32

4. Ear and Plant of Duck-Bill Wheat, 33

5. Ear and Plant of Egyptian or many-spiked Wheat, 34

6. Ear and Plant of Polish Wheat, 35

7. Ear and Plant of Spelt Wheat, 36

8. Ear and Plant of one-seeded Wheat, 37

9. Wheat-fly, (Musca pumilionis) in its different stages, 41

10. Corn Mildew ( Uredo frumenti) greatly magnified, 48

11. Ear and Plant of Rye, 51

12. Ear and Plant of Common Spring Barley, 57

13. Premature germination of an Ear of Barley, 60

14. Ear and Plant of Winter Barley, 62

15. Ear and Plant of two-rowed Barley, 63

16. Common bearded Oats, and Common Oats, 69

17. Thames Corn-Barge, 80

18. Ear and Plant of Rice, 82

19. Rice-birds, male and female, 95

20. Maize — Zea mays, 99

21. Ears of Maize, in different stages, 108

22. Italian Millet — Sitaria Italica, 116

23. Buck-wheat — Polygonum fagopyrum, 122

24. Cassava — Jatropha manihot, 153

25. Indians preparing cassava, 156

26. Salep — Orchis mascula, 158

27. Indian Arrow-root — Maranta arundinacea, 162

28. Wake-robin fLrum maculatum, 164

29. Sweet potato — Convolvulus batata — 165

30. Yam — Dioscorea sativa, 167

31. Different sorts of Yam-roots, 168

32. The Banana, 170

33. Stem of the Sago tree, showing the pith from which

the Sago is extracted, 173

34. Cabbage-Palm — JLreca oleracea, 177
VOL. XV. A

VI ILLUSTRATIONS.

No. Page

35. Couch-grass, 179

36. Flower and Root of the Wild Parsnip, 183
87. Iceland Moss — Lichen islandicus, 184

38. Pile-wort — Ficaria ranunculoides, 186

39. Great Cat's Tail — Typha palustris, 188

40. Rampion — Campanula rapunculus, 191

41. Samphire — Crit homum maritimum , 194

42. Chick-Pea — Cicer arietinum, 223

43. Flowers and Pods of the Turnip, 228

44. Umbel of the Carrot, 237

45. Flowers and Roots of the Skirret, 249

46. Flower and Root of Scorzonera, 254

47. Colewort — Brassica oleracea, 262

48. Spinach — Spinacia oleracea, 269

49. New Zealand Spinach — Tetragonia expansa, 273

50. Cardoon — Cermum cardunculus , 284

51. Tree-Onion — JLllium proliferum, 290

52. Garlic — Jillium, sativum, 296
58. Rhubarb — Rheum palmatum, 309

54. Capsicum, 313

55. Black and White Truffles, 329

56. Morelles — Phalli esculenti, 331

57. Common Mushrooms — Jlgaricus campestris and

Jlgaricus auruntiacus, 332

58. Champignons — Jlgaricus pratensis, 335

59. True Cinnamon — Laurus cinnamomum, 342

60. The Clove — Caryophyllata, 348

61. Nutmeg — Myristica moschata, 352

62. Ginger — Zingiber officinale, 356

63. Allspice — Myrtus pimento, 362

64. Coffee, with the Flower and Berry, 365

65. Tea — Thea viridis, 375

66. Tea-gathering, from a Chineie drawing. 377

67. Sugar-Canes, 382

CONTENTS.

Page
INTRODUCTION, 1

CHAPTER I.

The Cerealia, or Corn-Plants generally, 9

CHAPTER II.

Wheat, 28

CHAPTER III.

Rye — Barley — Oats, 5 1

On the use of Corn in England, 73

. CHAPTER IV.

Rice, 81

CHAPTER V.

Maize — Millet — Buck- Wheat, 99

CHAPTER VI.
The Potato, 125

CHAPTER VII.

Other Vegetable Substances used for substantive Food, 152

CHAPTER VIII.

Wild Plants used as food, 178

CHAPTER IX.
On Vegetable Gardening, 198

Vili CONTENTS.

Page
CHAPTER X.

Leguminous Plants, 211

CHAPTER XI.
Succulent Roots, 227

CHAPTER XII.

Braasica — Spinaceous Plants — Asparaginous Plants, 257

CHAPTER XIII.

Alliaceous Plants, 285

CHAPTER XIV.
Acetarious Plants, &c. — Seasoning Herbs, 299

CHAPTER XV.

Esculent Fungi, 325

CHAPTER XVI.
Spices, 339

CHAPTER XVII.

Cofiee — Cacoa — Tea -^- Sugar, 385

*** The following Note should have been inserted at
page 74.

Pierce Plowman was an anonymous writer of satires against
the Popish clergy. These productions, which are exceed-
ingly bitter, are attributed to Robert Langlande, a secular
priest, and fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES

USED FOR THE FOOD OF MAN.

INTRODUCTION.

THE culture of the earth is a pursuit which in itself
offers a sufficient distinction, not only between man
and the inferior orders of animate creation, but also
between man while in his merely animal state, and
after he has become humanized by adopting the arts
of civilization. It is this pursuit which must, in fact,
precede, and be made the foundation for all other
useful and ennobling occupations, — the spring
whence must flow, certainly, the greater part of
those reciprocal duties and affections which at once
form society, and render it the source of enjoyments.
That man who first, among a tribe of hunters or
fishers, sows a grain or plants a root, and thus brings
home the advantages of forethought to the ' busi-
ness and the bosoms' of his less provident fellows,
becomes their benefactor, not merely by pointing out
the means for avoiding the horrors of famine, and
for lessening that succession of miseries which must
attend upon a life of wandering, but also, by relieving
their minds from the selfish exigencies that previ-
ously attended every moment, affording thereby lei-

VOL. xv. 1

2 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

sure and opportunity for cultivating the social and
kindly affections. It is not until men have placed
themselves beyond that state of merely physical ex-
istence wherein the plenty of to-day may be followed
by the destitution of to-morrow, that the higher fac-
ulties and feelings of our nature can be expanded.
It must certainly, therefore, be matter of more than
common interest to obtain some knowledge of those
vegetable substances through the cultivation of which
man has been enabled to localize himself, to reap and
to store up harvests; and by thus becoming freed
from an incessant call upon his physical energies for
the supply of his necessities, to acquire the motives
and the means for becoming something higher and
better in the scale of being.

Vegetables form the primary source of sustenance
to everything that lives. Were the earth without
them and bare — and but for cultivation how much
of it would be in that state — the effects of heat and
cold, of drought and rain, would be so violent, that
apart from all considerations as to food, the whole
world would speedily become uninhabitable. Frosts
and drought would break, and the returning water
would wash away the surface, until the whole would
become one wide and swampy waste. The presence
of vegetation prevents this desolating action, and
converts what otherwise would be destructive agents,
into ministers of abundance. No vegetable produc-
tions tend so much to bring about this beneficial
result as those which are cultivated for human food.
By the shade which they afford to the ground in the
hot season, they check that evaporation, and prevent
that excessive hardening of the surface, which, in an
exposed wild, render the soil impervious and inert;
while, on the other hand, the humidity which they
imbibe during the rainy season is again given out by
continual and gradual evaporation, and they minister

INTRODUCTION. 3

to the refreshment and the productiveness of all around
them. In countries which are uncultivated the wea-
ther is mostly in extremes. Rain, when it comes,
takes the form of an overwhelming flood, not gently
entering into and moistening the soil, but rushing
along the surface, tearing up one place, strewing
another with the debris, and reducing both to a state
of indiscriminate ruin; while scarcely has the flood
gone by, when the returning heat evaporates the little
moisture which is left behind, and burns up the
coarse and scanty vegetation which the rains had
fostered.

These effects of the unmitigated action of the ele-
ments are most strongly marked in those parts of
the world where hitherto the seasons have defied the
labour of man, and have seemed to wage war upon
his agriculture. This is the case in some parts of
India, in Southern Africa, and in a great part of what
we yet know of Australia, where at one time the earth
is parched up, and the beds of rivers become dry
channels or unconnected pools, while at another they
suddenly pour onward to the sea in a wide spreading
inundation, or roll their rapid floods in narrow but
deepened channels. That the labours of cultivation
exert the most, beneficial effect upon climate may be
shown, by contrasting the waste and uncultivated
parts of our own country with other parts in the same
latitude, and at the same elevation above the level
of the sea. but which are in a state of high cultiva-
tion. In these, while the immediate object of pro-
viding a certain and abundant supply of food has"
been accomplished by the labours of man, an indi-
rect influence has been exerted scarcely less beneficial,
by rendering the country in general more healthy
and agreeable.

In the central parts of Scotland, where the intro-
duction of agricultural improvements has been much

4 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

more recent than in England, but where, owing to
causes whose investigation would be misplaced in
these pages, their progress has been much more
rapid, the change of climate has fully kept pace
with those improvements. It is within the expe-
rience of persons still living, to have noticed that the
snow, which in that country formerly began to fall
in November, was not wholly gone until the month
of April; while in the middle of summer the heat
was so excessive that agricultural labourers were
obliged to suspend their toil during four or five
hours in the middle of the day. At that time the
autumnal rains frequently descended with so much
violence, that the crops, which had been retarded by
the coldness of the spring, were prevented from
ripening on the high grounds, were lodged and
rotted on lands that were lower, and swept away by
the swelling of the streams over the holms and mea-
dows. In the same spots, at the present day, the
quantity of snow which usually falls during the win-
ter is comparatively small, appears rarely before
Christmas, and is gone in February, or early in
March. The summer heat is more uniformly distrib-
uted, seldom amounting to a dogree oppressive to
the labourer, or protracted to a term injurious to the
crops; while the rain which follows is neither so
violent in degree, nor so long continued, and hap-
pening when the grain is far advanced towards
ripeness, the injury which it does is comparatively
trifling.

This mitigation of the seasons, which is wholly
referable to the progress of cultivation, has had
the happiest effect upon the health of the inhabit-
ants. Diseases, which formerly paid their periodical
visits with distressing regularity, have either been
wholly put to flight, or have been deprived of the
terrors in which they were clothed; the supply of

INTRODUCTION. 5

food, which rested upon contingencies beyond control
or calculation, has been secured with a comparative
certainty ; and famines, which commonly recurred at
periods only a few years apart, are now happily un-
known, except in some of the very wildest districts,
and then only at very distant intervals.

We propose, as far as can be accomplished within
narrow limits, to trace the progress of our own
country towards one of the chief objects and indica-
tions of civilization, - — that of obtaining an abundance
and a variety of wholesome and agreeable vegetable
food, at the cheapest rate, and with unfailing regu-
larity, for increasing inhabitants. This great object
is principally accomplished by the natural progress
of a people in knowledge and industry. It is ad-
vanced by good commercial laws ; it is retarded by
bad. But if the general laws of a country have the
effect of rendering industry free and property secure,
it will go forward, without the assistance of govern-
ments, and in spite of that assistance, too often mis-
directed — an embarrassment instead of a help. As
we trace this advance of civilization, we first find that
famines, once the unfailing scourges of a country,
occur at longer and longer intervals, till at last they
disappear altogether. We next perceive that sea
sons of scarcity, producing much severe misery,
though not to be compared in their desolating
effects to famines, become also fewer and fewer.
Lastly, we discover that, though the great necessary
of life, bread, may be dearer in one year than in
another, the fluctuations in price are seldom extreme
and never sudden. If we investigate the causes of
these remarkable circumstances, which always attend
a very advanced state of society, we shall find that
they are not to be ascribed to the vigilance of the
soundest legislation, or to the provident foresight of
the wisest ministers ; but to the spirit of commerce,
VOL. xv. 1*

6 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

pursuing its natural course without interference from
the cumbrous aid of a government, or the opposing
prejudices of a people. When a nation has become
accustomed to the best food, instead of habitually
resorting to the lowest, which it can only do by its
steady but certain progress in industry and a taste for
comforts ; — when the intercourse between all parts
of a country is certain and rapid ; — when large
capitals may be safely and profitably employed in
storing corn in seasons of abundance to meet the
exigencies of a season of scarcity ; — when such vege-
table productions of other lands, as will endure to be
naturalized, can be grown in plenty at every man's
door ; — and, lastly, when foreign commerce places
the natural productions of every country within our
reach in exchange for our own natural productions, —
then, and not till then, can a nation be said to be so
advanced in civilization, as to have secured, as far as
possible, a constant supply of the best vegetable food
that the earth can furnish, at a price accessible to the
great mass of consumers.

The particular circumstances which advance or re-
tard this desirable end, will be (as far as may be done
without touching upon disputable points) brought
out in the following pages. The general subject will
embrace a history of the vegetable food of our
people, as dependent upon agriculture, gardening,
commerce ; and that history will be illustrated by
notices of the food of other great bodies of mankind.
The subject will necessarily involve a few details of
vegetable physiology, and of practical agriculture
and horticulture ; but it must be evident, that any
scientific description of the structure of plants, how-
ever interesting, would be as much out of place
here, as any minute accounts of farming and
gardening processes. Our desire is to excite atten-
tion to some of those ordinary circumstances in the

INTRODUCTION. 7

condition of mankind which have such powerful
effects upon the advance of the world in knowledge
and happiness. In this point of view, a blade of
wheat, a potato, or a peppercorn, may each be made
a theme to direct the attention to some of the most
important causes of the prosperity of nations ; and the
result of such observation and inquiry must necessarily
be a conviction, that all human interests are strictly
allied, and that the great mutual necessities which
bind mankind together are steadily going forward to
break down the barriers which separate classes and
nations, and to diffuse knowledge, and plenty the fruit
of knowledge, over all the earth.

In the study, then, of this subject, all who are en-
gaged in the culture of the soil, whether the wealthy
proprietor who draws from his estates a lordly re-
venue, the farmer who earns from his fields an
independent subsistence, or the peasant whose toil
obtains from the little nook which joins his cottage
a wholesome meal for his family, may draw from the
pursuit the means of mental improvement. Those,
too, whose callings or professions shut them out
from the contemplation of rural objects, may derive
both pleasure and advantage from knowing by what
care a grain of wheat is elaborated into the material
of a loaf of bread, and how that loaf is supplied
with regularity both at seed-tiine and at harvest.
Lastly, each and all may, with equal profit, acquire
some information concerning that almost countless
number of foreign productions, which commerce has
brought to form a part of the daily food and comfort
of almost the humblest of our fellow-citizens. Does
it not in fact appear natural, it might almost be said
inevitable, that every one should feel an interest in
prosecuting inquiries as to things to which he is in-
debted for so many of his daily comforts and enjoy-

8 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

ments — how they are produced, whence they are
brought, and by what exertions their appearance at
his board has been accomplished ?

It -is not entirely in relation to their uses that a
knowledge of vegetable productions will be attempted
to be conveyed in the following pages. Circumstances
attend the growth of many even among the plants
most familiar to us, which need only to be observed to
insure our admiration, and these will be incidentally
pointed out. The seed of a globe-turnip is exceed-
ingly minute — not larger perhaps than the twentieth
part of an inch in diameter ; and yet in the course
of a few short months this seed will be elaborated by
the soil and the atmosphere into a solid bulb of matter
containing, in some cases, twenty-seven millions of
times the bulk of the seed, and this in addition to a
considerable bunch of leaves. We cannot, in any
case, indeed, open a page in the great volume of
Nature that is not calculated to excite our highest
admiration ; that, if read right, must not incite us
onward to the study of her works ; or which can fail
to raise our grateful hearts towards the Supreme
Author of every good.

CHAPTER I.

The Cerealia, or Corn-Plant», generally.

ALL vegetable productions which afford food, con-
tain, in some proportion or other, a farinaceous * or
non-fibrous and granular substance, which, when
dried, may be ground or pounded into flour or meal,
and which, if boiled in water, will form with it a
pulpy substance. This farinaceous constituent of
esculent vegetables, the presence of which in some
portion appears necessary to the growth of all plants,
and which is in perfection only when the plant, of
which it forms a part, has attained maturity, has
less of an organized structure than is discernible in
the membranous and fibrous portions of vegetable
growth. In regard to its consistency, this farinace-
ous principle is found to take a wide range, existing
sometimes in the form of an almost limpid fluid, and
thence through different degrees of acquiring con-
sistency, called inspissation, until, in some cases, its
hardness approaches to that of woody fibre.

Those vegetable substances which contain the
largest proportion of farinaceous matter, are on that
account the best adapted for human food. Of this
kind are seeds and tubers, "f when they are ripe, or
have attained their full growth. Many plants yielding
these are annuals : others, with the exception of their
seeds or tubers, die in the autumn, and leave these

* From farina, meal.

* A tuber is an underground stem, distended by the deposit
of farinaceous matter.

10 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

as the sources of their reproduction in the following
year.

Tubers, equally with seeds, may be considered as
store-houses of nutriment for the sustenance of the
germ in the early stages of its growth, before its
roots and leaves are expanded, and it has thence
become capable of assimilating other substances for
its own nutrition. Such parts of the plants which
answer best for adoption as the substantive food of
man, are thus living vegetables in a dormant state ;
and the moment that the germ which they contain
has begun to vegetate, they undergo a change both
in regard to their taste and nutritive qualities, and
become less qualified for affording nourishment to
man.

Farinaceous seeds are divided into two classes :
the first of these are the seeds of annual plants,
which are the true grasses, or plants of similar
properties. They ar? styled the CEREAI.IA * — corn-
plants, or grain-bearing plants. That one among
them upon which any people depends chiefly for its
food, is called by that people corn ; as wheat in
England, oats in the northern lowlands of Scot-
land, rye in the sandy districts on the southern shores
of the Baltic Sea, and maize throughout the United
States of America.

The second division of farinaceous seeds is also
yielded by plants which for the most part are of
annual growth, and these seeds being contained in
pods or legumes, such plants are styled leguminous
or podded : they are likewise known by the generic
name of pulse.

The corn plants are all annuals, both in their stems
and roots, the whole plant dying after the seed has
fully formed and ripened, and sometimes even before
the latter process has been perfectly accomplished.

* From Ceres, the goddess of Corn.

THE CEREALIA. 11

They all send up a straw or culm, which is hollow,
and divided into lengths by nodes or joints ; and at
these joints the leaves have their insertion, one at
each joint on the alternate sides of the stem ; each
leaf embraces the stem for some length in the manner
of a sheath. It is worthy of remark that these stems
always contain a portion of silex, or earth of flint, in
a state of very minute division — from which circum-
stance their ashes are found useful in imparting a
polish to articles formed of wood, horn, ivory, or
some of the softer metals ; while, on the other hand,
the presence of this material, and the great difficulty
attending its separation from the purely vegetable
matter, have always offered obstacles to the employ-
ment of straw for the manufacture of paper.

The last leaf of the season performs the office of a
sheath to the newly- formed flower, embracing it for a
time so firmly, that the sheath cannot be opened
without difficulty. With the growth of the flower it
bursts open its protecting spatha or sheath, rises
above it, and the leaf then turns backward.

The head or ear consists of an uncertain number
of flowers, followed by seeds. These are sometimes
placed upon a single rib or rachis, as in wheat and
barley, and they then form a spike. In the variety
called Egyptian wheat this spike is compound, there
being more than one rachis ; if this consists of
branches that are naked at their points of junction,
and have spikelets at their extremities, they form
what is called a panicle : this is the case, for example,
with oats.

The chief corn-plants, or cerealia, are wheat, rye,
barley, oats, millet, rice, and maize. The tribe of
cereal grasses is not restricted to these seven varie-
ties, but includes numerous others, which, if they are
not equally employed as food, are neglected only on
account of the smallness of their seeds. ' None are

12 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES,

unwholesome in their natural state, with the single
exception of Lolium temulentiim (darnel), a common
weed in many parts of England, the effects of which
are undoubtedly deleterious, although perhaps much
exaggerated. In this respect an approach seems to
be naturally made to the properties of half-putrid
wheat, which are known to be dangerous.' *

The presence of the corn-plants in any region of
the earth attests that man is there, in an advanced
stage of civilization. In the sepulchres of the Egyp-
tian kings, which were opened by the naturalists and
other scientific persons who accompanied the French
army to Egypt, was found the common wheat, in
vessels which were so perfectly closed, that the
grains retained both their form and their colour.|
The wheat, buried there for several thousand years,
was a proof of the ancient civilization of Egypt, as
convincing as the ruins of temples and the inscrip-
tions of obelisks. The corn-plants, such as they are
found under cultivation, do not grow wild in any
part of the earth. Wheat has been traced, indeed,
in Persia, springing up in spots very remote from
human habitation, and out of the line of the traffic
of the native^ ; but this circumstance is far from
proving that it is a production natural and indige-
nous to Persia. In Sicily there is a wild grass called
(Egilops ovata, which is found in particular districts.
It has been held that the seeds of this plant may be
changed into corn by cultivation ; and that the an-
cient worship of Ceres, which considered the fields
of Enna and of Trinacria as the cradles of agricul-
ture, had its origin in this transformation of the na-
tive grass. Professor Latapie, of Bourdeaux, affirms,

* Lindley's ' Introduction to the Natural System of Bota-
ny,'p. 302.

t See Lyell's Geology, vol. ii, p. 81.

THE CEREALIA. 13

that having cultivated the seed of the (Egilops, the
plant has changed its generic character, and has
made approaches to that of wheat.* Sir Joseph
Banks, in a paper addressed by him to the Horti-
cultural Society, in the year 1805, stated that having
received from a lady some packets of seeds, and
among them one labelled ' Hill Wheat,' the grains
of which were hardly larger than those of our wild
grasses, but which, when viewed through a magni-
fying lens, were found exactly to resemble wheat, he
sowed these grains in his garden, and was much
surprised on obtaining, as their produce, a good crop
of spring wheat, the grains of which were of the
ordinary size. Every inquiry that was made to as-
certain the history of these seeds proved fruitless.
All that could be established, with regard to the
place of their production, was, that they came from
India ; but as to the particular locality, or the amount
of cultivation they had received, or whether the grain
was indeed in that instance a spontaneous offering of
nature, could not be ascertained. Experiments such
as those we have mentioned, may naturally lead us
to think, that in the corn-plants, as in other vegeta-
bles, great modifications have been produced by cul-
tivation ; but they do not at all interfere with the
belief that the cereal grains are spread through the
earth by the agency of man alone, and that they are
bequests from past ages of civilization too remote to
afford any materials for the authentic history of their
introduction, even into countries possessing the most
ancient records. Other seeds are dispersed through-
out the earth by winds and currents, in the hairy
coats of quadrupeds, and in the maws of birds. But
the corn-plants, in common with many other impor-
tant vegetable productions, follow the course of man
alone. This is a blessing, which even hostile armies

* Diet. Classique d'Histoire Nat., Art. (Egilops.
VOL. XV. 2

14 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

are instruments in diffusing. Cortez, the conqueror
of Mexico, inhuman as he was in many parts of his
conduct, thus writes from Mexico to the King of
Spain : — ' All the plants of Spain thrive admirably
in this land. We shall not proceed here as we have
done in the isles, where we have neglected cultiva-
tion, and destroyed the inhabitants. A sad experi-
ence ought to render us more prudent. I beseech
your Majesty to give orders that no vessel set sail for
this country without a certain quantity of plants and
grain.' The diffusion of plants useful to man is
an accident diminishing the evils of hostile invasion ;
— ^ it is a necessary attendant of commercial inter-
course. The Indians of New England called the
plantain, ' English-man's foot ; ' and in the same
way, in the infancy of ancient society, wheat might
have been similarly regarded as springing from the
footsteps of the Persians or the Egyptians. In times
approaching nearer to our own, we know that wheat
followed the march of the Romans, as the vine was
in the train of the Greeks ; and, to come still nearer,
we find cotton remaining in countries which had
otherwise suffered from the incursions of the Arabs.
1 The migration of these plants,' observes Hum-
boldt, ' is evident ; but their first country is as
little known as that of the different races of men
which, from the earliest traditions, have been found
in all parts of the globe. '*

The manner in which the most important gifts
of Providence to mankind have been diffused by
the influences of conquest or commerce, has some
striking instances in the history of America. In the
New World such facts are too recent to admit of
any doubt. The same class of facts, too, are exhi-
bited in several cases in the history of our empire in
Hindostan. We shall give a few examples.

* Geographie des Plantes, p 35.

THE CEREALIA. 15

None of the cereal grasses, properly so called, were
found in cultivation among the Mexicans when their
country was first visited by Europeans. The founda-
tion of the wheat harvests at Mexico is said to haye
been three or four grains which a slave of Cortez dis-
covered in 1530 accidentally mixed with a quantity
of rice. The careful negro who preserved and made
so advantageous a use of the few grains which a
happy chance had thrown in his way, and which, in
the hands of a careless or thoughtless person, would,
with their future inestimable advantages, have been
lost to his country, has not been thought worthy —
doubtless because he was a negro — of having his
name preserved. The Spanish lady, Maria d'Escobar,
wife of Diego de Chaves, who first imparted the same
blessing to Peru, by conveying a few grains of wheat
to Lima, has been more fortunate. Her name, to-
gether with the means which she took for effecting
her object, by carefully distributing the produce of
successive harvests as seed among the farmers, have
been gratefully preserved in the records of history
The exact period when this cultivation was com-
menced in Peru is not, indeed, known ; but it appears
reasonable to believe that this event did not occur
until after the date assigned for the introduction of
wheat into Mexico, as, in the year 1547, wheat en
bread was hardly known in the important city of
Cuzco. The first grains of wheat which reached
Quito were conveyed thither by Father Josse Jlixi,
a Fleming, who sowed them near the monastery
of St Francis, where the monks still preserve and
show, as a precious relic, the rude earthen pot
wherein the seeds first reached their establishment.
The rice of Carolina is now the principal produce of
that portion of North America. Mr Ashby, an
English merchant, at the close of the seventeenth
century, sent a hundred weight from China to this

16 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES,

colony ; and from this source all the subsequent rice
harvests of that division of the New World, and the
large exportations of the same valuable grain to
Europe, have sprung. The wheat now cultivated
in Rohilcund, in India, ' was propagated by seed
brought from England, since the conquest, by Mr
Hawkins ;'* and the potato, within a very few years,
has been extensively spread by us through the In-
dian peninsula, and there, by preventing the exclu-
sive use of rice, is greatly ameliorating the condition
of the native population. Facts such as these are
highly interesting ; because they exhibit the moral
as well as natural causes which influence the distri-
bution of vegetable food throughout the earth. In
the following pages we shall endeavour to collect
whatever is satisfactorily known as to this branch of
our subject. Before we proceed, however, to a par-
ticular history of species or varieties of vegetable
substances used for the sustenance of man, we shall
take a rapid, though necessarily imperfect view, of
the distribution of the corn-plants throughout the
globe at the present day.

Agriculture can be pursued but very partially
within the northern polar circles, where, for the
most part, the intenseness of the frosts during a
protracted winter binds up the soil, — not otherwise
sterile, — and condemns it to perpetual unfruitfulness.

The utmost limit of the culture of grain in Si-
beria reaches only to the sixtieth degree^of latitude,
and in the more eastern parts of the province these
important products are scarcely to be met with
higher than fifty-five degrees. In the more southern
parts of Siberia, and in districts adjoining the
Wolga, the land is extraordinarily fertile, so that
crops of grain are obtained with a very trifling amount

* Heber's Journey, vol. ii, p. 131,

THE CEREAL1A. 17

of labour. Buck-wheat is very commonly cultivated
in this district ; and it is found that one sowing of
the seed will produce five or six crops in as many
successive years, each harvest yielding from twelve
to fifteen times the quantity first sown. The seed
which is shed during the reaping is sufficient to
insure the growth of plants for the following year,
without any manuring, and with no more labour on
the part of the farmer than that of harrowing the
land in the spring. This system is continued with-
out intermission until the diminished fertility of the
soil compels its abandonment ; but, as already men-
tioned, this state of things rarely occurs until six years
have been thus occupied.

It might be thought that in a country thus fertile,
the proprietors or cultivators of the soil would
speedily become enriched ; this, however, is by no
means the case. Facilities for transporting their
surplus produce are wretchedly deficient, so that the
market is extremely circumscribed ; and the inhabi-
tants of the country being generally so poor as to be
unable to purchase food produced from grain, the
farmers limit {heir cultivation in a great degree to
the quantity needed for the supply of their own
families. TJie small amount of labour called for by
this cultivation js usually performed by the farmer
himself, assisted by the members of his own family ;
the employment of any other farm-labourers is con-
sequently rare.

All temptation to extend the breadth of culture
must be wanting, in a situation, where the surplus
produce cannot be exchanged, and its value invested
in some permanent mode, whereby a larger quantum
of human labour may be commanded at any future
period.

Europe is indebted to Siberia for a particular de-
scription of oats, which are considered excellent ;

VOL. xv. 2*

19 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

and at Yakoutch barley is sometimes seen to arrive
at maturity.

In some districts of Lapland, situated to the
westward, the inhabitants are, by dint of careful
tillage, enabled to produce plentiful crops of rye. In
some spots, nearer even than this to the pole,
potatoes are made to supply the place of grain ; but
for the most part the inhabitants are constrained to
subsist upon dried fish.

In Kamtchatka, which is considerably to the south
of Siberia, extending from 62° to 51° of north
latitude, but united with that province at its eastern
extremity, no attempts to cultivate the cereal grasses
have ever proved successful, the produce not having
in any case been sufficient to repay the labour of the
tillage. These failures may, however, be attributable
more to the generally ungrateful nature of the soil
than to the effects of an unkindly climate, since in
some spots where the land is of better quality,
other esculent vegetables are produced in tolerable
perfection ; * cabbag'es, carrots, turnips, radishes,
beet-raot,"and .even cucumbers, are raised constantly
and without difficulty. Dried fish aijd caviare form
the principal food of the inhabitants of Kamtchatka
and the islands of the' Aleoutian. Archipelago.

Barley and. oa^s are {he-kinds of grain the culture
of which extends farthest, to the north in Europe.
The meal -which they yield, and which is 'seldom or
never used by the inhabitants of South Britain for
human food, forms,' on the contrary, the principal
sustenance of the inhabitants of 'Norway and Sweden,
of a part of Siberia, and even of Scotland.

Rye follows next in order, being associated with
oats and barley in the more northern division of the
temperate zone. In the southern parts of Norway
and Sweden, in Denmark, in districts bordering on
the Baltic Sea, and in the north of Germany, rye

THE CEP.EAUA. 19

forms the principal object of cultivation; barley being
raised in those countries, as with ds, only for the pur-
pose of brewing, and the use of oats being limited
principally to the feeding of horses. In all these last-
mentioned places, wheat is also grown; but its con-
sumption is limited, and the principal part is made an
object of external trade.

The winters of Norway are intensely cold, but
their summers are, on the contrary, excessively warm,
particularly in the vallies, upon which the rays of the
sun are reverberated during the day from the moun-
tains, while the atmosphere has no time for becoming
cool during the few hours when the sun is below the
horizon. In such situations barley is generally sown
and reaped within the short space of sixty days;
sometimes even six weeks are found to suffice for
fulfilling the hopes of the husbandman. The Nor-
wegian agriculturist is, however, occasionally visited
by seasons, th/oughout which the sun appears to
lose its genial power, and vegetation is stunted ;
blossoms, indeed, appear, but are unsucceeded by
fruits, and the straw yields nothing but empty ears.
This calamity is happily of rare occurrence ; and,
unless when checked by a premature frost, the har-
vests of Norway are for the most part abundant and
excellent.

Agriculture is pursued systematically and even
scientifically in Sweden, by which means the pre-
vailing barrenness of the soil is partially remedied.
The province of Gothland is made to produce barley,
oats, rye, and wheat, as well as pease and beans. In
these climates, the transition of the seasons is always
abrupt. Vegetation, when it has once commenced,
proceeds with a rapidity unknown in these more
temperate regions; and the interval which elapses
between committing the seed to the soil and gathering

20 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

the ripened harvest, is scarcely greater in Sweden than
is experienced in Norway.

Somewhat farther to the south, rye in a great
measure disappears, and wheat becomes the principal
material used for human food. France, England,
the southern part of Scotland, part of Germany and
Hungary, and the lands of Western and Middle
Asia, fall within this description. In most of these
countries the vine is also successfully cultivated ; and
wine forming a substitute for beer, the raising of
barley is consequently much neglected.

Still farther southward, wheat is found in abun-
dance, but maize and rice are also produced, and enter
largely among the constituents of human food. Por-
tugal and Spain, that part of France which borders
on the Mediterranean Sea, Italy, and Greece, are
thus circumstanced.

Still farther to the east, in Persia and Northern
India, Arabia, Nubia, Egypt, and Barbary, wheat
is indeed found; but maize, rice, and millet form the
principal materials for human sustenance. On the
plains near the Caspian Sea, in the province of Geor-
gia, rice, wheat, barley, and millet are raised abun-
dantly, and with very little culture. In the more ele-
vated parts of those districts rye is sometimes culti-
vated, but oats entirely disappear, the mules and hor-
ses being fed on barley.

The mode of culture followed at the present day
in Egypt is exceedingly simple, and calls but for a
small amount of labour. All that is required for
raising barley and wheat, is, when the inundations
of the Nile have subsided, to throw the seed upon
the mud; if this should be thought too hard and stiff,
the grain is lightly ploughed in, and no farther care
or culture is then required until the ripening of the
produce, which usually happens from the beginning to
the end of April.

THE CEREALIA. 21

In Nubia, and particularly above the Great Ca-
taract, the banks of the river are so high as seldom
to admit of the overflowing of the waters, and the
Nubian cultivators are consequently obliged to em-
ploy sakies, or water-wheels, for the purpose of irri-
gating the fields during the summer: this practice
prevails as far as Sennaar. Each of these sakies is
capable of irrigating as much land as is calculated to
yield from twelve to fifteen hundred English bushels
of grain, and employs the alternate labour of eight or
ten cows. The water thus dispensed over the land
is thrown up either from the Nile, or from pits dug
to the depth of fifteen or twenty feet, in which an
abundant supply is soon collected. The principal
vegetable productions of Nubia are barley and dhour-
ra (Sorghum, or Indian millet). The use of wheat
is confined to the more wealthy inhabitants.

The grains which form the principal objects of
cultivation in our division of the globe are rarely
seen in China and Japan, where rice greatly predom-
inates. The reason for this is not to be sought in
the influence of climate, but rather in the peculiar
manners and tastes of the people; since, throughout
the isles of Japan, and in a very considerable part of
the Chinese empire, every one of those grains might
be successfully reared. The denseness of population
in China furnishes a sufficient reason why the pur-
suit of agriculture should be so much encouraged as
it is by the government. The annals of that singular
people acquaint us, that one of their emperors who
enjoyed the highest reputation for wisdom was taken
from the plough to sit upon the throne. Another
has been celebrated for having discovered the art of
draining low lands, of collecting the water in canals,
and of converting it from a noxious impediment to
the useful purpose of irrigation. Their emperor,
Ven-ti, who reigned 179 years before Christ, is said

22 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

to have incited his subjects to the more zealous cul-
tivation of their lands, by ploughing with his own
hands the land surrounding his palace, which example
being followed by his ministers and courtiers, influ-
enced in turn those who moved in a less exalted
sphere.*

Of the countries which lie between the tropics,
those of Asia adopt principally the use of rice, while
maize is made the common food of the Americans.
There exists a natural reason for this distribution,
Asia being undoubtedly the native region of rice,
while maize is as certainly the production of America.
In Africa, except as already particularized, and in
the British settlements of that continent, the two
grains are used indifferently and in nearly equal
proportions.

Wheat is found in some situations within the tro-
pics; but its high price, as compared with that of
other grains, occasions its use to be confined to the
more wealthy classes. In many parts of British
India, and particularly in the upper provinces, the
quality of the wheat is represented as being excellent,
although the grain is smaller than with us. Barley
is likewise grown in some of the more northern dis-
tricts, but the grain does not attain to the same size
or plumpness as in Europe. The variety cultivated
in India is that known by us under the name of Bigg:
its cheapness causes it, however, to be extensively
used by the native population, who eat it in the form
of cakes.

The agriculture of the Hindu Ryots is of the very
rudest description: their ploughs are scarcely de-
serving of the name, having no contrivance for
turning over the soil; the instrument employed as
a harrow is nothing more than the branch of a

* Du Halde, Nouvelle relation de la Chine, tome i, pp. 274-5.

THE CEUEALIA. 23

tree, or, at best, is only a wooden frame sixteen or
eighteen feet long, in the form of a ladder, which is
drawn by four oxen, and driven by two men, who add
to its effectiveness by standing upon the instrument.
Dr Buchanan, in the account of his ' Journey through
Mysore, Canara, and Malabar,' closes a very dis-
paraging account of Indian husbandry with the follow-
ing remarks : —

* I am afraid, however, that the reader, in perusing
the foregoing accounts, will have formed an opinion
of the native agriculture still more favourable than it
deserves. I have been obliged to use the English
words ploughings, vveedings, and hoeings, to express
operations somewhat similar that are performed by
the natives ; and the frequent repetitions of these,
mentioned in the accounts taken from the cultivators,
might induce the reader to imagine that the ground
was well wrought, and kept remarkably clean. Quite
the reverse, however, is the truth. Owing to the
extreme imperfection of their implements, and want
of strength in their cattle, a field, after six or eight
ploughings, has numerous small bushes remaining as
upright in it as before the labour, while the plough has
not penetrated above three inches deep. The plough
has neither coulter nor mould-board to divide and to
turn over the soil, and the handle'gives the ploughman
very little power to command its direction. The
other instruments are equally imperfect, and are more
rudely formed than it was possible for my draughtsman
to represent.'*

The only circumstance which is stated favourable
to the agricultural skill of the Hindus, is the existence
of contrivances for irrigating the lands in seasons
of drought. This process is effected by means of
tanks, which are maintained under the compulsory

* Vol. i, p. 126

24 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

regulations of the governments, whose revenues
depend upon the produce of the soil.

It remains to trace the distribution of the Cerealia
throughout America. The highest limit for the cul-
tivation of these plants on that vast continent is in the
more southern portion of the Russian possessions,
situated between 57° and 58° of north latitude, where
barley and rye are brought to maturity. On the more
eastern coast of America, the same cultivation rarely
succeeds higher than 50° or 51°.

In the United States, wheat and rye grow as in
the more temperate regions in Europe ; and it is
perhaps owing to faulty methods of tillage, occasioned
by the great abundance of land and the dearness of
labour, that the produce bears a small proportion
when compared with that obtained from cultivating
the same extent of land in Europe. Great improve-
ments in this respect have already been introduced ;
and when population shall be found, as in older settled
countries, pressing against the means of subsistence,
there is no reason why the lands should not be made
as productive generally, as they are in the carefully-
cultivated districts of this country. Maize is very
extensively raised in the United States, and in the
southern parts of the Union rice is also very largely
cultivated.

Canada produces wheat in sufficient abundance to
supply its own population, and to make large occa-
sional shipments to the mother-country, where this
produce is received upon more advantageous terms
as regards the duty payable on importation, than
wheat the produce of any part of the continent of
Europe. In proportion as the lands of Canada are
cleared of their timber, we may expect that a larger
amount of grain will be spared by that province for
consumption in Europe ; unless the tide of emigration

THE CEREALIA. 25

should continue to set more and more strongly towards
that quarter, so as to call for a proportionately in-
creased quantity of grain for the sustenance of the
settlers.

Humboldt, in his account of New Spain, has given
a very interesting view of the agriculture of South
America, In the lower latitudes of the Mexican
republic, the cereal grains of Europe, comprehending
under this denomination wheat, barley, oats, and rye,
are never cultivated at a lower elevation than from
2500 to 3000 feet above the level of the sea. It is
well known that the habitation of plants is determined,
in a very decided manner, by the elevation of different
regions. On this subject De Candolle calculates,
that in France every five hundred and forty feet of
vertical elevation is equivalent to a receding of one
degree from the equator ; while Humboldt estimates
every rise of three hundred and ninety-six feet to be
equal to the same advance to the north, in tropical
countries. We know that the summits of the towering
Andes — some of which are placed almost directly
under the equatorial line — are yet covered with per-
petual snow ; and that in many mountainous countries
within the tropics, the seeds and fruits of temperate
regions are seen to flourish.

On the declivity of the Cordilleras, between Vera
Cruz and Acapulco, wheat cultivation does not in
general commence at a lower level than 4000 feet.
Sometimes, as in the immediate vicinity of the city of
Xalapa, wheat is sown, not for the sake of the grain,
which indeed it there never produces, but because
the straw and succulent leaves furnish excellent fodder
for cattle.

It does not appear, however, that the degree of
latitude and the amount of elevation are the only cir-
cumstances that determine the fructification of wheat,
since in Guatemala, which is nearer to the equator,

VOL. xv. 3

26 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

and at a much lower level than Xalapa, that grain
comes to full perfection. Humboldt offers, as reasons
for this variance from the usual rule, the exposed
situation of the district, and the prevalence of cool
winds, which serve to modify the otherwise unfavoura-
ble influence of the climate. ' I have seen,' says this
observant traveller, ' in the province of Caraccas, the
finest harvests of wheat near Victoria, (latitude 10°
13') at 500 or 600 metres (1640 or 1968 feet) of
absolute elevation ; and it appears that the wheaten
fields which surround the Quatro Villas, in the island
of Cuba (latitude 21° 58'), have still a smaller eleva-
tion. At the Isle of France (latitude 20° 10') wheat
is cultivated on a soil almost level with the ocean.'*

Circumstances altogether unconnected with climate
must be taken into account in determining the relative
agricultural capabilities of Mexico, where the absolute
absence of rain, throughout a large portion of the
time when the plant is on the ground, must be, in a
high degree, detrimental to wheat husbandry, unless
artificial means were resorted to, as in Nubia, for
supplying the natural deficiency of moisture.
Throughout a great part of the temperate regions of
New Spain the farmers are compelled to adopt the
system of artificial irrigation. This is effected by the
agency of canals and reservoirs, which are supplied
from the rivers, and which are so constructed that the
water may be dispensed at pleasure over any and
every part of the farms.

In districts where the system of artificial watering
is fully adopted, the fertility of the Mexican farms is
extraordinary, — far beyond anything experienced in
the richest soils of Europe, the wheat harvest being
commonly thirty-five and forty for one, and some
considerable estates yielding even fifty and sixty

* Humboldt's New Spain, p. 454.

THB CEREALIA. 27

measures for one measure of seed. In similar lo-
calities, and with land of equal quality, but where
no opportunity has been provided for watering the
fields, the annual return does not exceed more than
fifteen or twenty for one.

Maize is also very extensively cultivated in Mexico;
and, from the genial nature of the climate, and the
general fertility of the soil, the returns which it yields
to the farmer are most abundant. Humboldt in-
forms us that in the valley of Mexico the maize har-
vest yields two hundred for one. The Indians and
Mestizoes, who form a large proportion of the inha-
bitants of the republic, feed on maize and manihot
(cassava), the consumption of wheat being princi-
pally confined to the white inhabitants of the towns.

In the temperate and polar districts of the southern
hemisphere, the order of cultivation is very similar
to that pursued in similar latitudes and elevations
north of the tropics. In America wheat is com-
monly found in the southern provinces of Brazil, in
Buenos Ay res, and in Chili. The same grain pre-
dominates at the Cape of Good Hope, the flour which
it yields being of beautiful quality, and accompanied
by less than the usual proportion of bran. In Austra-
lia wheat also forms the principal object of cultivation
on the part of the settlers ; but, in the southernmost
portions of that vast island — which, perhaps, it were
more correct to call a continent — and in Van Die-
men's Land, barley and rye are likewise to be
found.

CHAPTER II,

BY common consent, and in every climate where it
can be cultivated, WHEAT — Triticum — is held in
the highest estimation of all the cereal grains. The
cost of its production, compared with that of some
other substantive articles of aliment, does, indeed,
occasion it to be but little consumed in countries
where the bulk of the inhabitants are constrained by
poverty to subsist upon the cheapest description of
food that will sustain life. Where, however, the
people are in a situation which enables them to in-
dulge their choice in respect of food, wheaten bread,
with scarcely an exception, constitutes the chief ma-
terial for consumption.

Grain of Wheat, upper and under gides.

A full-grown and perfect grain of wheat will, on
examination, be found to resemble the above figures.
In form, it is a compressed oval, and is inclosed
firstly in certain chaffy scales, which are readily to
be separated from it, and secondly in a membranous
tunic, which invests the seed much more closely.
Along that side of the grain which, while the plant
was growing, was turned towards the rachis, a
groove may be observed. At the base, on the op-

WHEAT. 29

poslte or convex side, is to be seen a small protube-
rant oval space, which indicates the germ or embryo
of the future plant, and which is at this time co-
vered by the tunics. The vessels whereby the grain
was attached to the plant, and through which it
drew nourishment until its maturity, had their point
of attachment at the basal termination of this protu-
berance. When the seed is perfectly ripe, the um-
bilical vessels separate ; the point of separation
speedily heals in the same manner as a portion of a
deciduous tree from which a matured leaf has de-
tached itself, and the grain may then be easily
threshed out from the chaff in which it had lain
buried ; sometimes, indeed, it sheds itself sponta-
neously.

Several species, and a still greater number of
varieties, of wheat are to be found. Many of these
differences are doubtless to be referred to influences
of climate and modes of culture. There are but
two sorts generally and extensively cultivated in
this kingdom, and these have distinguishing names
given to them, in agreement with the seasons in which
they are sown, one being called Spring or Summer
Wheat, the other Winter or Lammas Wheat.

SPRING, or SUMMER WHEAT — Trilicum cestivwn
— is supposed to be a native of Siberia, in the land
of the Beschkirs. It is less hardy than the winter-
sown kind, and the whole plant has a weaker ap-
pearance ; the stem is thin and delicate, the ear
more slender and less erect, and it is provided with
much longer beards or awns. This description of
grain, which, in our uncertain climate, cannot be
safely or productively cultivated throughout the king-
dom, is yet domesticated in the more southerly and
the midland districts. As its grain is smaller than
that of the commoner sort, and as its produce is] less
abundant, the farmer would not be led to its culti-

VOL. xr. 3*

30

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

vation, could he be certain of success with
sown seed, or if, in the progress of his agricultural
operations, the land could always be got ready for the
autumnal sowing.

Ear and Plant of Spring Wheat.

The principal advantage to be derived from the
adoption of summer wheat consists in tiie security
which it offers against the injurious effects of a cold
and rainy spring ; so that in situations and seasons
where winter-sown wheat is so far injured as to
destroy all prospect of a harvest, this delicate but
more rapidly growing species may be more confi-
dently depended on for yielding its increase. Some
farmers, when they perceive that the seed they have
sown in autumn iails and goes off in patches from
any untoward causes, are accustomed to rake spring

WHEAT. 31

wheat into the vacant spaces, and wherever the
plants appear weak and thin. By this means the
uniformity of the crop is restored; and if the opera-
tion has not been delayed beyond the beginning of
April, the spring wheat will be matured and ready
for the sickle at the same time with the earlier sown
plants. This mixture of grain is of no consequence
to the miller, but it would be manifestly improper to.
employ the produce as seed. When spring wheat is
sown by itself, the season for this operation is in
April, or the early part of May, from which time on-
ward the farmer has but little to dread from any sever-
ity of weather in the above-mentioned districts. It is
said that this species of wheat is not subject to blight.
According to the analysis of Sir Humphrey Davy,
the nutritive quality of this kind is not quite equal to
that of winter wheat, the proportions being 95 1 per
cent in the latter, and only 94 per cent in the former,
of the entire bulk of the grains. The gluten con-
tained in the two kinds varies in a greater degree,
that of winter wheat being 24, while that of spring-
sown corn is only 19, so that the winter variety is
most eligible for the purpose of the baker.

WINTER, or LAMMAS WHEAT — Triiicum hyber-
num — may easily be distinguished by its appearance,
being much more vigorous in the stem, more erect
and thick in the ear, and, in comparison with the
other, destitute of beard or awn, for which reason its
bloom is more conspicuous. The same cause may
be cited to account for the fact, that its pollen is
both more easily diffused and more liable to be de-
stroyed.

This plant is sown in autumn, stands through the
winter, and ripens its seed in the following summer.
Slight varieties of this species are exceedingly com-
mon in different localities, and are probably attribut-

32

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Ear and Plant of Winter Wheat

able to some peculiarities in the mode of culture.
The common varieties of winter wheat are distin-
guished from each other according to the colour of
the tunic enveloping the grain, and the difference
observable in their chaff. The colours are usually
divided into white and red, the latter of these in-
cluding many different shades of brown. Red wheat
is commonly said io be more hardy than white; it is
therefore thought better suited for cultivation in bleak
and upland districts. The plant is, however, not so
productive as the white, and the flour which it yields
is seldom of so desirable a quality.

The cultivation of another description of wheat,
called, from the form of the ear, the DUCK-BILL, or

33

Ear and Plant of Duck-bill Wheat,

CONICAL WHEAT — Trilicum turgidum, — has been
attempted in England, but without any profitable r?-
sult, having no qualities that recommend it to the no-
tice of the agriculturist.

Some other varieties exist, which, although they
do not appear to be well adapted to the climate of
England, are yet cultivated extensively elsewhere;
they are therefore deserving of description.

EGYPTIAN, or MANY-SPIKED WHEAT — Triticitm
compositum, — called also the Corn of Abundance.
This species is principally cultivated in the country
whose name it bears, and in Italy. It is probably
a native of the north of Africa, and resembles spring
wheat, in its habits, more than any other description.

34

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Ear and Plant of Egyptian, or many-spiked Whtat.

The ear is bearded, and the grains are thinner than
those of winter wheat. It is the distinctive peculiarity
of this plant that its rachis is branched, so that the
ear is made up of several spikelets. Egyptian
wheat will bear great degrees of heat and drought
without injury, so that it is found to yield abundantly
in situations where other kinds would be greatly in-
jured, if not destroyed — a circumstance which points
it out as admirably adapted to the arid lands whereon
it is chiefly cultivated.

POLISH WtiEAT — Triticumpolonicum. — This va-
riety was partially cultivated in England in the latter
part of the seventeenth century, but is now to be
found here only in botanic gardens.

WHEAT.

85

Ear and plant of Polish Wheat.

SPELT WHEAT — Trilicum spelta — is imagined
to have been the Triliciim of the Romans, and
the Zea of the Greeks, although this latter name
has now been given to Maize, a grain unknown to
the ancients. • This variety is still very abundantly
cultivated in many parts of the Continent, and parti-
cularly in the south of Europe. It may be raised
upon much coarser soil than is required for the better
kinds of wheat in England, and calls for much less
culture. In many parts ot Germany, in Switzerland,
in the south of France, in the north of Africa, and at
the Cape of Good Hope, spelt is grown abundantly.
This is likewise the case in Spain, where, on occa-
sions when barley is scarce, this grain is given to

36

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

horses. It is said that spelt wheat is better adapted
than any of the more delicate kinds for culture in
Australia, and probably it would be found the pre-
ferable sort in all the more southern wheat-growing
countries.

Ear and Plant of Spelt Wheat. m

There are two distinct varieties of spelt, distin-
guished as the awned and the awnless ; the latter
is perhaps the most naked of all the cerealia. The
grains of this are large, but the ear contains only a
small number of them, as a portion of the flowers
prove barren. It is generally, if not always, a spring-
sown crop ; grows strongly, and its stalks are nearly
solid. Bread made of its flour is said to be of a dry
quality.

WHEAT.

37

Ear and Plant of One-seeded Wheat.

ONE-SEEDED WHEAT, or St Peter's corn, — Tri-
ticum motiococcum. This is another variety ; the
stem and leaves of which are among the most dimi-
nutive of the species, and the spike contains only a
single row of grains. This kind is chiefly used in
the mountainous parts of Switzerland, and containing
less of gluten than common sorts, it answers better
for being boiled into gruel, than for being baked into
bread. The four-sided form of the ripe ear is so ex-
tremely regular, that it has the appearance of being
carved in ivory. The straw, which is both hard and
firm, is excellent for thatching.

The well known method of propagating wheat is
by sowing the grain in land previously prepared for
VOL. xv. 4

38 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

its reception by ploughing. It has been held that
this important preliminary of pulverizing the soil can
hardly be carried to excess, the expense attending it
forming almost the only limit to its prosecution.
Cato the censor, who, in addition to his accomplish-
ments as a warrior and a statesman, showed an in-
timate acquaintance with rural economy, has recorded
his opinion on the necessity of thoroughly turning
up the soil. In his treatise, ( De re ruslica,' he has
laid it down as the first rule in husbandry to plough
well, and the second rule — to plough.*

Two distinct practices are followed in committing
the seed to the earth. The most ancient and most
commonly used of these is that of scattering the seed
from the hand of the sower over the whole surface ;
and this is characteristically called sowing broad-cast.
The other method, which is comparatively of modern
introduction, is that of depositing the seed in holes
formed in straight furrows, and at regular intervals,
which is called drilling, or dibbling ; while the pro-
cesses which accompany it, and which are impracti-
cable with the broad-cast method, are distingufshed
as the horse-hoeing or drill system of husbandry.

Lord Bacon says, that, in his time (the beginning
of the seventeenth century), attempts had been made
to plant wheat, but that the plan was abandoned,
although undoubtedly advantageous, as involving
too much labour. | In 1669, Evelyn furnished to
the Royal Society a description of a sowing ma-
chine invented by Locatelli, an Italian, who had ob-
tained a patent for its use in Spain, having proved its
utility by public experiment. J The drill plough was,
however, not used in England, and was, perhaps, quite
unknown to a body of men who are proverbially

* Cap. Ixi. t Sylva Sylvarum.

$ See Beckmann's « History of Inventions, vol. IT, p. 45,
ed. 1817.

WHEAT. 39

slow all over the world to adopt any improvement,
till public attention was awakened to it, in the
early part of the last century, by the celebrated
Jethro Tull, who, after practically following for some
years his own improved plan of husbandry, and
thereby proving its advantages, published a particu-
lar account of his process in the year 1733. This
work, which he entitled ' An Essay on Horse-
hoeing Husbandry,' became highly popular, com-
pelling the attention of English agriculturists to the
subject, and engaging no less the consideration of
scientific foreigners. The system of Mr Tull con-
sisted in discarding the old method of scattering
seed upon the land broad-cast, and in substituting
a mode of sowing the grain in straight rows or
furrows by means of an implement more perfect
than Locatelli's machine, which delivered the seed
at proper intervals, and in the exact quantity that
was found most beneficial. Spaces of fifty inches
breadth were left between the furrows, so that
the land could be ploughed or horse-hoed in these
intervals at various periods during the growth of the
crop, the object of these hoeings being to bring fresh
portions of the soil into contact with the fibrous roots
of the plants, and thus to render every part in turn
available for their nutrition. One material advan-
tage that results from the new method of husbandry
is the saving which it occasions in seed-corn, and
which is said to amount to five-eighths of the quan-
tity usually expended in the old method. The com-
parative merits of the two plans have for so long a
time been submitted to the surest of all tests, that
of experience, and have been so well examined by
competent persons, who have given the result of
their inquiries to the world, that it cannot be neces-
sary to do more in this place than refer the reader to
those authors for farther information.

40 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

The manner in which plants are produced through
the germination of seeds is so well known, that
in any community where the human mind has been
advanced in that degree which incites to the cultiva-
tion of the earth, it would perhaps be difficult to find
a man so insensible to the workings of nature by which
he is surrounded, as not to have noticed with admi-
ration the phenomena accompanying the develope-
ment of vegetable fecundity. It is true we know not
how this standing miracle is brought ^about ; and, in
all human probability, we never shall be able to
pierce the veil wherein the inciting energy is shrouded
to which that fecundity is owing ; but is it possible for
us, while conscious that it exists, not to be grateful
for the benevolence whereby that energy is ceaselessly
called into action ? At one end of the groove, in a
grain of wheat, is a small protuberance, as we have
already mentioned, which is the germ or embryo of
the future plant. This organ has been appropriately
called corculum (liUle-heart). It contains within
itself a principle, which, if rightly managed, is ca-
pable of evolving not only a plant of wheat, with
its abundant spike, but also plant after plant, and
spike after spike, until, in the course of a few har-
vests, the progeny of this little germ would become
capable of feeding a nation. Thus it is, that in the
lapse of ages, amidst the desolations of rude con-
querors, and the alternations which the finest portions
of the earth have endured from civilization to semi-
barbarism, the vital principle of vegetable life des-
tined for the chief support of the human race has
not been lost; and it has remained to man, like fire,
which he alone of all animals has subjected to his
use, to be called forth at his bidding to administer to
his support, his comfort, and his advance in every
art of social existence.

The number of stalks thrown up by one grain of

WHEAT.

41

wheat is indefinite, and depends upon local causes.
This power of multiplication, as possessed by the
grain-bearing plants, is called tillering. In its pro-
gress, the stalks do not rise immediately from the
germ, but are thrown out from different points of the
infant sprouts while yet they remain in contact with
the moist soil. An increase of the cereal plants, by
this means, is sometimes produced beyond anything
conceivable by those persons who have not attended
to the fact. But for jt, the casualties to which these
important plants are liable during the earlier stages of
vegetation, would in many cases operate fatally to the
hopes of the farmer. One or two circumstances may
be mentioned in which this power of multiplying them-
selves at the roots is of the highest advantage in the
cultivation of the cereal grains. An insect — musca
pumilionis — is accustomed to deposit its eggs in
the very core of the plumule or primary shoot of
wheat, so that it is completely destroyed by the larvae.

Wheat-fly (Musca pvmilionit), In its different itagei.

VOL. arv. 4*

42 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Did the plant possess within itself no means of re-
pairing this injury, the whole previous labour of the
husbandman would in this case have been in vain.
But this destruction occurring in the spring of the year,
when the vegetative power of the plant is in the
greatest activity, an effect is produced somewhat ana-
logous to that of heading down a fruit-tree ; shoots
immediately spring up from the nodes (knots), the
plant becomes more firmly rooted, and produces,
probably, a dozen stems and ears where, but for the
temporary mischief, it might have sent forth only one.
Several extraordinary tacts have been recorded in
connexion with the inherent power of multiplication
possessed by these vegetables. Among others, Sir
Kenelm Digby asserted, in 1660, that 'there was
in the possession of the Fathers of the Christian doc-
trine at Paris, a plant of barley which they at that
time kept as a curiosity, and which consisted of two
hundred and forty -nine stalks springing from one
root or grain, and in which they counted above
eighteen thousand grains or seeds of barley.' In the
Philosophical Transactions* it is recorded, that Mr
C. Miller of Cambridge, the son of the eminent horti-
culturist, sowed, on the 2d of June, a few grains of
common red wheat, one of the plants from which had
tillered so much, that on the 8th of August he was
enabled to divide it into eighteen plants, all of which
were placed separately in the ground. In the course of
September and October so many of these plants had
again multiplied their stalks, that the number of plants
which were separately set out to stand the winter was
sixty-seven. With the first growth of the spring the
tillering again went forward, so that at the end of
March and beginning of April a farther division
was made, and the number of plants now amounted
to five hundred. Mr Miller expressed his opinion,

* Vol. Iviii.

WHEAT. 43

that before the season had too far advanced one other
division might have been effected, when the number
might have been at least quadrupled. The rive
hundred plants proved extremely vigorous, much more
so than wheat under ordinary culture, so that the
number of ears submitted to the sickle was 21,109, or
more than forty to each of the divided plants : in some
instances there were one hundred ears upon one plant.
The ears were remarkably fine, some being six or
seven inches long, and containing from sixty to
seventy grains. The wheat, when separated from the
straw, weighed forty-seven pounds and seven ounces,
and measured three pecks and three quarters, the
estimated number of grains being 576,840.

Such an enormous increase is not of course attain-
able on any great scale, or by the common modes of
culture ; but the experiment is of use as showing the
vast power of increase with which the most valuable
of vegetables is endowed, and which, by judiciously
varying the mode of tillage, may possibly in time be
brought into beneficial action.

The ordinary produce of wheat varies exceedingly,
depending much upon the quality of the soil, the
nature of the season, and the mode of culture. The
average produce of the soil of a country depends, as
does every other species of production, upon the ad-
vance of its inhabitants in knowledge and in the pos-
session of capital. It has been conjectured, that in
the 13th century, an acre of good land in England
would produce twelve bushels of wheat.* In two
centuries this rate of produce appears to have greatly
increased. Harrison, writing in 1574, says, ' The
yield of our corne-ground is much after this rate
following : — Throughout the land (if you please to

* Sir J. Cullum's ' History of Hawksted,' quoted in Eden's.
' History of the Poor,' vol. i, p. 18.

44 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

make an estimate thereof by the acre), in meane and
indifferent years, wherein each acre of rie or wheat,
well tilled and dressed, will yield commonlie sixteene
or tvventie bushels ; an acre of barley, six-and-thirtie
bushels ; of otes, and such like, four or five quar-
ters ; which proportion is notwithstanding oft abated
toward the north, as it is- oftentimes surmounted in
the south.'* The mean produce in Great Britain,
according to the estimate of Mr Arthur Young,
did not, at the time when he wrote (about 50 years
ago), exceed twenty-two and a half bushels per
acre. Other and later writers have calculated the
average at from twenty-four to twenty-eight bushels ;
while the author of the Reports on Agriculture for
Middlesex has asserted, that the medium quantity
in that county is forty bushels, the highest produce
he has known being sixty-eight, and the lowest
twelve bushels per acre. The land in the county
which was the subject of these Reports, owing to its
proximity to the metropolis, may be considered as in
a state of high condition, and much beyond the ordi-
nary rate of fertility. At all times, and in every
country, some situations will be found more prolific
than others, and some individuals will be more suc-
cessful in their agricultural -labours. Puny has re-
lated a case which occurred among the Romans,
where this success was seen in so marked a degree,
that the able agriculturist who, by excelling his
countrymen, had rendered himself the object of envy,
was cited before the Curule Edile and an assembly of
the people, to answer to a charge of sorcery, founded
on his reaping much larger crops from his very
small spot of ground than his neighbours did from
their extensive fields. ' In answer to this charge
Cresinus produced his efficient implements of hus-
bandry, his well-fed oxen, and a hale young woman

* « Description of Britain,' prefixed to Hollingshed-

WHEAT. 45

his daughter, and pointing to them, exclaimed, —
" These, Romans, are my instruments of witchcraft,
but I cannot here show you my labours, sweats, and
anxious cares." '*

It will easily be conceived that the quantity of
straw must vary considerably from year to year, ac-
cording to the seasons, and that this produce will
likewise be generally influenced by the nature of the
soil. It is therefore impossible to give any certain
information upon this point, but it will perhaps
amount to a near approximation to the truth if we
consider that for every twelve bushels of wheat, one
load, containing thirty-six trusses of straw, will be
obtained, the weight of which is 1 1 cwt. 2 qrs. 8 Ibs.
The straw of summer wheat is more agreeable to
cattle than that produced from winter sowing.

This most important vegetable is not wholly free
from casualties apart from climate. The principal of
these are, blight, mildew, and smut. The examination
and treatment of these diseases have proved fruitful
topics with writers on agricultural subjects. It does
not, however, appear that the public has hitherto
benefited much by their speculations, and an author
of considerable eminence is so far of a contrary
opinion as to have asserted, that ' in proportion as
words have been multiplied upon the subject, the
difficulties attending its elucidation have increased. 'f

Blight is a disorder to which the cereal grains are
known to have been liable from the earliest times.
Among the ancient Greeks it was regarded as a sign
of wrath on the part of their offended deities ; and
whenever it occurred they consequently gave them-
selves up to the infliction, without any thought of
providing a remedy. The same superstitious notion
was entertained by the Romans, who believed that

* Nat. Hist., hook xviii, chap. 6.

t Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Gnrdening, p. 236.

46 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

the evil, which they called rubigo, was under the
control of a particular deity named Rubigus, to
propitiate whom in favour of their crops sacrifices
were continually offered.

Blight and mildew have been very much con-
founded together by different writers on agricultural
subjects, so as to render it doubtful to which class
of appearances each name should in strictness be
applied, or whether indeed both are not applicable
to one and the same disorder occurring at different
periods of the growth of the plant. Wishing to
avoid entering upon debateable ground in noticing a
subject which remains intricate and obscure, not-
withstanding all the laborious treatises to which it
has given rise, the forms which the disorders assume,
and the bad effects by which they are followed will
be plainly but briefly described, leaving the question
of their classification to more professional hands.

Three distinct and dissimilar causes are assigned
for the production of these disorders — cold and
frosty winds — sultry and pestilential vapours — and
the propagation of a parasitical -fungus. The first
of these causes acts by stopping the current of the
juices; the leaves, being then deprived of a necessary
portion of nutriment, speedily wither and die, when
the juices, which are impeded in their passage, swell
and burst the vessels, becoming then the food of
myriads of little insects. These make their appear-
ance so suddenly as to have been considered the
cause rather than one of the effects of the disease.
The second cause of blight occurs after the grain
has attained its full growth. It has been observed
to happen mostly after heavy showers of rain, which,
occurring about noontide, have been succeeded by
clear sunshine. The plants are most commonly
attacked thus about the middle or end of July. Mr
Loudon informs us that ' in the summer of 1809, a

WHEAT. 47

field of wheat on rather a light and sandy soil came
up with every appearance of health, and also into
ear, with a fair prospect of ripening well. About
the beginning of July it was considered as exceeding
anything expected from such a soil. A week after-
wards, a portion of the crop on the east side of the
field, to the extent of several acres, was totally de-
stroyed, being shrunk and shrivelled up to less than
one half the size of what it had formerly been, and
so withered and blasted as not to appear to belong
to the same field. The rest of the field produced a
fair crop.'* This disorder attacks either the leaves
or stem of the plant, which appear to be covered
by broken lines, of a black or deep brown colour. This
disease has been ascertained to result from the presence
of a very minute species of fungus, the roots of which
are inserted into the stem, and absorb the nourishment
intended for the grain, which when the plant is thus
attacked proves little else than husk. The minute
seeds of the parasitical plant which occasion this
mischief are so exceedingly light that they are borne
along by the air to considerable distances. They
are likewise of extraordinary quick growth, occupying
in warm weather, according to the opinion of Sir
Joseph Banks, not longer than one week from the
time of their insertion in the plant to the production
of their seed. Every pore in the straw whereon they
fix will present from twenty to forty plants, so that
the extent to which this mischief spreads is diffi-
cult to be imagined. Fungus thrives best in damp
and shady situations, a circumstance which seems to
point out naturally the propriety of providing means
for the free ventilation of the fields, keeping low the
hedges and fences by which they are surrounded.
For the same reason it is found that thin crops, and

* Encyclop. of Gard. p. 237.

48

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

such as are sown by drilling or dibbling, are the most
likely to escape.

Corn Mildew — Undo frumenti — greatly magnified.

It has been often asserted, and was for a long time
believed, that the neighbourhood of barberry bushes
was hurtful by attracting the noxious fungus, but this
idea is now classed among unfounded prejudices.

The grain of mildewed plants is found to be per-
fectly good for seed, and being smaller than sound
grain, a less measure is required for the purpose.

Another formidable disease to which corn is liable
is known under the characteristic name of smut.
This injury consists in the conversion of the farina
of the grain into a sooty powder, which is more or

WHEAT. 49

less black and offensive to the smell. Some authors
have divided this evil under two different names, re-
taining that of smut for one of its modifications,
while that of burnt-grain has been given to the other.
Mills, in his ' System of Practical Husbandry,' has
drawn the line of distinction between the two in the
following terms. ' Smut, properly so called, oc-
casions a total loss of the infected ears, but as the
black powder which it produces is very fine, and the
grains of that powder do not adhere together, wind
and rain carry them away, so that the husbandman
houses little more than the straw, which does not
infect the sound grains and scarcely damages their
flour. The burnt or carious grains are, on the con-
trary, often housed with the sound grain, which they
infect with a contagious distemper, at the same time
that they render its flour brown, and give it a bad
smell.'* The name under which this disease was
known by the Romans was uslilago : by the French
farmers it is called charbon.

If a portion of the black powder be first wetted
with water, and then put under the microscope, it will
be found to consist of myriads of minute globules,
transparent, and apparently encompassed by a thin
membrane. The cause of this disease has been held
by some investigators to originate in the soil wherein
the grain is sown; others have attributed it to the
growth of a fungus within the ear; while others
again have affirmed that it is owing to a diseased
state of the seed whence the plant is produced. The
result of various experiments conducted with different
seeds sown in the same spot, and subjected to the
same culture, appear to confirm the correctness of
the last hypothesis.

The average weight of a bushel of wheat is about
sixty pounds. Inferior samples seldom weigh less

* Vol. ii, p. 392.
VOL. xv. 5

50 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

than fifty-six pounds, and the best as seldom exceed
sixty-two pounds.

A bushel of wheat of the average weight will
yield, on being ground,

Of bread flour 47 pounds,

fine pollard 4J
coarse pollard 4
bran 2|

11

Loss of weight in the processes > 2
of grinding and dressing )

60 pounds.

CHAPTER III.

Rye — Barley — Oats.

Ear and Plant of Rye.

RYE — Secale cereale. In former times this grain
was much more extensively cultivated among us, than
it has been of late years. Not two centuries have
passed since rye flour, either by itself, or mixed with
wheat, furnished nearly all the bread consumed by the
labouring classes in England.

52 TEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

At present rye is cultivated by our farmers prin-
cipally that they may draw from it a supply of green
food for their flocks. For this purpose the plants,
which are sown in November, are eaten early in the
spring, before they begin to spindle, which they will
do towards the end of March. After this stage of
the growth has taken place, the succulent quality
of the blade is impaired; it becomes coarse and
harsh; and is no longer agreeable to animals. When
rye is left to ripen its seeds, these are, for the
most part, applied in this country to purposes dis-
tinct from human food; the principal use to which
the grain is put being the preparation of a vegetable
acid, to be employed by tanners in an operation
which they call raising, and whereby the pores of
the hides are distended, so as to dispose them the
more readily to imbibe the tanning principle of the
oak-bark, which is afterwards applied. Rye, when
parched and ground, has been recently used as a
substitute for coffee. It would be difficult, however,
to convince any one accustomed to the use of this
grateful beverage, that the grain of home production
is ever likely to take place, at least to any extent, of
the fragrant Mocha bean.

Rye straw is useless as fodder, but1 forms an ex-
cellent material for thatching, and is so suitable for
stuffing horse-collars, that saddlers will usually pay
for it a very good price.

Botanists distinguish four species of this plant: —

..

•Seeale villosum,
Secale orientale,
Secale creticum, and
Secale cereals ;

the last only of which is cultivated in Britain. This,
which is said to be a native of Candia, was intro-

RYE. 53

duced into England many ages ago. There are two
varieties of this species, occasioned more probably by
difference of culture than by any inherent variance
in the plants: one is known as winter and the other
as spring rye.

It was formerly usual to sow rye together with an
early kind of wheat. The harvested grain, thus
necessarily intermixed, was termed meslin, from
miscellanea: it also obtained the name of tnung-
corn, corruptly from monk-corn, because bread made
with it was commonly eaten in monasteries.

With the exception of wheat, rye contains a greater
proportion of gluten than any other of the cereal
grains, to which fact is owing its capability of
being converted into a spongy bread. It contains,
likewise, nearly five parts in every hundred of ready-
formed saccharine matter, and is in consequence
easily convertible into malt, and thence into beer
or ardent spirit; but the produce of this last is so
small, in comparison with that of malted barley,
as to offer no inducement for its employment to that
purpose. Rye has a strong tendency to pass rapidly
from the vinous to the acetous state of fermentation,
and whenever that circumstance has intervened, it
would be vain to attempt either to brew or to distil it.
Unmalted rye meal is mixed in Holland with barley
malt, in the proportion of two parts by weight of
the former, with one part of the latter, and the whole
being fermented together forms the wash whence is
distilled all the grain spirit produced in that country,
and known throughout Europe as Hollands Geneva.
There must, however, be some circumstances of a
peculiar nature connected with the process, as con-
ducted by the Dutch distillers, since no attempts made
elsewhere have ever been successful in obtaining a
spirit having the same good qualities.

Rye is the common bread-corn in all the sandy
VOL. xv. 5*

54 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

districts to the south of the Baltic Sea and the Gulf
of Finland, furnishing abundance of food for the nu-
merous inhabitants of places which, without it, must
have been little better than sandy and uninhabitable
deserts. In these districts it not only forms the chief
article of consumption, but furnishes a material of
some consequence to the export trade of the Prussian
ports.

The peasantry in Sweden subsist very generally
upon rye-cakes, which they bake only twice in the
course of the year, and which, during most part of
the time, are consequently as hard as a board. —
Linnaeus observed a curious practice in Lapland. One
part of rye and two parts of barley being mixed to-
gether, the seed is committed to the ground as soon
as the earth is capable of tillage in the spring. The
barley shoots up vigorously, ripens its ears and is
reaped; while the rye merely goes into leaf without
shooting up any stem, its growth being retarded by
the barley, which may be said to smother it. After
the barley is reaped, the rye advances in growth, and,
without any farther care of the cultivator, yields an
abundant crop in the following year.

This grain, to which so many human beings are thus
indebted for aliment, is subject to a disease which,
when it occurs, not only deprives it of all its useful
properties as food, but renders it absolutely noxious,
and, it may even be said, poisonous to man. When
thus diseased it is called by English farmers horned
rye, and by the French ergot, from the fancied re-
semblance to a cock's spur of an excrescence which
the grain then bears. Whenever this disease has
been witnessed, it has usually happened that a wet
spring has been succeeded by a summer more than
ordinarily hot. Tissot, a French physician, bestowed
much attention on this subject, and upon its melan-
choly consequences. It is from him we learn that the

RYE. 55

excrescence just mentioned is an irregular vegetation,
which springs from the middle substance, between the
grain and the leaf, growing to the length of an inch
and a half, and being two tenths of an inch broad: it
is of a brownish colour.

Bread which is made of rye thus diseased has an
acrid and nauseous taste, and its use is followed by
spasmodic symptoms and gangrenous disorders. —
These effects cannot by any means be classed among
imaginary evils. In 1596 an epidemic prevailed in
Hesse, which was wholly ascribed to the use of
horned rye. Some of the persons who had unfor-
tunately partaken of this food were seized with
epilepsy, the attacks of which, for the most part,
ended fatally; of others, who became insane, few
ever fully recovered the proper use of their senses;
while some, who were apparently restored, were
liable through life to periodical returns of their
disorder.

Similar calamities were experienced in different
parts of the Continent at various times, between 1648
and 1 736, and these visitations have been recorded
by Burghart, Hoffman, and others. In 1709, this
diseased condition of the rye occurred in a part of
France to such a degree, that in consequence of it
no fewer than five hundred patients were at one
time under care of the surgeons at the public hos-
pital at Orleans. The symptoms first came on with
all the apparent characteristics of drunkenness, after
which the toes became diseased, mortified, and fell
off. The disorder thence extended itself up the leg,
and frequently attacked the trunk, and this some-
times occurred even after amputation of the dis-
eased limbs had been performed, with the vain hope
of stopping the progress of the disorder.

The poisonous quality of horned rye is not exerted
upon human beings alone, both insects and larger

56 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

animals having been fatally affected by it ; even
flies, that merely settled casually upon the grain,
have been killed by that means; and deer, swine,
and different kinds of poultry, upon which experi-
ments were tried, all died miserable deaths; some in
strong convulsions, and others with mortified ulcers.
These circumstances must have been truly appalling
by their severity and the frequency of their recurrence.
Few evils, however, are wholly of an unmixed cha-
racter, and this one is not of the number. Ergot of
?-i/e, which was formerly productive of so much mis-
ery, has since found admission as a medicine into our
pharmacopeias, and is now, in the hands of skilful
and honest practitioners, rendered subservient to the
interests of society. Horned rye is of very rare oc-
currence in Great Britain.

BARLEY — Hordeum — is, next to wheat, the most
important of all the cereal grains which are now cul-
tivated in Great Britain. Its use as bread-corn has
very much diminished of late years in this country,
while its employment for the production of stimulant
liquids, has, on the contrary, materially increased.

The Egyptians have a tradition, from which they
believe that of all the grains barley is that one which
was first used for the sustenance of man. Their
histories assert that a knowledge of the art of culti-
vating this grain was imparted to their ancestors by
the goddess Isis, who, having discovered the plant
growing wild in the woods, instructed men how to
cultivate it, so as at once to increase the quantity
and improve the quality of its produce.

Uninstructed people are generally prone to refer
to supernatural agency, the origin of all events for
which they are otherwise unable to account. Dr
Franklin has related, as coming from the lips of a
chief of the Susquehannah Indians, a tradition very

BARLEY.

57

Ear and Plant of Common Spring Barley.

similar to that of the Egyptians. * In the beginning,*
said this child of nature, ' our fathers had only the
flesh of animals to subsist on ; and if their hunting
was unsuccessful they were starving. Two of our
young hunters having killed a deer, made a fire in
the woods to broil some part of it. When they were
about to satisfy their hunger, they beheld a beautiful
young woman descend from, the clouds, and seat
herself on that hill which you see yonder among the
blue mountains. They said to each other, It is a
spirit that perhaps has smelt our broiling venison, and
wishes to eat of it ; let us offer some to her. They
presented her with the tongue ; she was pleased with
the taste of it, and said, Your kindness shall be re-

58 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

warded. Come to this place after thirteen moons,
and you shall find something that will be of great
benefit in nourishing you and your children to the
latest generations. They did so, and to their great
surprise found plants they had never seen before,
but which from that ancient time have been con-
stantly cultivated among us to our great advantage.
Where her right-hand had touched the ground, they
found maize ; wherd her left-hand had touched it,
they found kidney-beans ; and where she had seated
herself they found tobacco.'

The native country of barley is as little known as
that of wheat. Some travellers have mentioned it
as being produced in a wild state in distant parts of
the world ; but there is reason for believing that all
statements to this effect have been founded in error,
since the hardiest varieties of the cultivated grain
have never yet been seen to propagate themselves
during two following years. The seed of cultivated
barley, when chance-sown, will indeed produce plants;
but the grains which these bear are rarely, if ever,
seen to germinate. Some grasses which have been
placed by botanists in the same genus with barley,
bear to it a strong outward resemblance, yet none of
them can, by any degree of culture, be brought into
use as human food, nor indeed be made to exhibit
any marked improvement. One of these grasses,
the hordeum murinum of Linnaeus, known com-
monly as wall-barley, bears the nearest resemblance
of any to the cultivated plant.

In one respect barley is of more importance to
mankind than wheat. It may be propagated over a
wider range of climate, bearing heat and drought
better, growing upon lighter soils, and coming so
quickly to maturity, that the short northern summers
which do not admit of the ripening of wheat, are

BARLEY. 59

yet of long enough duration for the perfection of
barley. It is the latest sown, and the earliest reaped
of all the summer grains. In warm countries, such
as Spain, the farmers can gather two harvests of
barley within the year, one in the spring from winter-
sown grain, and the other in autumn from that sown
in summer. Barley sown in June is commonly ready
for the sickle in three months from the time of the seed
being committed to the ground ; and in very northern
climates the period necessary for its growth and per-
fection is said to be of still shorter duration. Lin-
na3us relates, in his tour in Lulean Lapland, that on
the 28th of July he observed the commencement of
the barley harvest, and although the seed was sown
only a few days before Midsummer, that the grain
was perfectly ripe, the whole process having thus oc-
cupied certainly not longer than six weeks.

The property of not requiring moisture admirably
fits barley for propagation in those northern countries
where the duration of summer is limited to a very
few months in the year, and where wet is of very
rare occurrence from the time when the spring rains
are over, at the end of May or the beginning of June
— after which period the seed-time commences —
until the autumnal equinox, previous to which the har-
vest is reaped.

So hurtful is excessive moisture to the plants, that
even heavy dews, if of frequent occurrence, are found
injurious. Wet is detrimental at all periods ; but
the mischief is exhibited in a very different manner,
according as it occurs before or after the formation
of the ear. If during the former stage, the leaves, as
already mentioned, will become yellow and sickly, and
the ears will probably not make their appearance ;
whereas if these should already have been formed
and completely filled when visited by rain, the grain

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Premature germination of an ear of Barley.

will sprout in the ear, and should the weather which
follows be warm and genial, this growth will be so
rapid that the ears will put on the appearance of
tufts of grass. Barley is besides very liable to be
beaten down by rain and to lodge ; and should this
occur after' the rilling of the ear, germination of the
grains will take place to such a degree that the first
growth will be completely rotted and destroyed by
the second. Gentle showers, however, if of short
continuance, and if they do not happen either very
early after the plant is above the ground, or during
the time of blooming, or when the ear is full, are
rather beneficial than hurtful. It is worthy of re-
mark that the very quality which renders barley so
precarious a crop in unsettled climates, imparts to
it likewise its chief value. The facility with which,

BARLEY. 61

the grain is made to germinate is favourable to the
operation of converting it into malt, which is, in
fact, simply the process of germination induced and
carried forward up to and not beyond the point when
the maximum quantity of saccharine matter is deve-
loped in the grain.

In its composition barley differs materially from
wheat : it contains more starch, far less gluten, and
about seven parts in a hundred of saccharine matter
ready formed, which latter constituent wheat does not
possess previous to germination.

Botanical writers enumerate four distinct species
of barley : of these there are many varieties produced
by differences of soil, climate and culture.

SPRING BARLEY — Hordeum vulgare — is the kind
most commonly cultivated in England. Of this spe-
cies farmers distinguish two sorts ; one the common,
and the other the rath-ripe barley. These, in fact, are
the same plant, the latter being a variety occasioned
by long culture upon warm gravelly soils. If seeds
of this kind are sown in cold or strong land, the
plants will ripen nearly a fortnight earlier than seeds
taken from other strong land ; but this holds good
only during the first year. This variety is said in
extraordinary seasons to have been returned to the
barn within two months in this country. Siberian
barley, another variety, was brought into culture in
the year 1768, by Mr Halliday, who received a very
small portion out of about a pint of seed which had
been presented by a foreign nobleman to the London
Society for the Encouragement of Arts. This variety
exhibits, on first coming up, a broader blade, and is of
a deeper green than common barley. The ears are
shorter, containing only from five to nine grains in
length, while the common sort has from nine to thir-
teen grains. Siberian barley arrives at maturity about
a fortnight earlier than other kinds.

VOL. xv. 6

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES,

Ear and Plant of Winter Barley.

WINTER or SQUARE BARLEY, called also BEAR, or
BIG — Hordeum hexastichon — is the second species,
(/3) . This is rarely cultivated in the southern parts of
England ; but in the northern counties and in Scot-
land is very generally sown, being a much more
hardy plant than spring barley. The grains are
large and plump, and the spike is thicker and shorter
than the last-described species, being seldom longer
than two inches, and square. Maltsters in the
southern division of the kiqgdom are of opinion that
this barley does not answer their purpose so well as
that more usually cultivated among them, while in
Scotland this idea is considered to be an unfounded
prejudice.

The number of grains in each ear is greater than

BARLEY.

are found on spring barley in the proportion of three
to two, one ear frequently yielding forty or more
grains. These are disposed in six rows, two of these
being on each of two sides, and one row on each of
the other sides.

Ear and riant of Two-rowed Barley.

LONG-EARED BARLEY, sometimes called TWO-
ROWED BARLEY — Hordeum distichon — • is partially
cultivated in every part of England, and is a very
good sort. Some persons object to it, that the ears
being long and heavy, it is more apt to lodge than
other kinds. The grains are regularly disposed in a
double row, lying over each other like tiles on a roof,
or like the scales of fishes. The ear is somewhat
flatted, being transversely greater in breadth than in
thickness. The husk of the grain is thin, and its
malting qualities are excellent.

64 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

SPRAT or BATTLEDORE BARLEY — Hordeum zeo-
criton — has shorter and broader ears than either of
the sorts already described ; its awns or beards are
longer, so that birds cannot so easily get out the
grains, which also lie closer together than those of
other kinds. Sprat barley seldom, if ever, grows so
tall as either of the other species, and its straw is
not only shorter, but coarser, so as to render it not
desirable for use as fodder.

It was formerly the universal practice in this
country to sow barley in the spring. The end of
March or beginning of April was the more usual
time, but the sowing was sometimes deferred to the
beginning of May. The practice in this respect has
somewhat varied of late, and a more early season
has been chosen for sowing, so that it is not uncom-
mon for the process to be performed in January,
under the idea that the produce in such cases is
greater. In the county of Norfolk, where the culti-
vation of barley is carried forward very extensively,
and with the greatest skill, the farmers were formerly
guided in their choice of seed time by a maxim
which had long been handed down to them from
father to son : —

• When the oak puts on his gosling grey,
'Tis time to sow barley night and day ;'

meaning, that when the oak exhibits the gray ap-
pearance which accompanies the bursting of its
buds, a few days preceding the expansion of the
leaves, it is then improper to lose any time in getting
their seed-barley into the ground. The budding and
leafing of the birch trees is, in Sweden, considered
an indication of the proper time for barley-sowing.
in different countries there are, of course, different
natural guides in the operations of husbandry j but
an intelligent and observing farmer, in every country,

BARLEY. 65

will not fail to regard those which have been sanc-
tioned by experience ; while the agriculturist, who is
bound by a servile adherence to particular months
and even weeks for his operations, will unwisely
treat as old saws such relics of the practical skill of
our forefathers as the lines we have quoted. Lin-
nccus, the great Swedish naturalist, constantly ex-
horted his countrymen to observe at what time each
tree unfolds its buds and expands its leaves. In our
own country, Mr Stillingfleet, an eminent naturalist,
made a series of very accurate observations upon
this interesting appearance of the spring. A farmer
who would keep a calendar of Nature in the same
manner for a lew years, and at the same time re-
gister his days of sowing and the issue of his har-
vest, would secure, no doubt, a valuable collection
of rules for his guidance, peculiarly applicable to the
exact circumstances of situation and soil amidst
which he pursues his calling.*

The produce of barley, according to the quality
of the soil, is from three to four quarters to the acre.
A larger produce is not unfrequent ; and even so
much as seven quarters have been reaped in very
favourable seasons and situations.

The average weight of a Winchester bushel of
barley is between fifty and fifty-one pounds, and the
same measure of bigg weighs but little more than
forty-six pounds. It is very seldom that the former
is found to weigh beyond fifty-two, or the latter be-
yond forty-eight pounds to the bushel. The average
length of a grain of barley, taking the mean of many
thousand measurements, is 0.345 inch, while that of
a grain of bigg is 0.3245 inch. The medium length
of these two species gives, therefore, as nearly as

* See Hewitt's Book of the Seasons, p. 99.
VOL. xv. 6*

66 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

possible one-third of an inch, which agrees with the
lowest denomination or basis — the barleycorn of
our linear measure.*

The purposes to which barley is principally ap-
plied in this kingdom are those of brewing and
distilling. Some portion is still brought more di-
rectly into consumption as human food ; but this
portion, for the most part, now undergoes the pre-
vious process of decortication (removal of the
bark), whereby it is converted into what is called
Scotch or pearl barley. This grain, in its raw state,
is also used to some extent for feeding poultry and
fattening swine, for which latter purpose it is com-
monly converted into meal. The ancients were ac-
customed to feed their horses upon barley, as is the
case among the Spaniards to the present day ; and
Pliny relates (Book xviii, c. 7,) that the Roman
gladiators were called Hordearii, from their use of
this grain as food.

The use of barley in the preparation of a fer-
mented liquor dates from the very remotest times.
The invention of this preparation is ascribed to the
Egyptians by ancient Greek writers, one of whom,
Dioscorides, attributes the first cultivation of barley
to the same people, under the guidance of Osiris ;
while Herodotus informs us that the people of
Egypt, being without vines, made their wine from
barley. "f Pliny, in his Natural History, gives the
Egyptian name of this liquid as Zythum. J An in-
toxicating liquor is still made from this grain, both
in Egypt and Nubia, to which the name of bouzah
is given. This is of very general consumption among
the lower rank of people. Burckhardt observed
another use to which barley is applied in the latter

* Supp. Encyo. Brit., Art. Brewing.
.l Lib. ii, cap. 78. } Nat. Hist. lib. xxii, c. 25.

BARLEY. 67

country. The green ears are boiled in water, and
served up to be eaten with milk. Among the Greeks
beer was distinguished as barley wine, a name which
sufficiently identifies the intoxicating property of the
liquid, and the material whence this was drawn.
From a passage in Tacitus we learn that the German
people were, in his day, acquainted with the process
of preparing beer from malted grain ; and Pliny
describes a similar liquid under the name of Cerevisia,
an appellation which it retained in Latin books of
more recent date. It farther appears that malt liquor
has formed an article of manufacture and consumption
in this country for a period at least coeval with the
titme of Tacitus ; but we do not know whether any
one kind of grain was exclusively employed in its
preparation, or whether wheat and barley were not
used for the purpose, either indiscriminately or in
conjunction.

The general drinks of the Anglo-Saxons were ale
and mead : wine was a luxury for the great. In the
Saxon Dialogues preserved in the Cotton Library in
the British Museum, a boy, who is questioned upon
his habits and the uses of things, says, in answer to
the inquiry what he drank — ' Ale if I have it, or
water if I have it not.' He adds, that wine is the
drink ' of the elders and the wise.' Ale was sold to
the people, as at this day, in houses of entertain-
ment ; ' for a priest was forbidden by a law to eat
or drink at ceapealethetum, literally, places where
ale was sold.'* After the Norman conquest, wine
became more commonly used ; and the vine was
extensively cultivated in England. The people, how-
ever, held to the beverage of their forefathers with
great pertinacity ; and neither the juice of the grape
nor of the apple were ever general favourites. The

* Turner's ' Anglo-Saxons,' vol. iii, p. 32.

68 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

wassail song of the fifteenth century, whose burden
was —

« Bring us home good ale,'

has been quoted in another volume of this work.*
' The old ale knights of England,' as Camden calls
the sturdy yeomen of this period, knew not, however,
the ale to which hops in the next century gave both
flavour and preservation. Hops appear to have been
used in the breweries of the Netherlands in the
beginning of the fourteenth century. In England
they were not used in the composition of beer till
nearly two centuries afterwards. It has been
affirmed that the planting of hops was forbidden in
the reign of Henry VI ; and it is certain that
Henry VIII forbade brewers to put hops and sul-
phur into ale.| In the fifth year of Edward VI,
the royal and national taste appears to have changed ;
for privileges were then granted to hop-grounds.
Tusser, in his five hundred points of good husbandry,
printed in 1557, thus sings the praises of this plant: —

' The hop for his profit I thus do exalt,
It strengthened drink and it flavoureth malt ;
And being well-brewed long kept it will last,
And drawing abide, if ye draw not too fast.'

In the reign of James I the plant was not sufficiently
cultivated in England for the consumption ; as there
is a statute of 1608 against the importation of spoilt
hops. In 1830, there were 46,727 acres occupied
in the cultivation of hops in Great Britain.

Of barley, there are above thirty million bushels
annually converted into malt in Great Britain ;
and more than eight million barrels of beer, of
which four-fifths are strong beer, are brewed yearly.
This is a consumption, by the great body of the

* ' Timber Trees and Fruits,' p. 255.
t ' Archseologia,' vol. iii.

OATS. 69

people, of a favourite beverage which indicates a
distribution of the national wealth, satisfactory by
comparison with the general poverty of less advanced
periods of civilization in our own country, and with
that of less industrious nations in our own day.

Common bearded Oats. Common Oata.

OATS — Avena. — This grain is held to have had its
origin in a more northern climate than any other of
the cereal plants, since it cannot be cultivated with
advantage in the lower latitudes of the temperate zone.
In the south of England, even at high elevations, the
produce is inferior in quality to that which is obtained
in more northern districts.

70 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

The time and mode of the introduction of oats into
England are equally unknown, and some writers have
expressed their opinion that this grain is indigenous
with us. One thing appears sufficiently clear — the
varieties cultivated here, at this time, have all been
originally imported from different parts of the continent
of Europe, the names of which countries they are
made to bear.

This grain is extremely serviceable to man, pos-
sessing the advantage of growing upon soils and in
situations where neither barley nor wheat can be
raised. It is the hardiest of all the cereal grains
that are cultivated in Great Britain. In its outward
structure the oat plant differs from wheat and barley
in the form of the ear. This in oats is not a spike
with a single rachis, but a panicle, resembling in
some degree the stem and branches of a pine.
While young and light, these branches arrange
themselves round the centre of the stem, but as they
advance towards maturity and acquire weight, they
generally bend over on one side. By this arrange-
ment the air and light are enabled to visit, and the
rain to wash, each individual grain, so that any
lodgment of the larvae of insects or the seeds of
parasitical plants is prevented. The grains being
pendent, and having the open extremities of their
chaff towards the earth, are effectually defended from
the lodgment of rain within, an advantage which does
not attend the growth of wheat or barley ; and those
grains are consequently liable to diseases from which
oats are exempted. Drought and heat are unfavour-
able to this grain, which under such circumstances
becomes husky and tasteless, containing but little
farinaceous matter, and that little being of inferior
quality.

The JLvena saliva, which species is commonly cul-
tivated, has several varieties. The most remarkable

OAX3. 71

of these are the black or long-bearded oat ; the white
oat ; red oat ; and the naked oat, or pilcorn.

The best variety of oats produced in Great Britain
is unquestionably the potato oat. Of this kind the
first plants were discovered growing accidentally on a
heap of manure in company with several potato plants,
the growth of which was equally accidental ; and it is
to this circumstance that the distinctive name of this
variety is owing. To an occurrence thus purely ac-
cidental, and which might well have passed unnoticed,
we are indebted for decidedly the best and most pro-
fitable variety we possess of this useful grain. It
requires to be sown on land in a good state of cultiva-
tion, when the grains on ripening will be found large,
plump, and firm, often double, and of a quality
which ensures for the corn a higher price in the
market than is given for any other variety. It also
yields an abundant produce of straw. Potato oats
form almost the only kind now cultivated in the north
of England and the lowland districts of Scotland.

The seed-time of oats is almost universally in
March and April. The grain is scattered broad-cast
in the large proportion of from four to six bushels to
the acre, the medium produce of which is from forty
to fifty bushels.

The nutritive quality of oats is smaller in a given
weight than that of any other cereal grains. In oats
of the best quality it does not exceed 75 per cent,
while that of wheat is 95k per cent. The very small
proportion of saccharine matter ready formed in
oats renders it very difficult and unprofitable to
convert this grain into malt. Brewers at the present
day do not employ oats in the preparation of any
kind of beer ; in former times, when the public taste
was different from what it is at present, a drink
called mum was manufactured for sale, and in the

72 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

preparation of this liquid, oatmeal was employed.
The principal use now made of oats in the southern
division of the kingdom is the feeding of horses, for
which purpose the grain is admirably adapted ; a
large quantity of this grain is farther consumed in the
fattening of poultry. The deer of Henry VIII
were fed with oats. In the Privy Purse Expenses
of this king (published by Mr Nicolas), is the follow-
ing entry : — ' Paied to the keper of Grenewiche
parke for xiiij lode of hey And for vi lode of Oots,
for the relief of the dere there, And for the carriage
thereof, yjK. ijs. viiid.' Oatmeal, prepared by various
processes of cooking, composes at this day a large
proportion of the food of the inhabitants of Scotland,
and particularly of the better-fed portion of the
labouring classes. Oaten cakes, too, are much used
in Lancashire.

The wild oat, which is certainly indigenous to this
country, is found to be a very troublesome weed. It
is said that the seed will remain buried under the soil
during a century or more without losing its vegetating
power, and that ground which has been broken up
after remaining in grass from time immemorial, has
produced the wild oat abundantly.

It is a curious fact that the vital principle of some
vegetables will lie dormant, under certain circum-
stances, for long and indefinite periods without being-
extinguished. Seeds have been made to grow in
this country which were brought from Herculaneum,.
after having been buried for more than seventeen cen-
turies, but which, having during all that period been
deprived of air, had been prevented from vegetating.
The necessity that exists for the access of air in some
degree, in order to promote or set in action vege-
table life, has been shown by the experiments of
several ingenious men, who, having placed seeds
under circumstances otherwise favourable to their

USE OP CORN IN ENGLAND. 73

growth, in the exhausted receiver of an air-pump,
ascertained that they were thereby prevented from
exhibiting any sign of vitality.

THE Anglo-Saxon monks of the abbey of St Edmund,
in the eighth century, ate barley bread, because the
income of the establishment would not admit of their
feeding twice or thrice a day on wheaten bread.*
The English labourers of the southern and midland
counties, in the latter part of the eighteenth century,
refused to eat bread made of one-third wheat, one-
third rye, and one-third barley, saying, that ' they
had lost their rye-teeth. '| It would be a curious
and not unprofitable inquiry, to trace the progress
of the national taste in this particular. It would
show that whatever privations the English labourer
may now endure, and whatever he has endured for
many generations, he has succeeded in rendering the
dearest kind of vegetable food the general food of the
country ; this single circumstance is a security to
him against those sufferings from actual famine
which were familiar to his fore-elders, and which are
still the objects of continual apprehension in those
countries where the labourers live upon the cheapest
substances. Wages cannot be depressed in such a
manner as to deprive the labourer, for any length of
time, of the power of maintaining himself upon the
kind of food which habit has made necessary to
him ; and as the ordinary food of the English labourer
is not the very cheapest that can be got, it is in his
power to have recourse for a while to less expensive

* Dugdale's Monasticon , quoted in Turner's History of the
Anglo-Saxons, vol. iii, p. 25.

t Annals of Agriculture, quoted in Eden's History of the
Poor, vol. i, p. 526.

VOL. XV. 7

74 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

articles of subsistence should any temporary scarcity
of food or want of employment deprive him of his
usual fare, — an advantage not possessed by his Irish
fellow-subjects, to whom the failure of a rice or potato
crop is a matter not of discomfort merely, but of
absolute starvation. But the materials for such an
inquiry are very imperfect ; — and although the assi-
duous devotion of an antiquary might collect many
valuable illustrations from neglected records, it is evi-
dent that in the present instance we can do little more
than put together a few scattered facts, which the
diligence of previous inquirers has already collected.

Pierce Plowman, a writer of the time of Edward
III, says, that when the new corn began to be sold,

' Woulde no beggar eat bread that in it beanes were,
But of coket, and clemantyne, or else clene wheate.'*

This taste, however, was only to be indulged ' when
the new corn began to be sold ;' for then a short
season of plenty succeeded to a long period of fasting ;
the supply of corn was not equalized throughout the
year by the provident effects of commercial specula-
tion. The fluctuations in the price of grain, experi-
enced during this period, and which were partly
owing to insufficient agricultural skill, were sudden
and excessive. On the securing of an abundant
harvest in 1317, wheat, the price of which had been
so high as 80s, fell immediately to 6s, Bd, per quarter.f
The people of those days seem always to have looked
for a great abatement in the price of grain on the
successful gathering of every harvest ; and the in-
ordinate joy of our ancestors at their harvest-home
— a joy which is faintly reflected in our own times —
proceeded, there is little doubt, from the change
which the gathering of the crops produced, from

* See the Athensum, a weekly literary paper, Feb. 3, 1832.
t Stow.

USE OF CORN IN ENGLAND. 75

want to abundance, from famine to fulness. That
useful class of men who employ themselves in pur-
chasing from the producers that they may sell again
to the consumers, was then unknown in England
Immediately after the harvest, the people bought their
corn directly from the farmers at a cheap rate, and, as
is usual under such circumstances, were improvident
in the use of it, so that the supply fell short before the
arrival of the following harvest, and prices advanced
out of all proportion.

In a valuation of Colchester, in 1296, almost every
family was provided with a small store of barley and
oats, usually about a quarter or two of each. Scarcely
any wheat is noticed in the inventory, and very little
rye.* The corn was usually ground at home in a
handmill, or quern ; although wind and water mills
were not uncommon. The general use of the latter
machines was probably prevented by the compulsory
laws by which the tenant was under an obligation to
grind his corn at the lord's mill ; and, therefore, to
evade the tax, called multure, the labour of the hand-
mill was endured. In Wicliff's translation of the
Bible we find a passage in the 24th chapter of St
Matthew thus rendered : — ' Two wymmen schulen
(shall) be gryndynge in one querne.' Harrison, the
historian, two centuries later, says, that his wife ground
her malt at home upon her quern. In the present
authorized version of the Bible, published more than
half a century after Harrison, the word ' quern'
yields to ' mill.' By that time, probably, the trades
of a miller and a baker were freely exercised ; and the
lord's mill and the corporation oven had been super-
seded by the competition growing out of increasing
capital and population.

The Reformation, and the discovery of America,

* For some particulars of another valuation of this town, see
Rights of Industry — Capital and Labour, p. 101.

76 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

were events that had a considerable influence upon
the condition of the great body of the people in Eng-
land. The one drove away the inmates of the mo-
nasteries, from whence the poor were accustomed to
receive donations of food ; the other, by pouring the
precious metals into Europe, raised the price of pro-
visions. In the latter half of the sixteenth century,
wheat was three times as dear, both in England and
France, as in the former half. The price of wheat,
upon an average of years, varied very little for four
centuries before the metallic riches of the New
World were brought into Europe ; upon an average
of years it has varied very little since.* The people
of the days of Henry VIII felt the change in the
money-value of provisions, although the real value
remained the same ; and they ascribed the circum-
stance to the dissolution of the monasteries. There
is an old song of that day in the Somersetshire dialect,
which indicates the nature of the popular error : —

' I'll tell thee what, good vellowe,

Before the vriars went hence,
A bushel of the best wheate

Was zold for vourteen pence ;
And vorty eggs a penny

That were both good and newe ;
And this, I say, myself have seeii,

And yet I am no Jewe.'t

When wheat was fourteen-pence a bushel, it was
probably consumed by the people, in seasons of
plenty, and soon after harvest. During a portion
of the year there is little doubt that the English
labourers had better food than the French, who, in
the fifteenth century, were described by Fortescue
thus : — ' Thay drynke water, thay eate apples, with

* See Storch, Cours d'Economie Politique, tome i, p. 477.
t Reliques of Antient Poetry.

USE OF CORN IN ENGLAND. 77

bred right brown, made of rye.' Locke, travelling
in France, in 1678, says of the peasantry in his
journal, ' Their ordinary food, rye bread and water.' *
The English always disliked what they emphatically
termed, ' changing the white loaf for the brown.'
They would have paid little respect to the example
of Masinissa, the African general, who is described
by Polybius as eating brown bread with a relish at
the door of his tent. Their dislike to brown bread
in some degree prevented the change which they
proverbially dreaded. In the latter part of the six
teenth century, however, this change was pretty ge-
neral, whatever was the previous condition of the
people. Harrison says, speaking of the agricultural
population, ' As for wheaten bread, they eat it
when they can reach unto the price of it, contenting
themselves, in the mean time, with bread made of
oates or barlie, a poore estate, God wot !' In another
place, he says, ' The bread throughout the land is
made of such graine as the soil yieldeth ; nevertheless,
the gentilitie commonlie provide themselves suffi-
ciently of wheate for their own tables, whilst their
household and poore neighbours, in some shires, are
inforced to content themselves with rie or barlie.'
Harrison then goes on to describe the several sorts of
bread made in England at his day, viz. manchet,
cheat, or wheaten bread ; another inferior sort of
bread, called ravelled, and lastly, brown bread."f Of
the latter there were two sorts : ' One baked up as
it cometh from the mill, so that neither the bran nor
the floure are any whit diminished. The other hath
no floure left therein at all ; and it is not only the
worst and weakest of all the other sorts, but also

* Lord King's Life of Locke.

+ See Percy's Preface to the Northumberland Household
Book, Nieolas's edit. p. xiv.
VOL. XV. 7*

78 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

appointed in old time for servants, slaves, and
the inferior kind of people to fee-d upon. Here-
unto, likewise, because it is drie and brickie in the
working, some add a portion of rie-rneale in our
time, whereby the rough drinesse thereof is some-
what qualified, and then it is named mescelin, that
isr IjreaTtmade of mingled corne.' In the house-
hold book of Sir Edward Coke, in 1596, we find
constant entries of oatmeal for the use of the house,
besides ' otmell to make the poore folkes porage,'
and 'rie-meall, to make breade for the poore.'
The household wheaten bread was partly baked in
the house and partly taken of the baker, In that
year it appears, from the historian Stow, that there
was a great fluctuation in the price of corn ; and he
particularly mentions the price of oatmeal, which
would indicate that it was an article of general con-
sumption, as well in a liquid form, as in that of the
oat-cakes of the north of England.

In 1626, Charles I, upon an occasion of sub-
jecting the brewers and maltsters to a royal license,
declared that the measure was ' for the relief of the
poorer sort of his people, whose usual bread was
barley ; and for the restraining of innkeepers and
victuallers, who made their ale and beer too strong
and heady.' The grain to be saved by the weakness
of the beer was for the benefit of the consumers of
barley-bread.

At the period of the Revolution (1689) wheaten
bread formed, in comparison with its present consump-
tion, a small proportion of the food of the people of
England. The following estimate of the then pro-
duce of the arable land in the kingdom tends to prove
this position. This estimate was made by Gregory
King, whose statistical calculations have generally
been considered entitled to credit.

USE OF COUN IN ENGLAND. 79

Bushels.

Wheat, 14,000,000

Rye, 10,000,000

Barley, 27,000,000

Oats, 16,000,000

Pease, 7,000,000

Beans, 4,000,000

Vetches, 1,000,000

In all 79,000,000

At the commencement of the last century wheaten
bread became much more generally used by the
labouring classes, a proof that their condition was
improved. In 1725, it was even used in poor-houses,
in the southern counties.* The author of ' Three
Tracts on the Com Trade,' published at the beginning
of the reign of George III, says, ( It is certain that
bread made of wheat is become much more generally
the food of the common people since 1689, than it
was before that time ; but it is still very far from being
the food of the people in general.' He then enters
into a very curious calculation, the results of which
are as follow : ' The whole number of people is
6,000,000, and of those who eat

Wheat, the number is, 3,750,000

Barley, 739,000

Rye, 888,000

Oats, 623,000

Total 6,000,000'

This calculation applies only to England and
Wales. Of the number consuming wheat, the pro-
portion assigned to the northern counties of York,
Westmoreland, Durham, Cumberland, and North-
umberland, is only 30,000. Eden, in his History
of the Poor, says, ' About fifty years ago (this was
written in 1797), so small was the quantity of wheat
used in the county of Cumberland, that it was only

* Eden, vol. i, p. 562.

80

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

a rich family that used a peck of wheat in the course
of the year, and that was used at Christmas. The
usual treat for a stranger was a thick oat-cake (called
haver-bannock) and butter. An old labourer of
eighty-five remarks that when he was a boy he was at
Carlisle market with his father, and wishing to indulge
himself with a penny loaf made of wheat-flour, he
searched for it for some time, but could not procure a
piece of wheaten bread at any shop in the town.'

At the time of the Revolution, according to the
estimate of Gregory King, 14,000,000 bushels of
wheat were grown in England. In 1828, according
to the estimate of Mr Jacob, in his Tracts on the
Corn Trade, 12,500,000 quarters, or 100,000,000
bushels, were grown. The population of England at
the Revolution was under five millions, so that each
person consumed about three bushels annually. The
population, at the present time, is under fifteen
millions, so that each person consumes about seven
bushels annually.

Thames Corn-Barge.

CHAPTER IV.

THE principal cereal plants which cannot be pro-
fitably cultivated in Great Britain, but upon which
the inhabitants of other countries depend for sub-
sistence in even a greater degree than the English
peasantry depend upon the supply of wheat, are rice,
maize, and millet. The seeds of these plants are
less palatable than wheat, and less nutritious than
that or any other of the cerealia already described :
the chief cause of this last mentioned inferiority ap-
pears to be the absolute absence of gluten from their
composition.

The three grains just mentioned will be treated of
in the order wherein they are here set down, which is
likewise the order of their importance, considered with
reference to the number of human beings who draw
from them their sustenance.

RICE — Oryza saliva. This is a panicled grass,
bearing, when in ear, a nearer resemblance to barley
than to any other of the corn-plants grown in Eng-
land. The seed grows on separate pedicles springing
from the main stalk ; each grain is terminated with
an awn or beard, and is inclosed in a rough yellow
husk, the whole forming a spiked panicle. The stalk
is not unlike that of wheat, but the joints are more
numerous. The farina of rice is almost entirely com-
posed of starch, having little or no gluten, and being
without any ready formed saccharine matter. The
outer husk clings with great tenacity to the grain, and
is only to be detached from it by passing the rice

82

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

between a pair of mill-stones, placed at such a dis-
tance from each other as shall serve to remove the
husk by friction, without crushing the grain. This is
besides enveloped by a thin pellicle, which for the
most part is rubbed off by trituration in large mortars,
with pestles weighing from two to three hundred
pounds.

Ear and Plant of Rice.

There is little reason for doubting that this grain
is of Asiatic origin. From the earliest records it has
formed the principal, if not the only food of the great
mass of the population on the continent and islands of
India and throughout the Chinese empire.

The introduction of rice as an object of cultivation

RICE. 83

in America is of very modern occurrence. The
author of a work ' On the importance of the British
Plantations in America,' which was published in
London during the year 1701, has recorded, as a
circumstance then recent, that ' a brigantine from
the island of Madagascar happened to put in at
Carolina, having a little seed-rice left, which the
captain gave to a gentleman of the name of Wood-
ward. From part of this he had a very good crop,
but was ignorant for some years how to clean it.
It was soon dispersed over the province, and by
frequent experiments and observations, they found
out ways of producing and manufacturing it to
so great perfection, that it is thought to exceed any
other in value. The writer of this hath seen the
said captain in Carolina, where he received a hand-
some gratuity from the gentlemen of that country,
in acknowledgment of the service he had done the
province. It is likewise reported, that Mr Dubois,
then Treasurer of the East India Company, did send
to that country a small bag of seed-rice some short
time after, from whence it is reasonable enough to
suppose might come those two sorts of that com-
modity ; the one called red rice, in contradistinction
to the white, from the redness of the inner husk or
rind of this sort, alhough they both clean and
become white alike.'

There is a trifling discrepancy between the latter
part of this account, and the statement respecting
Mr Ashley already mentioned in a former chapter ;
but the main fact and the time of its occurrence are
the same, and it is probable that the latter gentleman
may have acted in the matter under the instruction of
Mr Dubois.

The swamps of South Carolina, both those which
are occasioned by tho periodical visits of the tides,
and those which are caused by the inland floodings

84 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

of the rivers, are well suited for the production of
rice ; and not only is the cultivation accomplished
with trifling labour, but the grain proves of a re-
markably fine quality, being decidedly larger and
handsomer than that of the countries whence the
seed was originally derived.

It does not appear that this naturalizing of rice in
Carolina and Georgia was ever productive of much
effect in regard to the diet of the inhabitants of those
provinces. Their consumption of rice was doubt-
less increased by it, because the abundance and
cheapness of an article always influence persons to
its use. But wheat and maize continued, as before,
to be the bread-corn of the country, and the newly
introduced grain was cultivated principally because
it furnished an article in constant demand which
might be transmitted to the mother-country in re-
turn for British manufactured goods.

Had a contrary effect followed upon the introduc-
tion of rice into the then British colonies of America,
and this grain had become, as in India, the universal
food of the inhabitants, it is not probable that their
condition would have been in any way ameliorated
by the change. In countries where rice forms the
chief article of food, dearths are not by any means
of uncommon occurrence. A failure of the usual
supply of rain, which is followed by evil conse-
quences where other descriptions of grain are raised,
is productive of tenfold misery where the chief
dependance is upon the crop of rice, which without
its due degree of moisture proves wholly unpro-
ductive. In such cases there can be found few
sources of relief, other objects of cultivation being
pursued to only a limited extent, and the means
of the people not enabling them to compass the
purchase of these scarcer articles of food, even when,
through the general abundance, they may be pro-

RICE. 85

cured at their natural price. Happily for the in-
terests of humanity, dearths are becoming less and
less frequent of occurrence, through the better un-
derstanding of subjects connected with the pro-
duction and distribution of commodities. In Eng-
land the people are especially guarded against this
calamity by the diversity of the crops which are
raised, and by the opportunity they thence enjoy of
falling back upon articles of consumption Jess costly
than those to which they are ordinarily accustomed.
It is this circumstance which constitutes the advan-
tage of the general use of wheaten bread — a taste
which has been slowly but steadily acquired amongst
us. In no way, perhaps, is the progress of a nation
in civilization more unequivocally shown than in
the improvement which it realizes in the food of the
community. In the infancy of societies, the people
are necessarily satisfied with the enjoyment of such
indigenous productions as fall most naturally within
their reach. But in the more advanced stages of
society, when articles of food, which at one time
have been introduced as luxuries, are so far na-
turalized as to form a part at least of the suste-
nance of the common people, they, in the event
of an unkindly season, have something upon which
they can still fall back, so that what would other-
wise be famine is at worst changed into privation.
' In those countries,' it has been judiciously ob-
served by the late David Ricardo, ' where the
labouring classes have the fewest wants, and are
contented with the cheapest food, the people are
exposed to the greatest vicissitudes and miseries.
They have no place of refuge from calamity ; they
cannot seek refuge in a lower station ; they are
already so low, that they can fall no lower. On
any deficiency of the chief article of their subsist-
ence, there are few substitutes of which they can
VOL. xv. 8

86 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

avail themselves, and dearth to them is attended with
almost all the evils of famine.'

If a scarcity of food should be experienced in this
country, the great bulk of the common people, nay
even the very poorest among them, have, generally
speaking, still some articles, that in foreign countries
would be considered luxuries, which they can forego,
gome property which they can sacrifice, in order to
satisfy the cravings of hunger. In India, on the
contrary, and in most of the countries where rice
forms the principal article of human food, the labour-
ing classes are poor in the extremest sense of the
word. Having few artificial wants, they are without
those habitual incentives to exertion which actuate
so powerfully and so beneficially people of the same
rank in countries like our own. If they can acquire
a meal for themselves and their families they have
little thought about higher comforts ; the price of la-
bour in such countries is, in fact, equal to very little
beyond the purchase of the lowest description of
food ; — the Indian labourer is contented with the rud-
est hut as a place of shelter ; — he is without what
we are accustomed to consider the most indispensable
articles of household furniture, and his clothing con-
sists of a few yards of the commonest cotton cloth.
When the price of his ordinary food advances
beyond the usual rate, he is sunk into immediate
wretchedness ; he has no fund whereon he can draw
for assistance, and the wages of his labour are so far
from advancing under these circumstances, that the
contrary tendency is uniformly experienced ; and
the competition for employment is increased while
the means of paying for labour are diminished.

Some botanical writers enumerate four varieties of
rice which they consider as being originally distinct
from each other ; while others have been of opinion

RICE. 87

that the unimportant varieties which these present,
and which do not in any way affect the chemical or
alimentary properties of the grain, are simply the
effects of difference of soil, culture, and climate.
The four varieties are common rice, early rice,
mountain rice, and clammy rice.

Common rice is a marsh plant. If the ground on
which it is sown should become dry before the plants
arrive at maturity, they wither. It is this variety
which grows most strongly ; and on lands peculiarly-
adapted for it the culture is probably as advan-
tageous as can well be pursued

Early rice, like the other, is a marsh plant, hat it
does not grow to the same size. It comes much
sooner to maturity ; for while common rice is never
ripe in less than six months from the time of
ploughing, this variety, if placed in favourable situa-
tions, requires only four months for arriving at
perfection.

Mountain rice thrives on the slopes of hills and
in other situations where it can receive humiditv
only occasionally- Dr Wallich, the able successor
of Dr Roxburgh as superintendent of the botanical
garden at Calcutta, sent to London a few years ago
some specimens of rice grown on the cold moun-
tains of Nepal. These seeds were furnished to him
by the resident of the East India Company in that
district, and were recognised by the Doctor as moun-
tain rice. The degree of cold which this plant is
qualified to bear is very great. According to the
information collected on the subject by Dr Wallich,
the cultivators consider their crop quite safe if the
growth of the plants is advanced five or six inches
above the surface at the time the winter snows cover
the ground. It is probable that the slow melting of
the snow is beneficial to the growth of the plant,

86 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

avail themselves, and dearth to them is attended with
almost all the evils of famine.'

If a scarcity of food should be experienced in this
country, the .great bulk of the common people, nay
even the very poorest among them, have, generally
speaking, still some articles, that in foreign countries
would be considered luxuries, which they can forego,
some property which they can sacrifice, in order to
satisfy the cravings of hunger. In India, on the
contrary, and in most of the countries where rice
forms the principal article of human food, the labour-
ing classes are poor in the extremest sense of the
word. Having few artificial wants, they are without
those habitual incentives to exertion which actuate
so powerfully and so beneficially people of the same
rank in countries like our own. If they can acquire
a meal for themselves and their families they have
little thought about higher comforts ; the price of la-
bour in such countries is, in fact, equal to very little
beyond the purchase of the lowest description of
food ; — the Indian labourer is contented with the rud-
est hut as a place of shelter ; — he is without what
we are accustomed to consider the most indispensable
articles of household furniture, and his clothing con-
sists of a few yards of the commonest cotton cloth.
When the price of his ordinary food advances
beyond the usual rate, he is sunk into immediate
wretchedness ; he has no fund whereon he can draw
for assistance, and the wages of his labour are so far
from advancing under these circumstances, that the
contrary tendency is uniformly experienced ; and
the competition for employment is increased while
the means of paying for labour are diminished.

Some botanical writers enumerate four varieties of
rice which they consider as being originally distinct
from each other ; while others have been of opinion

RICE. 87

that the unimportant varieties which these present,
and which do not in any way affect the chemical or
alimentary properties of the grain, are simply the
effects of difference of soil, culture, and climate.
The four varieties are common rice, early rice,
mountain rice, and clammy rice.

Common rice is a marsh plant. If the ground on
which it is sown should become dry before the plants
arrive at maturity, they wither. It is this variety
which grows most strongly ; and on lands peculiarly
adapted for it the culture is probably as advan-
tageous as can well be pursued

Early rice, like the other, is a marsh plant, but it
does not grow to the same size. It comes much
sooner to maturity ; for while common rice is never
ripe in less than six months from the time of
ploughing, this variety, if placed in favourable situa-
tions, requires only four months for arriving at
perfection.

Mountain rice thrives on the slopes of hills and
in other situations where it can receive humidity
only occasionally. Dr Wallich, the able successor
of Dr Roxburgh as superintendent of the botanical
garden at Calcutta, sent to London a few years ago
some specimens of rice grown on the cold moun-
tains of Nepal. These seeds were furnished to him
by the resident of the East India Company in that
district, and were recognised by the Doctor as moun-
tain rice. The degree of cold which this plant is
qualified to bear is very great. According to the
information collected on the subject by Dr Wallich,
the cultivators consider their crop quite safe if the
growth of the plants is advanced five or six inches
above the surface at the time the winter snows cover
the ground. It is probable that the slow melting of
the snow is beneficial to the growth of the plant,

88 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

which advances with great vigour on the return of
spring.

A knowledge of these circumstances might have led
to the opinion that this variety of rice could be natural-
ized in England, if the attempt had not already-
been fairly made by one well qualified for conducting
the experiment. Samples of six different sorts of
mountain rice which had been procured by Sir John
Murray from the neighbourhood of Serinagur at the
foot of Mount Imaus, were, on the occasion alluded
to, presented by the Board of Agriculture to Sir
Joseph Banks, who planted each kind in a separate
bed, in a sheltered spot with a south aspect, in his
garden at Spring Grove. The grains, which were
sown very thin on the 21st of May, speedily sprang
up, and the plants tillered so much that the beds put
on the appearance of compact, dense masses o£
vegetation ; each plant having from ten to twenty
off-sets. Although the blades grew vigorously, at-
taining in a short time to the length of two feet, there
was never any symptom of a rising stem, and if the
ground was not watered, either by rain or artificially
every three or four days, the plants began to assume
a sickly hue. In this manner vegetation proceeded,
without the smallest symptom of their perfecting
themselves by fructification, when the plants were
suddenly destroyed by an early night frost in Sep-
tember. Some of the plants, which had been trans-
ferred to pots and placed in the hot-house at an early
period of their growth, soon died ; while others,
which were sown originally in a hot-house, pro-
duced ears and flowered, but the blossoms dropped'
without perfecting any seed.

The conclusion to which Sir Joseph Banks arrived
from these experiments was unfavourable to the
cultivation of rice in this country as a grain-bearing

RICE. 89

plant ; but he was led to consider, from the great
quantity of its blades, that it would afford excellent
green-meat for cattle.

Clammy rice appears to be endowed with the
peculiar property of growing both on wet and on dry
lands : the period occupied by its growth is intermedi-
ate between those of the common and early varieties.
Rice seed is sown in Carolina in rows, in the
bottom of trenches, which are about eighteen inches
apart, reckoning from the centres of the trenches.
The sowing is generally performed by negro women,
who do not scatter the seed, but put it carefully into
the ground with the hand, so as to preserve the per-
fect straightness of the line. The sowing is for the
most part completed by the middle of March. The
water, which until then has been kept back by means
of flood-gates, is at this time permitted to overflow
the ground to the depth of several inches, and
things remain in this state for some days, — generally
about a week. The germination of the seed is pro-
moted by this flooding, and the water being then
drawn from the surface of the land, the plants
sprout, rising in about four weeks to the height of
three or four inches. At this time the flood-gates
are again opened, the fields are once more over-
flowed, and remain in that state during about sixteen
days ; one good effect of this second flooding being
the destruction of the grass and weeds which may
have sprouted at the same time with the rice. The
land is allowed after this to remain without further
irrigation until the middle of July, being repeatedly
hoed during the interval, as well to remove any
weeds at the moment of their appearance, as to
loosen the soil about the roots of the rice, adopting
thus in all its principal parts the drill system of
husbandry. At the time last mentioned, water is
VOL. xv. 8*

90 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

again admitted, and remains covering the surface until
the grain is actually ripened.

The rice harvest in the United States usually com-
mences at the end of August, and extends through
the entire month of September, or even somewhat
later. The reaping is performed with a sickle by
male negroes, and these are followed by females, who
collect the rice into bundles.

This cultivation is found to be extremely unhealthy
to the negroes employed in its prosecution. The
alternate flooding and drying of the land in so hot a
climate, were natural evaporation proceeds with great
rapidity, must necessarily be prejudicial to health.
To avoid exposure to this unwholesome atmosphere,
the whole white population abandon the low grounds
to the care of negro cultivators. The mortality thus
occasioned among the labourers in rice districts is so
great, that while the general increase of population in
the States exceeds by far that realized in the older
settled countries of Europe, fresh supplies of negro
slaves must continually be brought, to repair the waste
of life, from the more northern slave states of the
Union.

The cultivation of rice is very extensively and
successfully carried on in the rich meadows of
Lombardy, which can be irrigated by the waters
of the Po. The meadows chosen for the purpose are
perfectly flat. After the seed is sown, the water is
turned on and allowed to cover the surface to the
depth of several inches during the whole course of its
growth, and until the rice is ripe. Three crops are
taken successively from the ground in this manner
without manuring ; but the soil is then so far exhaust-
ed, that it must be manured and planted for a time
with other crops, before another succession of rice
harvests can be drawn from it.

This system of agriculture proves the most profit-

RICE. 91

:able to the cultivator, of any that is carried on in
Lombardy ; but the same unwholesome effect is ex-
perienced there as in Carolina ; and the government
at Milan finds it expedient to restrict the cultivation
within a certain limit, beyond which the production of
rice is not allowed. The quantity of seed usually
.sown is three bushels to the acre, and the average
produce, from the same measure of land, is commonly
.about six quarters.

In the province of Valencia in Spain, the method
of rice cultivation is very similar to that pursued in
Lombardy. The water remains on the ground even
during the operations of harvest, and the reapers are
obliged to wade up to their knees in order to cut the
grain, other persons following to receive the sheaves
as they are cut, and to convey them to some dry place,
where the grain is detached from the ear by the
treading of mules.

The hollows between Columbo and Candy, in the
island of Ceylon, are devoted to the production of
rice. The fields on which it is sown are artificially
formed .into a regular succession of terraces, one
above another, so that the water of irrigation may
be made to flow from a higher to a lower level, the
plants being in different stages of their growth. In
some cases the water is led for a mile, or even two
miles along the side of a mountain, and is then dis-
charged over the highest terrace, and thence down-
ward in succession to the lowest, according as mois-
ture may be required by each. Bishop Heber, for
whom the charms of nature, whether in a wild or cul-
tivated state, were never displayed in vain, remarks,
on visiting this district, that ' the verdure of the
young rice is particularly fine, and the fields are really
a beautiful sight, when surrounded by and contrasted
with the magnificent mountain scenery.'*

* Heber's Journey, vol. iii, p. 169.

92 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

M. Duhamel, in his admirable work on Husbandry,
has detailed the various processes followed by Chinese
cultivators in raising rice. The great and careful
labour bestowed upon this object is no doubt called
for in that vast empire by the state of its population,
which renders it a matter of necessity to draw con-
tinually from the soil all the assistance which it can
be made to impart.

' To hasten the germination of the seed-rice it is
placed in baskets and immersed during some days in
standing water.

' When the ground is so thoroughly soaked that
the surface is like soft mud, it is ploughed with a
buffalo, yoked to a very simple plough, without
wheels, and having only one handle. The clods are
after this broken down by means of a rude kind of
hurdle, drawn also by a buffalo, the driver sitting
upon the hurdle to increase the weight. The ground
is cleared very carefully of all stones, and whatever
weeds may be found are diligently removed with their
roots. -The land is then partly covered with water,
and smoothed by a harrow which has several rows of
great iron teeth.

* The seed-rice, when it has once sprouted, is
known to be good ; grains not in this situation are
rejected, and the remainder is sown by hand very
thickly and as equally as possible upon a part only of
the land, which is thus used as a sort of nursery for
the remainder. The land having at this time upon
it just as much water as will barely cover it, the
points of the plants appear above the surface one day
after the seed has been sown.

1 In a short time, when the plants have acquired
a little strength, they are sprinkled over with lime-
water, the object of this being the destruction of
insects. For this purpose a small basket with a long
handle is used, and this being filled by immersion

RICE. 93

in the lime-water, the fluid runs through in divided
portions over the plants. This practice is found to
be so efficacious, that the Chinese are said to hold its
first inventor in the highest veneration.

' Towards April, when the plants cover thickly
the ground that has been sown, the greatest part of
them are pulled up with their roots and planted in
tufts, pretty far asunder in a quincunx form, in fields
prepared for their reception. A serene day is chosen
lor this operation, which must be performed quickly,
so that the plants are as short a time as possible out
of the ground.

' After this, water is admitted to overflow the rice,
the grounds being, for this purpose, always situated
near a rivulet, pond, or great pool of water, from
which they are separated only by a bank which may
readily be cut. It sometimes happens, however,
that the water is below the level of the fields, in
which case the necessary quantity is conveyed in
buckets, which are worked chiefly by the aid of
ropes, — a most laborious occupation.

' Though a man cannot step in these rice-grounds
without sinking up to his knees, the Chinese weed
them three times during the summer, and that so
carefully j that every weed they can find is pulled up
by the roots.

' When the rice is ripe, which is known in the
same manner as wheat, by its turning yellow, it is
cut down with a sickle, made into sheaves, and con-
veyed into a barn, where it is threshed with flails
very similar to those used among ourselves.'* The
husk and inner pellicle are removed by beating and
tritu ration, pretty much in the same manner as has
already been described.

It is worthy of remark, that with the view of ob-
taining from the soil the largest produce it will yield,

* Culture de Terres, torn, ii, p. 180.

94 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

the Chinese are careful not to place the plants at all
close together lest they should rob one another of
their needful portion of nourishment. This and the
farther practice of frequent weeding, which from
their manner of performing the operation is equiva-
lent to hoeing among us, brings their method com-
pletely into agreement with Tull's system of horse-
hoeing husbandry, which was not proposed for adop-
tion in Europe until its prosecution had been thus
practised commonly, and for ages, in the Chinese
empire.

In all its principal features the method of culture
is the same in Hindostan as it is in China. In some
parts of Bengal the farmer suffers much from the
depredations committed by wild hogs during the night.
In order to guard as much as possible against this
evil, a sort of shed is erected upon bamboos in the
field, wherein a servant is stationed to scare away
these intruders, — a precaution that is accompanied by
much trouble and expense, and which yet is not
always completely efficacious in preserving their pro-
perty. These erections, which are very numerous in
some districts towards the period of harvest, present
a very curious appearance to the traveller.

The cultivators of rice in America sometimes suffer
severely from the depredations of the rice-bird of
Catesby (Emberiza oryzivora), known familiarly in
the country by the name of Bob Lincoln. This bird
is about six or seven inches long ; its head and the
under part of its body are black, the upper part
is a mixture of black, white, and yellow, and the
legs are red. Immense flocks of these birds are
seen in the island of Cuba, where the rice crop pre-
cedes that of Carolina ; but when from the hardening
of the grain the rice in that quarter is no longer
agreeable to them, they migrate towards the north,
and pass over the sea in such numerous parties, as

RICE.

95

Rice-bir 's, Male and Female.

to be sometimes heard in their flights by sailors fre-
quenting that course. These birds appear in Caro-
lina while the rice is yet milky. Their attacks upon
the grain while in this state are so destructive as to
bring considerable loss upon the farmers. The birds
arrive in the United States very lean, but thrive so
well upon their favourite diet, that during the three
weeks to which their visit is usually limited, they
become excessively fat, so as to fly with difficulty,
and when shot to be burst with the iall. So soon as
the rice begins to harden here, they retire to other
parts, remaining in one place only so long as the rice
continues green. When this food entirely fails, they

96 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES,

have recourse for their subsistence to insects, until
the maize begins to form its grains, and then the
milky substance which these contain is devoured with
the same avidity that marks their attacks upon the
rice-plant. Extensive flocks of the oryzivora are
found during the spring and summer in New York
and Rhode Island ; there they breed, quitting with
their young for the southward, in time for the tender
rice-grains of Cuba. It is remarkable that the males
and females do not migrate in company, the females
being always the first to perform their voyages. These
birds are eaten as a great delicacy, and the song of
the male is said to be melodious.

The uses to which rice is actually applied may be
easily defined. In a great part of India and China
it forms the subsistence of the native population,
more exclusively and to a greater extent than can
perhaps be said of any other vegetable substance in
any known region of the globe. In the countries
just mentioned, as well as in those districts of Africa
where it is used indiscriminately with maize, rice un-
dergoes but little culinary preparation, being, for
the most part, simply boiled with water, and eaten
either by itself, or accompanied by some stimulating
or oily substance. In countries, on the other hand,
where it is employed only as an auxiliary article
of food, rice is subjected to a greater degree of
preparation for the table, and except when used to
thicken broths, is seldom presented, unless after con-
coction with eggs, and milk, and sugar, which cover
the natural insipidity of the grain.

In years when the harvest is deficient in this
country, it is usual to hear a great deal about the
practicability and advantage of mixing rice with
wheaten or rye flour for making bread, and this may,
without doubt, be done in a certain moderate pro-
portion ; such bread, however, speedily becomes

RICE. 97

harsh and dry. A writer in the Journal dcs Sciences?
des Letlres, ct des Arts, has, indeed, given directions,
by following which, it is said, fermented bread -nay be
made of rice without admixture with the flour of any
other grain.*

We are told that the Chinese make- a kind of wine
of rice, which resembles, both in colour and flavour^
the white wine of Xeres ; but it is not known by
what process they are enabled to succeed in tiiis
manufacture. In the East, considerable quantities of
ardent spirit are extracted from this grain by fermen-
tation and distillation.

It has been declared impracticable to manufacture
beer from rice, in consequence of the difficulty which
attends its previous conversion into malt. M. Du-
brunfaut has stated that this necessary process may
be readily and completely accomplished in the mash-
tub, by mixing one part, by weight, of malted barley,
with four parts of crushed rice, which has previously

* The method here referred to is as follows. — First reduce
the rice to powder in a mill, or throw the whole grains into
water at nearly a boiling heat, and allow them to soak during
some hours. Then drain off the water, and when the rice shall
have become sufficiently dry, beat it in a mortar, and pass the
powder through a fine sieve. This flour must next be placed
in a kneading-trough, and moistened in the necessary degree
with water rendered glutinous by boiling whole rice in it for
some time ; add salt, and the proper quantity of leaven or yest,
and knead the whole intimately together. The dough must
then be covered with warm cloths and left to rise. During
this fermentative process, the dough, which was of a pretty
firm consistence, will become so soft as not to be capable of
being formed into loaves. It is, therefore, placed in the requisite
quantities in tin forms, and these being covered with large
leaves, or with sheets of paper, are introduced into the oven,
the heat of which speedily sets the dough sufficiently, so that
the tins being reversed, their contents are turned out upon the
leaves or pnper- The bread, when perfectly baked, will be of
a fine yellow colour, similar to that imparted to flour by the
yolks of eggs, and when new is said to be sufficiently agreeable.
VOL. XV. 9

98 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

been mixed with its own weight of water. The
ready firmed saccharine matter of the barley malt
appear* to have the singular property of speedily
converting the fecula of unmalted corn into a kind of
soluble matter which has the fermentative properties of
sugar. If malt and rice flour, diluted so as to have a
pas;y consistence, be mixed and mashed together,
and then left during three or four hours, the mixture
wiR present the appearance of a liquid which is slightly
saccharine to the taste, and having a sediment at the
bottom of the vessel, which is found, on examination,
;o be composed of only the husks of barley and rice.
M. Dubrunfaut used for the purpose rice from which
the husk had not been removed previous to its being
crushed, and which in this state is known by the name
of paddy, or more properly paddee.

The practice has obtained very much, during the
last few years, of importing this paddee, in preference
to shelled rice, its cost being lower in foreign markets,
and the importers avoiding a very large proportion of
the customs' duty chargeable on that already prepared
for use. Some very effective machinery has been set
up for the purpose of removing the husk and cuticle,
and these operations are performed full as perfectly,
and with less breaking of the grains than follows the
employment of the ruder methods usually pursued in
the countries of production ; the loss, by waste, is
also found to be less on the transport of paddee than
of shelled rice.

Maize — Zca Mays.

CHAPTER V.

Maize — Millet — Buck-wheit.

MAIZE, or INDIAN CORN — Zea Mays. — Of this
plant only one species is known, but there are several
varieties which are thought to owe their distinctive
character to the accidental modifications of climate,
soil, and culture, rather than to any original vari-

100 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

ance. The plant consists of a strong, reedy, jointed
stalk, provided with large alternate leaves, almost
like flags, springing from every joint. The top pro-
duces a bunch of male flowers, of various colours,
which is called the tassel. Each plant bears, like-
wise, one or more spikes or ears, seldom so few as
one, and rarely more than four or five, the most
usual number being three : as many as seven have
been seen occasionally on one stalk. These ears
proceed from the stalk at various distances from the
ground, and are closely enveloped by several thin
leaves, forming a sheath, which is called the husk.
The ears consist of a cylindrical substance, of the
nature of pith, which is called the cobb, over the
entire surface of which the seeds are ranged, and
fixed in eight or more straight rows, each row having
generally as many as thirty or more seeds. The
eyes or germs of the seeds are in nearly radial lines
from the centre of the cylinder ; from these eyes pro-
ceed individual filaments of a silky appearance, and of
a bright green colour ; the aggregate of these hang
out from the point of the husk, in a thick cluster, and
in this state are called the silk. It is the office of
these filaments, which are the stigmata, to receive the
farina, which drops from the flowers on the top, or
tassel, and without which the ears would produce no-
seed, — a fact which has been established by cutting
off the top previous to the developement of its flowers,
when the ears proved wholly barren. So soon as
their office has been thus performed, both the tassel
and the silk dry up, and put on a withered appearance.
The grains of maize are of different colours, the
prevailing hue being yellow, of various shades,
sometimes approaching to white, and at other times
deepening to red. Some are of a deep chocolate
colour, others greenish or olive-coloured, and even.

MAIZE. 101

the same ears will sometimes contain grains of
different colours^

Unlike the cereal grains which have been already
described, naturalists are at no loss in determining
the native region of maize, which is confidently held
to be America, the Indians throughout that conti-
nent having been found engaged in its^cultivation
at the period when the New World was first dis-
covered.

This grain is of scarcely less importance than rice,
for the sustenance of man. It forms a principal food
of the rapidly increasing inhabitants of the United
States of America ; it constitutes almost the entire
support of the Mexicans ; and is consumed in Africa
to an extent nearly, if not quite, equal to the con-
sumption of rice in the same quarter.

The merits of Indian corn have been verjr differ-
ently estimated ; and while some persons have in-
vested it with a value equal, if not superior, to that
possessed by the rest of the cerealia, other persons
have, on the contrary, placed it at the lowest station
among the family, scarcely, indeed, allowing it worthy
to take its place in the group. Without meaning
in any way to involve the reader in this controversy,
it is yet necessary to set fairly before him the facts
connected with the question, and he may then be
enabled to form a correct judgment on the matter.

Maize is said to contain no gluten, and little, if
any, ready-formed saccharine matter, whence it has
been asserted to have but a very small nutritive power ;
on the other hand, it is seen that domestic animals
which are fed with it very speedily become fat, their
flesh being at the same time remarkably firm.
Horses which consume this corn are enabled to per-
form their full portion of labour, are exceedingly
hardy, and require but little care ; and the common
people of countries where Indian corn forms the

VOL. xv. 9*

102 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

ordinary food, are for the most part strong and hardy
races. The produce of maize, on a given extent of
cultivation, is greater than that of any other grain ;
and the proportional return for the quantity of seed
committed to the ground is equally advantageous.

JVo argument can be founded either way upon
the liking or disliking of individuals. Man is in
this, as well as in most other respects, very much
the creature of habit ; and preferences, both national
and individual, are often shown by him, in regard to
articles of food, which would be wholly incompre-
hensible upon any other ground. We need not go
beyond the bounds of Europe for abundant proofs of
this fact, if indeed such are not offered by our own
personal observation. It falls within the knowledge
of the writer, that a gentteman wko in his boyish
days had been nurtured in a village on the coast, in
a remote part of Scotland, acquired such a fondness
for some weed thrown up by the sea, and which
through the poverty of the inhabitants was made
to form part of their sustenance, that in after-life,
and when he had returned from a protracted resi-
dence abroad, he procured a supply of his favourite
weed to be regularly sent to him in London, and
ate as the greatest delicacy that upon which the
members of his iamily could only look with disgust.

Of all the cerealia, maize is the least subject to
disease. Blight, mildew, or rust, are unknown to it.
It is never liable to be beaten down by rain, or by the
most violent storms of wind ; and in climates and
seasons which are favourable to its growth and ma-
turity, the only enemies which the maize farmer has
to dread are insects in the early stages, and birds in
the later periods of its cultivation.

AMERICAN INDIAN CORN is the largest known
variety of maize. It is found growing wild in
many of the West-Indian islands, as well as in

MAIZE. 103

the central parts of America ; and there can be no
doubt of its being a native of those regions. In fa-
vourable situations it has a very considerable growth,
attaining to the height of from seven to ten feet ;
in some cases it has acquired the gigantic height
of fourteen feet, without in any way impairing
its productive power. Its spike, or ear, is eight or
ten inches in length, and five or six inches in cir-
cumference. The plant generally sends out one, two,
or more suckers from the bottom of the stalk, but
these it is advisable to remove, not only as they
draw away part of the nourishment which should go
to support the main stalk, but because the ears which
the suckers bear ripen at later periods than the
others, and the harvest could not all be simultane-
ously secured in the properest state of maturity.

This variety will rarely come to maturity in north-
ern climates, and could never be securely relied
on for a crop in any part of Europe. In the Mexi-
can states, where this grain is known by the name of
Tlaouili, there are few parts of either the lower dis-
tricts — tierra caliente — or of the table-land, whereon
it is not successfully cultivated. In the former dis-
tricts its growth is naturally more luxuriant than in
the latter ; but even at an elevation of six or seven
thousand feet above the level of the sea, its pro-
ductiveness is calculated to excite wonder, if not
to provoke incredulity on the part of European
agriculturists. Some particularly favoured spots have
been known to yield an increase of eight hundred for
one ; and it is perfectly common in situations where
artificial irrigation is practised, to gather from three
hundred and fifty to four hundred measures of grain
for every one measure that has ibeen sown. In other
places, where reliance is placed only on the natural
supply of moisture to the sovl from the periodical
rains, such an abundant return is not expected ;

104 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

but even then, and in the least fertile spots, it is
rare for the cultivator to realize less than from forty
to sixty bushels for each one sown.

The system of husbandry employed is closely
analogous to that so often already referred to as
Tull's Horse-hoeing Plan. The seed is sown, from
three to five grains together, at regular intervals of
three feet, in rows sufficiently far apart to admit of
the passage of a small plough between them, for the
purposes of loosening the soil around the roots, and
of removing the weeds. The use of manure is alto-
gether unknown in Mexican maize husbandry.

Humboldt states that in some warm and humid
regions of Mexico three harvests of maize may be
annually gathered, but that it is not usual to take
more than one. The seed-time is from the middle
of June to near the end of August. A great part of
the internal commerce of Mexico consists in the
transmission of this grain, the price of which varies
considerably in not very distant stations, owing to
the imperfect state of the roads, and the insufficient
means of transport. As an instance of this, Hum-
boldt mentions the fact, that during his stay in the
intendancy of Guanaxuato, the fanega (five bushels)
of maize cost at Salamanca nine, at Queretaro
twelve, and San Luiz Potosi twenty-two, livres.
For want of a proper diffusion of commercial capi-
tal, the Mexican public is without the advantage of
magazines for storing corn, and for preventing, by
that means, great fluctuations in price. It is a for-
tunate circumstance, and one which should be men-
tioned as adding very materially to the natural value
of maize in warm climates, that it will remain in
store uninjured for periods varying from three to
five years, according to the mean temperature of the
.district.

This kind of corn is generally planted in the

MAIZE. 105

United States of America about the middle of May,
so as to avoid the mischance of its experiencing
frost after it is once out of the ground. The Indians
who inhabited the country previously to the forma-
tion of any settlement upon its shores by Europeans,
having no calendar or other means of calculating
the efflux of time, were guided by certain natural
indications in their choice of periods for agricultural
operations. The time for their sowing of maize was
governed by the budding of some particular tree,
and by the visits of a certain fish to their waters, —
both which events observation had proved to be such
regular indicators of the season, as fully to warrant
the faith which was placed on their recurrence.
These simple and untaught people discovered and
practised a method of preserving their grain after
harvest, which afforded a certain protection against
the ravages of insects, and which might be advan-
tageously adopted in other situations, and in climates
where this evil is very prevalent. Their method was
to separate the corn from the cobb as soon as the
harvest was finished ; to dry it thoroughly by expo-
sure to the sun, and to a current of air 5 and then to
deposit it in holes dug out of the earth in dry situa-
tions, lining these holes with mats of dried grass, and
covering them with earth, so as completely to prevent
the access of air.

With the exception of artificial irrigation, to which
recourse is not had in the United States, the method
of sowing and managing maize is there singularly
analogous to that pursued in Mexico. The propor-
tionate produce, from a given quantity of seed or a
certain breadth of land, is smaller, however, than
that realized in Mexico, although the practice of
manuring is universally followed. As compared with
the yielding of other kinds of grain, maize cultiva-
tion is, nevertheless, highly productive in the United

106 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCE'S.

States. In Pennsylvania, where the average crop of
wheat does not exceed from fourteen to seventeen
bushels, that of maize amounts to from twenty to
thirty bushels to the acre. A writer in the ' Monthly
American Journal of Geology and Natural Science '
considers that maize produces the heaviest crops near
the northern limits of its range. The American
farmers find this advantage to attend the partial
culture of maize upon their farms, that the time of
harvesting is some weeks later than that of wheat, and
that, consequently, the general operations of the
harvest may be conducted without great bustle and
temporary advance of wages, to be followed by a
season of inaction and consequently of idleness to
the labourer, — evils which are commonly experienced
in England.

The second variety of maize has white grains.
This kind, which is cultivated in Spain, Portugal, and
Lombardy, is altogether a smaller plant than the va-
riety just described, seldom exceeding six or seven
feet in height : the leaves are narrower, and the tops
hang downwards. The ears or spikes are not more
than six or seven inches long. The French, among
whom this grain is partially cultivated, have given to
it the name of Ble de Turquie, doubtless because their
seed was originally obtained from that country.

Except in unusually favourable seasons, the two
varieties hitherto described will not come to maturity
in England, although they are sometimes sown as a
curiosity in warm spots in gardens.

The third variety has both yellow and white
seeds. It is even smaller than the last-mentioned,
seldom rising to a greater height than four feet :
the ears do not often exceed four or five inches
in length. In ordinary seasons, it will ripen its
grains perfectly in England ; arid one reason why it
has been presumed that its cultivation would prove

MAIZE. 107

advantageous to this country, is the shortness of time
required for its growth, whereby the late frosts to
which we are sometimes liable in spring, and the
early frosts of autumn, would be alike avoided. This
particular variety is cultivated in some of the middle
regions of the European continent, as well as in some
parts of North America, from which latter country it
is understood to have its origin. It is also partially
cultivated in Germany, not as a bread-corn, but that
it may be malted and used in the preparation of a
kind of beer, or made to yield an ardent spirit. The
use chiefly made of it, however, is that of fattening
swine and poultry.

In the cultivation of Indian corn in northern
climates, it is proper to make choice of warm spots,
and particularly to avoid shady situations. In order
to admit the sun as much as possible to the plants,
and probably also with the view of affording more
nutriment to the grain, it is usual to remove the
blades, together with the top and tassel, as soon as its
office of dropping its fecundating farina upon the ears
has been fully accomplished. This process is very
easy of performance : when the blades and tops are
perfectly dry they are stacked and thatched, and form
an excellent substitute for hay and chaff in the spring,
both for cattle and horses, as well as for sheep, all
these animals being attracted by its sweetness.

It may generally be known when the corn is ri-
pened by the dry and white appearance put on by
the husk : a more intimate inspection is, however,
accomplished without difficulty. The ears must then
be plucked off, together with the husks, and con-
veyed at once in carts to the barn. In America, the
stalks are usually left standing for some time longer.
Being then cut near to the ground, tied up into
bundles, and stacked in a dry place, they will prove

108

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

useful as food for horned cattle, which, from the sac-
charine quality of the plants, will thrive upon them.

Ears of Maize in different stages.

The ears are preserved in bins or cages which are
called corn-cribs, sometimes with the husk and at
other times without it, and it is not considered good
farming to shell the corn before it is required to
be sent to market. This operation of shelling is
very easily performed. The only implement required
for the purpose is a piece of iron in shape like a
sword-blade, the edge of which is not sharp, and
this iron being fixed acro?s the top of a tub in which
the shelled grains are to be collected, the ear is taken

MAIZE. 109

in both hands and scraped lengthwise smartly across
the edge of the iron until all the grains are removed.
In this manner, it is said, an industrious man will
shell from twenty to twenty-five bushels of corn in the
course of the day. The cobb which remains makes
a very tolerable quick-burning fuel, and thus no part
of the plant proves altogether without use.

The grain forms one-half the measure of the ear,
that is to say, two bushels of ears will yield one
bushel of shelled corn. So correct is this estimate
found to be, that in the markets of the .United States,
where Indian corn is sold both shelled and with the
cobb, two bushels of the latter are taken without
question by the purchaser, as being equal to one
bushel of shelled grain.

An amusing, and in many respects an instructive
book, was published a few years since upon the
merits of Indian corn, by one whose sanguine wishes
upon the subject of its introduction as a corn-plant
into England, led him farther than most people have
been inclined to accompany him. There is to be
seen in the work here referred to a very minute and
interesting account of all the various processes which
must be attended to by the maize-grower before his
grain is ready for sale, as well as very minute di-
rections for turning the produce to the best and most
agreeable account in family economy.* Although
the public mind seems at present to be differently
impressed upon the matter, it does not appear very
improbable that some hardy variety of this plant may
at no very distant day be regularly cultivated in
some parts, at least, of England, and in Ireland.
Sir Richard Bulkely, who obtained some seed from
Brandenburgh, sowed it in the last-mentioned island,
and it is recorded that his produce was exceedingly
great, fully equal indeed to anything asserted of

* A Treatise on Cobbett's Corn, by W. Cobbett.
VOL. XV. 10

1 10 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Mexican fecundity. Might not this grain be gradu-
ally introduced, to the advantage of that portion of the
kingdom, affording to the peasantry a more nourishing
food than that upon which the bulk of them are now
constrained to subsist ? That Indian corn is well
qualified to form the entire food — if that were ne-
cessary — of a people, is amply exemplified by the
Mexicans, the great bulk of whom seldom partake of
any other description.

Captain Lyon, in the narrative of his travels in
Mexico, has given an amusing account of the mode
of preparing tortillas, a species of cake made with
the crushed grains of maize, which is eaten hot at
the meals of all classes of people, the more wealthy
using the cakes in the way we are accustomed to use
wheaten bread , — as an auxiliary to more nourishing
aliments — and the peasants being fain to enjoy them
as a substantive food, seasoning them, when they
have the opportunity, by the addition of chilies
stewed into a kind of sauce, wherein the tortillas
are dipped. Simple as the art may appear of thus
making an unleavened cake with moistened flour,
some persons are found to acquire a greater degree
of expertness in it than others ; and so great is the
necessity for their preparation, and the desire of
having them well concocted, that according to Captain
Lyon, ' in the houses of respectable people, a woman,
called from her office Tortillera, is kept for the ex-
press purpose 5 and it sounds very oddly to the ear
of a stranger during meal-times, to hear the rapid
patting and clapping which goes forward in the
cooking-place, until all demands are satisfied.'*

The various uses to which the maize plant and
grain may be applied cannot perhaps be better enu-
merated than in the words of Dr Franklin, a man
accustomed to make a sober estimate upon every

* Lyon's Mexico, vol. ii, p. 136.

MAIZE. Ill

subject that fell under his observation ; and who,
however enthusiastic he might be in the cause of
virtue and rational freedom, never suffered himself to
be betrayed into exaggeration, or to be carried away
by a too sanguine imagination in affairs connected
with the business of life.

' It is remarked in North America, that the
English farmers, when they first arrive there, rinding
a soil and climate proper for the husbandry they have
been accustomed to, and particularly suitable for
raising wheat, they despise and neglect the culture of
maize or Indian corn ; but observing the advantage
it affords their neighbours, the older inhabitants, they
by degrees get more and more into the practice of
raising it ; and the face of the country shows from
time to time that the culture of that grain goes on
visibly augmenting.

' The inducements are the many different ways in
which it may be prepared so as to afford a whole-
some and pleasing nourishment to men and other
animals. First, the family can begin to make use of
it before the time of full harvest ; for the tender
green ears, stripped of their leaves, and roasted by a
quick fire till the grain is brown, and eaten with a
iittle salt or butter, are a delicacy. Secondly, when
the grain is riper and harder, the ears, boiled in
their leaves and eaten with butter, are also good and
agreeable food. The tender green grains dried may
be kept all the year, and, mixed with green haricots
(kidney beans), also dried, make at any time a pleas-
ing dish, being first soaked some hours in .water,
and then boiled. When the grain is ripe and hard
there are also several ways of using it. One is to
soak it all night in a lassive or ley, and then pound
it in a lame wooden mortar with a wooden pestle ;
the skin of each grain is by that means skinned off,
and the farinaceous part left whole, which being

112 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

boiled swells into a white soft pulp, and eaten with
milk, or with butter and sugar, is delicious. The
dry grain is also sometimes ground loosely, so as to
be broken into pieces of the size of rice, and being
winnowed to separate the bran, it is then boiled and
eaten with turkies or other fowls, as rice. Ground
into a finer meal, they make of it by boiling, a hasty
pudding or bomlli, to be eaten with milk, or with
butter and sugar ; this resembles what the Italians
call polenta. They make of the same meal, with
water and salt, a hasty cake, which being stuck
against a hoe or other flat iron, is placed erect before
the fire, and so baked to be used as bread. Broth is
also agreeably thickened with the same meal. They
also parch it in this manner. An iron pot is filled
with sand, and set on the fire till the sand is very
hot. Two or three pounds of the grain are then
thrown in, and well mixed with the sand by stirring.
Each grain bursts and throws out a white substance
of twice its bigness. The sand is separated by
a wire sieve, and returned into the pot to be again
heated and repeat the operation with fresh grain.
That which is parched is pounded to a powder in
mortars. This being sifted will keep long for use.
An Indian will travel far and subsist long on a small
bag of it, taking only six or eight ounces of it per
day mixed with water. The flour of maize, mixed
with that of wheat, makes excellent bread, sweeter
and more agreeable than that of wheat alone. To
feed horses, it is good to soak the grain twelve hours,
they mash it easier with their teeth, and it yields
them more nourishment. The leaves stripped off*
the stalks after the grain is ripe, tied up in bundles
when dry, are excellent forage for horses, cows, &.c.
The stalks, pressed like sugar-cane, yield a sweet
juice, which being fermented and distilled yields an
excellent spirit ; boiled without fermentation, it

MAIZE. 113

affords a pleasant syrup. In Mexico, fields are
sown with it thick, that multitudes of small stalks
may arise, which being cut from time to time, like
asparagus, are served in desserts, and thin sweet
juice extracted in the mouth by chewing them. The
meal wetted is excellent food for young chickens, and
the old grain for grown fowls.' *

In addition to the many uses enumerated by
Franklin in the foregoing account, Humboldt ac-
quaints us that the Mexican Indians, previous to the
conquest of their country, were accustomed not only
to express the sweet juice from maize-stalks for the
purpose of fermenting it into an intoxicating liquor,
but that they boiled down this juice to the con-
sistence of syrup ; giving it likewise as his opinion
that they were able even to make sugar from this
inspissated juice. In confirmation of this opinion,
he recites a letter written by Cortez, who in de-
scribing to the Emperor Charles V, the various pro-
ductions in both a natural and manufactured state
which he found in the new country, asserts, that
among these were seen ' honey of bees and wax,
honey from the stalks of maize, which are as sweet as
sugar-cane, and honey from a shrub which the peo-
ple call maguey. The natives make sugar from
these plants, and this sugar they also sell.' There
is no question that the productions here enumerated
will yield saccharine matter ; but crystallize'd sugar,
properly so called, is a different preparation, and, from
oar present knowledge, it is difficult to believe that
any such substance could have been so prepared.

The Indians, at the period above alluded to,
evinced considerable skill in the preparation of fer-
mented liquors, which is by no means lost by the
Mexicans of the present day. ' A chemist,' says
Humboldt, ' would have some difficulty in preparing

» Franklin'i Works, vol. ii, pp. 276-8, 4to «dition, 1818.
VOL. XV. 10*

114 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

the innumerable variety of spirituous, acid, or saccha-
rine beverages which the Indians display a peculiar
address in making, by infusing the grain of maize, in
which the sacc'narinc matter begins to develope
itself by germination. These beverages, generally
known by the name of ckicha, have some of them a
resemblance to beer, and others to cyder.' The
spirituous liquor called pulque de mahis or thtouili,
which is prepared from juice expressed from the
stalk of the maize, forms, in some parts of the
republic, a very important article of commerce.

It has been said that Indian corn is free from all
liability to disease. In contradiction of this, M.
Roulin has asserted that a diseased state of this
grain, similar in its nature to that described as inci-
dent to rye under certain circumstances, is not unfre-
quently met with in Columbia The ill effects
attributed to the ergot of maize, although serious,
are however by no means of so fatal a character.
Among the effects, all animals, including the human
race, who partake of it, are subject to the shedding
of their teeth and hair, and quadrupeds to the addi-
tional loss of their hoofs ; fowls that have fed upon it
lay their eggs without shells. Its action, when ad-
ministered medicinally, is said to be even more
powerful than that of the ergot of rye. It must be
remarked that in the narrative of no other traveller
have we met with a similar statement, and that in
other countries, where maize is quite as familiarly
known as in Colombia, the disease has never been
observed.

MILLET — Species of Sorghum and Sitaria. These
are true grasses, and naturally allied to one of the
most numerous tribes. In light sandy soils, under
the scorching rays of the sun, and in situations
where sufficient moisture cannot be obtained for the

MILLET. 115

production of rice, millet is successfully cultivated.
Sorghum forms a chief dependance of the people in
some parts of India — through the arid districts of
Arabia — in Syria, where it has been produced from
the earliest periods — and in JVubia, whose inhabitants
cultivate this almost to the exclusion of every other
grain.

The seeds of Panicum millet are by much the
smallest of any of the cereal plants, but the number
borne upon each stalk is so exceedingly great as to
counterbalance that disadvantage, and to render this
equally productive with other of the culmiferous
plants : it is to this circumstance that its name, from
mille, a thousand, has been ascribed.

Of this sort there are two modifications, distin-
guished by the form of their spike, one being com-
posed of a single rachis, while the other is very much
branched. The difference of form thus exhibited is
of so marked a character that it can scarcely be
viewed as a modification brought about by difference
of culture.

Of each of these there arc to be found some species
which chiefly exhibit themselves as such by the vary-
ing colour of their grains, and by the circumstance
of these being either naked or encrusted.

One kind of millet, the spike of which is com-
pact, has been supposed to be a native of the
north of Europe, and is commonly known — at
least in this quarter of the globe — as GERMAN MIL-
LET, Sitaria germanica. It is thought, however,
that this variety was originally imported from
India and acclimatized in Germany. Nor does it
aflbrd any direct evidence against this opinion, that
seeds apparently of the same kind, brought from
India, and subjected at once to the same culture, do
not perfect their seeds ; since it is well known that
the habits of plants may be changed by slow degrees

116

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

to an extent quite sufficient to account for this vari-
ance. The stalk of this, and indeed of all the varie-
ties of millet, resembles a jointed reed, having at
every joint a long broad leaf embracing the stalk
with its base. This variety rises to the height of
three or four feet, and terminates in a compact spike
about eight or nine inches long, somewhat thicker at
the base than at the top, beset with small round grains,
which adhere but slightly to the husk, and therefore
are very liable to be shaken out when ripe. The use
principally made of this grain is the feeding of poultry.

Italian Millet — Sitaria Italica.

ITALIAN MILLET — Sitaria italica — bears a con-
siderable resemblance to the variety just described.

MILLET. 117

This variety is decidedly a native of India, where it
bears the name of congue. The plant is stronger,
the spike and the seed are larger, and to bring it to
maturity requires a warmer climate than suffices for
German millet. The use to which this grain is
brought in Tuscany, is that of feeding domestic fowls
and animals, including horses. The larger species
of animals are also fed upon the leaves and culms, of
which last-mentioned portion brushes are likewise
made. The Italians also make from the flour a kind
of bread, which is dark coloured and coarse. Like
those of maize, the seeds of both these varieties are
of various colours.

PANICLED MILLET is the species most usually cul-
tivated. The commonest variety, which botanists
call Sorghum vulgare, is known by various names in
the different districts where it is grown. In India it
is called jovarce ,• in Egypt and Nubia dhourra ;
while in our West-Indian colonies it has received the
name of Guinea corn, either because the seed was
first conveyed thither from the western coast of
Africa, or as some persons have affirmed, because
of its extensive use in feeding the African negroes
throughout those colonies. The height to which this
plant attains varies according to the soil and culture.
In Egypt its growth seldom exceeds five or six feet,
while Burckhardt* speaks of the stalks of dhourra
as being sixteen or twenty feet long. The leaves
are thirty inches long, and two inches wide in the
broadest part. The flowers, when they first corue
out in large panicles at the top of the stalk, resemble
the male spikes of the maize plant. These flowers
are succeeded by roundish seeds, the colour of which
is, in some cases, a milky white, with a black umbilical
dot ; in others the seeds are red, but in both cases
they are wrapped round with the chaff, and are

* Travels in Nubia, p. 280.

118 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

better protected from feathered depredators than other
kinds of millet.

This grain was introduced into cultivation in
Switzerland about the middle of the last century by
M. Tschiffeli, who received about a spoonful of the
seed from Dr Schreber. M. Tschiffeli published
an account of his method of cultivation in the Trans-
actions of the Berne Society ; some extracts from
which paper will suffice to show the capabilities of
this grain when cultivated in northern latitudes.
Among the advantages which it offers are stated, its
adaptation to all sorts of soils, the small quantity of
manure which it requires, the trifling amount of labour
for which it calls, and the small degree of exhaustion
which it occasions to the soil, in comparison with the
largeness of the return which it yields.

M. Tschiffeli sowed his first seed in the month of
May, on a gravelly soil exposed to the north wind,
and which the year before had borne a very indifferent
crop of bigg. The seed was spread very thin, and
to this circumstance he attributed the fact that the
stalks rose to the height of eight feet and upwards.
The ears were above ten inches long, and but for an
inopportune shower of hail which destroyed half the
seed, the spoonful would probably have been multi-
plied into a peck of grains. In May of the following
year, about a quart of seed was sown upon a piece of
ground twenty paces long and half as broad, which
space, it was soon apparent, was far too circumscribed
for the quantity of seed. The stalks came up very
close, and were interwoven with each other, reaching
scarcely to the height of five feet ; and the ears were
much smaller than those of the preceding year. The
produce, however, was seven pecks, or equivalent to
fifty-six for one. In the next year, thirty square rods
of land were sowed with half a peck of the seed.

MILLET. 119

Here, again, the millet came up far too thick, being
almost as much crowded from its greater tillering, as
it was in the preceding year; notwithstanding which,
the produce was so great, that twenty bushels were
harvested, being a return of one hundred and sixty for
one, and at the rate of more than one hundred bushels
to the acre. M. TschifTeli was of opinion that ten
pounds of seed would prove an ample allowance for
an acre of ground, and that greater space being thus
allowed for the individual plants, the proportion be-
tween the quantities sown and harvested would be
still more favourable. It does not appear that millet
has ever been subjected to the system of drill hus-
bandry, although the results here given seem to point
out that system as being peculiarly applicable to its
cultivation.

Sorghum is cultivated largely in some parts of Chi-
na and in Cochin China. In England the autumn
is rarely sufficiently dry and warm for ripening its
seeds, otherwise the plant might prove useful in some
poor and light soils, the produce of which is ordinarily
insufficient to repay the greater expense attendant
upon the cultivation of other grain. Sorghum was
raised in this country as a rare plant, in the garden
of John Gerarde, as early as 1596.

The golden-coloured millet seeds seen in our gro-
cers' shops are the produce of the sorghum sacchara-
tum, or yellow-seeded millet. Use is made of these
in a similar manner with rice, for the preparation of
puddings.

This variety is likewise a native of India ; it is
cultivated largely in China and Cochin China; and
has been introduced into the island of Jamaica.
Philip Miller reared it in his garden in 1759.

In warm climates millet is usually sown in May
and June, and perfects its seeds within four months.
The plant is not subject to blight, nor is it easily

120 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

injured by either drought or rain. The only care
required in its cultivation is to allow sufficient space
for the tillering of the plants, and to weed and hoe
the intervals during the early part of the growth ;
after which it will overtop and smother all weeds.

When millet is ripe, the panicles are cut off near
to the top of the stalk, and collected in sacks or
baskets. They are then laid up in heaps, and care-
fully covered during five or six days; after which
they are spread on the barn floor, and the grain is
threshed out in the ordinary manner with a flail.
The more primitive method of treading out the grain
by means of oxen is resorted to in some parts of
India.

If millet is not perfectly dry when deposited in the
granary, it will soon be spoiled; but, on the other
hand, if this precaution be properly taken, there is
no grain that will keep longer or better. The weevil
will not touch it, and although it is doubtless the
better for being turned over occasionally, that pro-
cess, so indispensable with other grain, may be
omitted here without producing any serious injury.
In addition to the use made of the stalks as fodder,
the Nubians employ them in the construction of tem-
porary huts.

In the barren districts of Bornou, a species of
millet is produced, which is called by the inhabitants
gussub, and upon which both men and animals are
almost exclusively fed. By the poorer class it is fre-
quently eaten, simply parched, or even without any
culinary preparation. Other persons crush and then
steep the seeds in water previous to eating them, and
some few, who are the epicures of the land, clear the
grain from the husk, pound it, and make it up into
a light paste with melted fat: this favourite dish is
called kaddel.

Travellers who have visited the central parts of

BUCK- WHEAT. 121

Africa complain much of a grievous annoyance to
which they were there subjected from the prickles of
a grass which grows wild and in great abundance,
particularly in the neighbourhood of water. ' These
prickles are of the finest and most penetrating sharp-
ness that can be imagined, they attach themselves to
every part of the dress, and so small are the points
that it is impossible to extract them without breaking
and leaving a part behind.'* The seed from this
grass, which is called kaschia, is parched, broken,
cleared from the husk, and, when boiled, is eaten in
the manner of rice. When previously made into
flour, kaschia is considered to be a great luxury.

The Nubians are accustomed to prepare a fermented
liquor from dhourra; this, which they call bouzah, is
considered by them as a very wholesome and nutri-
tious beverage.

THERE is one plant, the name of which seems to
point it out as proper for receiving some notice in
this place, although it has no natural affinity with
the cerealia, and the seeds, which are rarely used as
human food in any country, are never so employed in
England. This plant is BUCK-WHEAT — Polygonum
fagopyrum, — also frequently called brank. The
name given to this plant in Germany, where it is
most cultivated, is beech-wheat, from the resemblance
which the grains bear in shape to the mast or nuts of
the beech tree.

Buck-wheat is an annual plant, growing rather
handsome, with branched herbaceous stems, having
leaves which at first are roundish, but afterwards be-
come arrow-shaped, resembling somewhat those of
ivy, but being longer-pointed and much softer. The
stalk is round and hollow ; its general colour is
green, but it sometimes has a reddish tinge: it com-

* Denham.
VOL. xv. 11

122

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCE?.

Buck-wheat — Polygonum fagopyrum.

monly grows to the height of about thirty inches.
At almost every joint of the stalk, lateral branches
shoot out, which are terminated by purplish flowers,
and these are succeeded by small triangular-shaped
seeds, which are of a brownish-black colour on the
outside, and white within. This grain is usually sown
in May or June, and is of such rapid growth that it
generally ripens its seeds within about one hundred
days from the lime of sowing. It will thrive in any
soil, even in those which contain little else than
sand. The largest increase is, however, obtained
from dry ground, which has been thoroughly ploughed
and pulverized; and in such circumstances as much
as fifty or sixty bushels have been reaped from an

BUCK-WHEAT. 123

acre on which only one bushel of seed has been
bestowed.

This plant is more generally cultivated for the sake
of its green fodder, and then the seed is strewn much
thicker, as much as three or four bushels being
allotted to the acre. If the season is forward, and
the weather continues warm, buck-wheat may be
sown for this purpose in April, and will bear cutting
twice during the summer ; but the slightest degree
of frost will destroy it entirely. When it is thus
intended to apply the plant as green meat, a sufficient
quantity should be cut one day for the consumption
of the next. The state most proper for cutting is
when the blossoms are making their appearance.

All animals are fond of this food, and will thrive
upon it. When given to cows it causes them to
yield an abundance of excellent milk, which makes
good butter and cheese. The stalk and leaves will
continue green during the driest weather, even when
all the grasses in the meadows are burnt up. The
straw or haulm is sometimes given in a dry state to
cattle, but is not then so useful as when green.

.Buck-wheat is also sometimes sown in order that
the plants may be ploughed into the ground, and
serve as manure in the process of bringing lands into
proper order for other crops. The time most proper
for this ploughing is when the blossoms are full upon
the plants, as they are then in their most succulent
state. The land is then left at rest for some months,
during which time the vegetable matter of the buck-
wheat becomes fermented and decomposed. The
variety known as Tartarian buck-wheat — Pohjgonum
talaricum, — being of more luxuriant growth than
the common sort, fagopyrum, has been preferably
recommended for this object.

JBirds are exceedingly fond of the seeds, and one
of the principal uses made of them in this country is
to feed pheasants during the winter, in spots set apart

124 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

for the preservation of that species of game. With
this object, the grain is sometimes sown in these
preserves, and left standing to afford both cover and
food to the birds ; at other times, the straw is taken
unthreshed, and left in heaps at intervals throughout
the places where the birds resort. Such an abun-
dance of their favourite food will not only prevent
pheasants from rambling, but frequently allures others
from spots where an equally comfortable provision is
not made.

Horses are fond of the seeds, which are some-
times given to them in conjunction with oats ; it is
proper, however, in such case, to subject the buck-
wheat to the previous operation of crushing. Pigs
are often fattened upon buck- wheat, and it is said that
if this food be given to them in great quantity at first,
it will occasion the animals to exhibit symptoms of
intoxication, so that they run squeaking and tumbling
about in a grotesque manner. As they become
habituated to the use of the grain, such an effect
ceases. It is necessary to crush the seeds for this
purpose also.

Buck-wheat is sometimes used by distillers, it being
capable of yielding a considerable quantity of good
spirit. This use is made of it to a great extent at
Dantzig, where an extensive 'manufacture of cordial
waters is continually carried on.

The poor of some countries mix the meal of buck-
wheat with a small proportion of wheat-flour, and
make a kind of bread of the compound, which is
black and bitter, and deficient in a due degree of
nourishment. In Brabant it is not unusual for per-
sons who derive a profit'from keeping bees to sow
this grain near to their dwellings, they being of
opinion that no plant is equal to it for affording to
those insects a proper supply of materials whence their
sweet store is elaborated.

CHAPTER VI.

The Potato — Solanum tvbcrosum.

POTATOES now form so valuable an article of food
in many countries, as to be classed almost among the
necessaries of life, and to be ranked next in importance
to the cerealia.

The common and very general culture of the
potato in this kingdom at the present day renders it
difficult of belief, that so comparatively short a period
should have elapsed since its introduction, and that
the time when this vegetable was served up in small
quantities as a rarity should be in the present recol-
lection of aged persons.

There is strong evidence for believing that this
plant was first introduced into England by the colo-
nists adventuring • to North America under the
auspices of Sir Walter Raleigh, who had obtained a
patent in 1584 from Queen Elizabeth ' for dis-
covering and planting new countries not possessed
by Christians.' Thomas Heriot, afterwards known
as a mathematician, was among these voluntary
exiles ; who, however, all returned within two years
after they had first gone forth for the purpose of
founding a colony. These voyagers most probably
brought home the potato, since in Heriot's report
of the country, which is printed in De Bry's col-
lection of Voyages, he describes (vol. i, p. 17),
under the article Roots, a plant called openaivk,
which there is little doubt is identical with the
potato. ' The roots of this plant,' says he, ' are
VOL. xv. 11*

126 [VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

round, some as large as a walnut, others much
larger — they grow in damp soils, many hanging
together as if fixed on ropes. They are good food
either boiled or roasted.' The introduction of this
plant into Ireland by Sir Walter Raleigh, on his
return from Virginia, is indeed well authenticated by
corroborative testimony. In the manuscript minutes
of the Royal Society we find that Sir R. Southwell
distinctly stated to the fellows, that his grandfather
was the first who cultivated the potato in Ireland,
and that for this valuable root he was indebted to Sir
Walter Raleigh.'; Among the anecdotes told of this
enterprising voyager, it is said that when his gardener
at Youghall, in the county of Cork, had reared to
the full maturity of ' apples' the potatoes which he
had received from the knight, as a fine fruit from
America, the man brought to his master one of the
apples and asked if that were the fine fruit. Sir
Walter having examined it, was, or feigned to be, so
dissatisfied, that he ordered the ' weed ' to be rooted
out. The gardener obeyed, and in rooting out the
weeds found a bushel of potatoes.

In contradiction to the above account, Dr Camp-
bell, in his Political Survey, states that this plant was
not introduced into Ireland until the year 1610; while
some writers affirm that the people of that country
were in possession of the potato at a period prior to
the one just assigned. One supposition is, that this
root was brought from Santa Fe into Ireland in the
year 1565 ; and another, that it is of so very ancient
a date in that island as to make it equally probable
that it is a native vegetable of the country. It is
found, however, that the plant carried to Ireland by
Captain Hawkins, in 1565, was the Spanish batata,
or sweet potato. The claim to its greater antiquity
in that country was made by Sir Lucius O'Brien,

THE POTATO. .127

who stated to Mr Arthur Young that the venerable
Bede mentioned this plant as being in Ireland about
the year 700. Sir Lucius did not, however, point
out the passage containing any proof of his assertion ;
and the potato, largely as it is cultivated in that
country, has not yet made out its title to a place in
;the indigenous flora of Ireland.

Gerarde mentions in his Herbal, published 1597,
"that he cultivated this plant in his garden, where it
succeeded as well as in its native country. He
gives a drawing, which he distinguishes by the name
of Virginian potato, having, as he states, received
the roots from Virginia, otherwise called JVozetn-
bega. It was, however, considered by him as a
rarity, for he recommends that the root should be
eaten as a delicate dish, and not as common food.

From the authority of more than one writer, it
would appear that the potato was brought into
southern Europe through a different channel, and
at an earlier period than the introduction of the root
from Virginia into this country. Clusius relates
that he obtained this root at Vienna in 1598, from
the governor of Mons in Hainault, who had pro-
cured it in the preceding year from Italy, where, in
common with the truffle, it had received the name of
taratouffli. Peter Cieca, in his Chronicle, printed
in 1553, chap, xl, p. 49, relates that the inhabitants
of Quito and its vicinity, besides producing maize,
cultivated a tuberous root which was used as food
under the name of papas : this, it is affirmed, is
the same plant which had been transplanted to the
south of Europe, and which Clusius received from
Hainault.

Humboldt rather doubts if sufficient proof can be
produced of this root having been indigenous to
South America. Upon the interesting subject of

128 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

the native country of the potato, we gladly quote the
following account by Mr Cruickshanks :*

' Mr Lambert, in the tenth volume of Brande's
Journal, and in the appendix to his splendid work
on the genus Pinus, has collected many valuable
facts which prove that the potato is found wild in
several parts of America, and among others in Chili
and Peru. Don Jose Pavon, in a letter to Mr Lam-
bert, says, " The Solanum tuberosum grows wild in
the environs of Lima, and fourteen leagues from
Lima on the coast ; and I myself have found it in
the kingdom of Chili," — and Mr Lambert adds, f( I
have lately received from Mr Pavon very fine wild
specimens of Solanum tvberonun, collected by him-
self in Peru." There is also a note from Mr Lam-
bert on the same subject, in the third volume of the
New Edin. Phil. Journ., with an extract from a
letter of Mr Caldcleugh, who sent tubers of the wild
plant> some years ago, from Chili to the Horticul-
tural Society. But it is frequently objected, that in
some of those countries where the potato is found
wild, it may, like many other species met with in
that state in America, be an introduced, not an indi-
genous plant. There are, however many reasons
for believing that it is really indigenous in Chili, and
that wild specimens found there have not been acci-
dentally propagated from any cultivated variety. In
that country it is generally found in steep, rocky
places, where it could never have been cultivated,
and where its accidental introduction is almost im-
possible. It is very common about Valparaiso, and
I have noticed it along the coast for fifteen leagues
to the northward of that port ; how much farther

* Originally published in Dr Hooker's ' Botanical Miscella-
ny,' and quoted in the ' Journal of the Royal Institution,' for
December, 1831.

THE POTATO. 129

it may extend north or south; I know not. It chiefly
inhabits the cliffs and hills near the sea, and I do not
recollect to have seen it at more than two or three
leagues from the coast. But there is one peculiarity
in the wild plant that I have never seen noticed in
print, that its flowers are always pure while, free
from the purple tint so common in the cultivated
varieties; and this, I think, is a strong evidence of its
native origin. Another proof may be drawn from
the fact, that while it is often met with in mountain-
ous places, remote from cultivated ground, it is not
seen in the immediate neighbourhood of the fields
and gardens where it is planted, unless a stream of
water run through the ground, which may carry
tubers to uncultivated spots. Having observed the
distribution of this and other plants through the
agency of the streams employed for irrigating the
land, I am led to think, that the wild specimens
found near lama may have had similar origin. If
they occurred in the valley, this is more than pro-
bable, as almost the whole of the land is either culti-
vated by irrigation, or the uncultivated spots are
overflowed when the river is swelled by the rains in
the interior. Upon the whole, it may be safely con-
cluded that this important vegetable is really indige-
nous to Chili ; but with respect to Peru, some
further evidence appears necessary to remove all
doubt on the subject. The question can only be
decided by ascertaining the exact situations in which
the plants present themselves at Lima and Chancay,
especially with respect to land that is or has been
cultivated. It would be interesting, too, to know
the colour of the flowers.'

Though now so extensively used, the value of this
root as an esculent was not perfectly appreciated for
a great length of time in this country, during which
period it was indeed only cultivated in gardens, and

130 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

that as a curious exotic. The potato was considered
as a great delicacy in the reign of James the First.
At that period, though it formed one of the articles
provided for the household of the Queen, the quantity
used was extremely small and exorbitantly dear, being
at the price of two shillings per pound.* This escu-
lent remained equally scarce throughout the turbu-
lent times of the succeeding reign, and during the
Commonwealth. Its cultivation very gradually
spread in different parts of Ireland, and also into
Lancashire, but not till nearly a hundred years
after the discovery of Virginia by Raleigh. Mr
Buckland, of Somersetshire, in the year 1663, drew
the attention of the Royal Society to its value,
earnestly recommending the general cultivation of
the potato throughout the kingdom to guard
against a famine. This appeal was not made in
vain. A committee was appointed to inquire into its
merits, and all those Fellows of the Society who
had lands adapted for the growth of the potato,
were entreated to plant them with that vegetable ; —
while Mr Evelyn was requested to notice the sub-
ject at the close of his ' Sylva.' This celebrated
man appears, however, not to have been aware of the
importance of the potato as an article of food, for he
did not mention it until more than thirty years after
that period, and then in rather slighting terms. In
his ' Kalendarium Plantarum,' the first gardener's
calendar published in Britain, he thus writes: — ' Plant
potatoes ia your worst ground. Take them up in
November for winter spending, there will enough
remain for a stock, though ever so exactly gathered.'
In another of his works, — ' Acetarius,' he remarks
that the small green fruit or apples of the potato
make an excellent salad. This assertion has not,
however, been verified by experience.

* Eden on the State of the Poor.

THE POTATO. 131

The zeal of the Royal Society to promote the
growth of this vegetable failed for a long time to
exercise much influence upon the habits of the na-
tion; and, if we may judge from the opinions which
were published respecting the plant, we must con-
clude that the necessities of the poor of Ireland,
who have ever been left too entirely to their own
resources, did more to promote the culture of po-
tatoes than all the labours of the learned, and the
philanthropy of the patriotic. At the end of the
seventeenth century one wr-iter on gardening, indeed,
admits that ' potatoes are much used in Ireland and
America as bread, and may be propagated with
advantage to poor people.' W'oolridge, who wrote
in 1687, twenty-four years after the appeal of Mr
Buckland, describes potatoes as being very useful
in ' forcing fruits,' stating that they are planted in
several places in this country to good advantage ;
he adds, ' I do not hear that it has been yet essayed
whether they may not be propagated in great quan-
tities for the use of swine and other cattle. The cel-
ebrated Ray, who began to publish his ' Historia
Plantarum' in 1686, takes no farther notice of this
vegetable than by saying that it is dressed in the same
manner as Spanish batatas. Merritt, who, wrote in
the following year, records that potatoes were then
cultivated in many fields in Wales, but in what part
of the principality he does not mention.

On the other hand, Lisle, who made observations
on husbandry from the year 1694 to 1722, is wholly
silent about the potato. In Mortimer's Gardener's
Kalendar for 1708, this plant is directed to be sown
in February; and, as if its character had not been
generally known, it is added — that ' the root is very
near the nature of the Jerusalem artichoke, although
not so good and wholesome, but that it may prove
good for swine.' In the Complete Gardener, by the

132 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

eminent nurserymen, Loudon and Wise, the seventh
edition of which was published in 1719, no mention
is made of this root; and Bradley, who wrote about
the same time, and whose very extensive works on
horticultural subjects treated expressly on new im-
provements in the art, notices it as if by compulsion.
' They (potatoes) are,' says he, l of less note than
horse-raddish, radish, scorzonera, beets, and skirret ;
but as they are not without their admirers, I will not
pass them by in silence.'

These facts and extracts are curious, as they serve
to show that this most valuable article of food was
not brought into general use by the skill and labour
of professional men, but in defiance of their pre-
judices, and the bad methods of culture which they
promulgated. There can indeed be little doubt
that the imperfect modes of both cultivating and
preparing the potato as an esculent were in a great
measure the causes which prevented its more speedy
adoption as a wholesome and substantive article of
food ; while this very ignorance of its nature and
management produced the low estimation in which
it was held by writers about the beginning of the
eighteenth century.

To those who know anything practically of the
cultivation of this plant, it must be evident how
much the early sowing, the late taking up, and the
leaving in the ground during winter of the roots
intended tor propagation, tended to deteriorate the
quality of the potatoes. These circumstances, to-
gether with the little culinary skill exercised in its
preparation, caused it to appear under no very
tempting form. A person who had been invited to
taste the first potatoes which were planted in the
county of Forfar, in or about the year 1730, related
that the roots had been merely heated, and that they
adhered to the teeth like glue, while their flavour

THE POTATO. 133

was far from agreeable. The food was about to be
condemned through the ignorance of the cook, when
the accidental arrival of a gentleman who had
tasted a potato in Lancashire, caused the rejected
roots to be remanded back to the hot turf ashes,
till they became as dainty as they had before been
nauseous.

We have no records of the early practice and pro-
gress of potato-husbandry in Ireland. The more
tardy progress and the less favourable results, attend-
ant on this culture in England, might induce a
belief that it had been better conducted in the former
country; though no doubt the more genial climate
of Ireland, its humidity, and the absence of those
chilling winds from the east, which are so often fatal
to the tender spring crops of England, gave to it a
natural advantage, and might perhaps sufficiently ac-
count for the superiority of this branch of husbandry
in Ireland over England.

The early practice in this country of planting po-
tatoes in February was, in itself, an effectual bar
to their goodness as field culture, since the young
plants betray their origin to have been from a
warmer climate, by their inability to bear the
slightest degree of frost with impunity; so that if they
put forth their tender heads to the nipping frosts of
spring, a great part of the crop is certain to fall a
sacrifice. The better quality of the potato grown in
Ireland, and its excellence as a substantive article
of food among a population sunk to the lowest state
of poverty, caused it to be brought into general use
in that country, finding its way even to the tables of
the rich, at a period when it was scarcely known in
the sister island.

The introduction of this plant into Scotland was
probably earlier than into any part of England, with
the exception, perhaps, of Lancashire. The people

VOL. xv. 12

134

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

living in that county were then distinguished by a
marked difference of habits, manners, and character,
from their neighbours. A remnant of these pecu-
liarities is even still to be found, notwithstanding the
singularities of the inhabitants, and local circum-
stances, combined to render this a favourable situation
for the introduction and improvement of the potato.

The land in Lancashire is rather poor, and the
climate rainy, so that wheat, with even the present
improved system of husbandry, cannot be raised
to very great advantage. Oats were consequently
there, as in Ireland and the Lowlands of Scotland,
the staple production. The Mechanics, who worked
chiefly in iron and brass, were all cottagers, who
followed their respective employments in the winter,
and raised food for themselves upon their little
patches of land in the summer. The population of
Lancashire then bore a great resemblance to the
cotters of Ireland. They were, however, more in-
genious in handicraft works, and still more resem-
bled the manufacturing peasantry in the centre and
south of Scotland, who grow the whole or the
greater part of their food upon their cottage lands.
Even the education of their children was formerly
often obtained out of the produce of their little field;
the school-master went ' thigging,' that is, collecting
a portion of produce from every cottager, in propor-
tion to the wealth of the individual, and to the
number of pupils he might have contributed to the
school-room. The poor likewise were relieved by
a voluntary contribution of produce, and it is pro-
bable that this system worked as well as that of
a compulsory rate. Even in the smaller burghs of
Scotland, and in the villages where the lands are held
on feu or perpetual lease, the same system was, and
in many places still is, followed. The portioners,
as they are called, are allowed a house in the village,

THE POTATO. 135

and land for their subsistence, in the surrounding
fields.

In such a state of the peasantry the cultivation of
the potato would offer peculiar advantages, as no
other substantive article of food could be raised by
the inexperienced rustic in equal quantities, with so
little risk and trouble, and without any but his own
and his family's labour being required for its culture
and after-preparation. Accordingly, when once this
plant was introduced into cottage cultivation in
Scotland, its importance was quickly recognized.

It is understood, however, that this valuable root
was not, until the year 1728, made the object of
useful culture among the Scotch, and they were
then indebted to a cottager for first attempting its
culture. This man's name was Thomas Prentice ;
he was a day-labourer living near Kilsyth, in Stir-
lingshire, and drawing his subsistence partly* from
the produce of his little plot of ground. This crop
proved extremely valuable, and was almost instantly
in demand for propagating other crops, first among
the cottagers, and then among the farmers. Pren-
tice continued to cultivate this root very carefully,
and to supply his neighbours with the produce of
his crop. He was, moreover, frugal and industri-
ous, so that in a few years he found himself in pos-
session of two hundred pounds, no small fortune at
that time and in that place. When he had ' made
his fortune,' he sank his capital in an annuity, at a
good interest, upon which he lived independently to
an old age. The last years of his life were spent in
Edinburgh, where he died in the year 1792, at the
advanced age of eighty -six, having thus been, for
sixty-four years, a witness to the happy effects of the
blessing which he had been instrumental in conferring
on his country.

136 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

But notwithstanding the success that attended
the culture of the potato among the cottagers, its
progress among the higher classes in Scotland was
retarded by the opinions of the writers formerly al-
luded to ; while, what is not a little singular, a mis-
taken zeal in religious matters made some of the
Scotch folks hostile to the innovation. ' Potatoes,'
said they, ' are not mentioned in the bihle,' and thus
the same anathema was pronounced against them as
against the ' spinning-wheel,' and the ' corn farmers.'

The name of this plant was indeed inserted in the
' Hortus Medicus Edinburgensis,' published by
Sutherland in 1683. It is therefore probable that
the potato had been introduced as a curiosity into
some of the gardens about Edinburgh some time
before it was brought into full culture by Prentice.
But if its management was the same as that recom-
mended by so great an authority as Evelyn, the
produce was, most probably, of little value.

The year 1742, which was long remembered in
Scotland as ' the dear year,' gave an impulse to
the cultivation of the potato. Old people who
were still living at the beginning of the present cen-
tury, represented the state of things in the summer
of 1743 as being dreadful. Many of the destitute
wandered in the fields seeking to prolong the misery
of existence by devouring the leaves of pease and
beans, of sorrel and other wild plants, while not a few
perished from absolute want, and still more were car-
ried off by those diseases which always follow and
aggravate the devastations of famine. This state of
distress naturally called the general attention to the
cultivation of the potato, and indeed to the whole
agriculture of the country. So that, during the
latter half of the eighteenth century, the practice and
science of husbandry made much more rapid progress

THE POTATO. 137

in Scotland than in England. Previously to this
general scarcity in 1743, some potatoes which were
growing in the county of Roxburgh were so uncom-
mon as to have been considered objects of curiosity.
But the state of things soon altered, and immediately
after ' the dear year ' the farmers of Lothian began
to make this a branch of field husbandry.

In England, with the exception of Lancashire, the
progress of the cultivation of the potato continued at
an extremely slow pace. It was known in Yorkshire
only as garden produce down to 1760 ; and in Som-
ersetshire it was rare indeed to meet with a whole
acre under this culture so late as 1770.

So little attention had been bestowed on this sub-
ject even by the most intelligent land-owners, that
Miller, in the quarto edition of his Gardener's Dic-
•tionary, published in 1771, names only two varieties,
and founds the distinction of these not upon quality,
or time of coming to maturity, but on the trifling
accident of a red and of a white colour, which is
found to be productive of no other difference. At
present, however, the varieties are so numerous, with-
out any reference to colour, that it would be equally
vain to attempt their description within any limited
compass, as it is unnecessary to point out their uses
or enumerate their properties.

Not many years atter the appearance of Miller's
valuable work, the potato began to form an important
article of English husbandry ; and in the year 1796
it was found that in the county of Essex alone seven-
teen hundred acres were planted with this root for
the supply of the London market.*

The culture of the potato is now so extensive in
this country, that an abundant supply can be ob-
tained in all places throughout the year, and such
have been the improvements in the culture, and the

* London's Encyc. of Gardening.
VOL. xv. 12*

138 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

varieties to which these improvements have led, that
a succession is furnished fresh out of the earth for
nearly six months in the year. The early sorts have
been the reward of horticultural skill now so success-
fully exerted in this country ; under the shelter of
frames, with careful management, the tender young
plants are made to struggle through ungenial weather,
and to produce tubers at the earliest approach of
summer.

The culture of the potato in the rest of Europe
appears to have attained to no great extent until
during the last century. In the latter half of this
period it was made in more than one country a sub-
ject of interest and inquiry. Several works published
about that time, treating on its culture, are to be found
in both the French and German languages. From
one of these* we learn that the potato was introduced
from England into the Netherlands ; and was thence
transplanted into some parts of Germany. It was
first cultivated in Sweden in J 720, but, notwithstand-
ing the exertions and recommendations of Linnaeus,
it did not come into general cultivation until 1764,
when a royal edict was published ibr the encourage-
ment of this branch of husbandry.

The potato was still unknown to the agriculturists
of Saxony so late as 1740 ; but so rapidly did its
culture increase, that less than thirty years after the
above date, a small detachment of the French army,
while in that country, having its supplies wholly cut
ofF, the soldiers subsisted for eight or ten days entirely
on potatoes obtained 'from the fields ; nor was this
manner of living considered among them as by any
means a hardship.

The Swiss discovered the value of this cultivation
about the same period in which it was introduced

* Trait i de la Nature de la Culture et de 1'Utilite des Pom-
mes de Terre, par Un Ami des Hommes, 1771.

THE POTATO. 139

into Sweden, and in a few years they not only grew
potatoes among their mountains in abundance,
but 'had likewise learnt the art of drying them,
grinding them into flour, and making them into
bread. A traveller in 1730 relates that the miller
of Untersen had scarcely anything to grind but po-
tatoes ; and in 1734 a peasant was so well aware of
the profit arising from this culture, that he bought a
small field situated near the Swiss mountains, and
in only two years after paid the purchase-money by
the produce of his potato crops.*

It is said by another writer,"!" about the same
period (1770), that during the twenty-five or thirty
years preceding, the culture of this root in some parts
of Switzerland had so much increased, that it con-
stituted the food of two-thirds of the people. In the
present day it still forms a principal article of food
among the peasantry of that country.

It likewise makes a very prominent figure in the
husbandry of Poland, where it is cultivated to an ex-
traordinary extent. In 1827 as much as 4,288,185
korzecsj of potatoes were produced in that country,
while 4,439,399 korzecs of rye were reaped, 3, 183,023
of oats, 4,506,062 of barley, and 751,076 of wheat.§

The cultivation of the potato has been of late
years introduced into some parts of India with every
prospect of success. In Bengal, especially, it has
been attended with the most satisfactory results.
Bishop Heber, in his interesting Journal, notices in
several places the progress of this culture, the crops
becoming by degrees more and more extended.
These roots were at first very unpopular, but they
have gradually gained favour, and are now spoken

* Traits de la Nature, &c.

t Dictionnaire de Bomare, Art. Pommes de Terre.

j One korzec is nearly equal to two hundred weight.

§ Foreign Quarterly Review, No. xiv, p. 531.

140 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

of as being the best gift which the natives ever re-
ceived from their European masters. They are, we
are told, held in much esteem, ' particularly by the
Mussulmans, who find them very useful as absorb-
ents in their greasy messes.'* The following ob-
servations are gathered from the same volumes. In
the neighbourhood of Patna many descriptions of
European vegetables are brought to market in abun-
dance ; they are, however, reared for the consump-
tion of the European inhabitants alone, the natives
rejecting all but the potato, which, though known
only since the last few years, may perhaps soon take
its rank with rice and plantains, as a substantive
article of food with the frugal Hindu. It is already
largely cultivated in that district, but can never be-
come an exclusive crop, inasmuch as those humid
stiff soils which are peculiarly favourable to the
growth of rice, are wholly unsuited to the potato,
the cultivation of which must therefore be confined
to those sandy and drier soils, which are inimical to
the culture of the rice plant. In such situations this
vegetable of English production may be raised with
unmixed utility, while the resource of so important
a supplementary crop may, in seasons of the failure
of the rice harvest, avert the evils of famine, and
diminish, in one strong point of view, the resemblance
between the Indian and Irish peasantry — their re-
liance on a single article of food. The almost infinite
division and subdivision of their farms is in India,
as in Ireland, a fertile source of poverty and wretch-
edness.

The observations of another intelligent writerf on
the same subject likewise tend to show the advan-
tages which may result from this cultivation in Hin-
dostan. He remarks that a dry season is preju-

* Heber's Journey, vol. i, p. 13.
t Tennant'a Indian Researches,

THE POTATO. 141

dicial to the rice crop, while it is favourable, or
rather not so hurtful, to that of the potato, and
' therefore nature points out the one crop as a
substitute when the other fails.' It is certainly a
fortunate circumstance that the superstition by which
the Hindu is enshived does not shut up every
avenue to innovation and improvement. No reli-
gious prejudice forbids the culture of this vegetable,
and therefore the natives evince a readiness to
adopt it in all situations where it can be as easily
obtained as other food.* The soil of Bengal, and
the long continuance of dry weather, may, perhaps,
be obstacles sufficient to prevent this root from be-
coming the principal nourishment of the lower
orders ; but it is supposed that if it could be raised
cheaper than rice, the potato would be generally pre-
ferred by Hindus. At present it is almost universally
served up at European tables in Bengal in the
same manner as in England ; and though the crop
is less abundant, and the roots are smaller in size,
they are scarcely inferior in quality to those of this
country.

Wherever the Englishman seeks a home, he al-
ways strives to naturalize this root, which was so
long struggling into notice in his own country.
Now amid all the luxuriant and delicious vege-
tation of tropical climes, he still retains his pre-
ference for that simple vegetable, which he considers
almost a necessary of life. At Ceylon all his at-
tempts to cultivate this plant have been nearly vain,

* The Southern Africans in this respect prove themselves
more obstinately adverse to innovation than the Hindu. ' The
Matchappees, though very fond of potatoes, have never been
prevailed, upon to plant any, because they resemble nothing
which has been handed down to them from their forefathers,
to whose manners and customs they seem as strongly attach-
ed as the Hindu or the Mussulman.' — -Campbell's Travels in
South Africa, vol. i, p. 101.

142 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

as it will not thrive in that island at any place except
at Candy, a town almost seventy miles in the in-
terior, and the only spot in the country where Eu-
ropean vegetables come to any degree of perfection.
A basket of these roots is sent every morning thence
for the supply of the governor's table, as all the in-
digenous vegetables are considered an inferior sub-
stitute for this necessary auxiliary to the English-
man's more substantial fare.*

It would be superfluous to give any but a slight
description of a plant so welt known, as annually
forming new subterranean tubers, and rising with
weak, slender, and branching stems, from two to
three feet in height. The leaves are composed of
leaflets of unequal size, the flowers are white or of a
purple tinge, producing large berries, which are green
at first, but which change nearly to black when at
maturity, and contain numerous small white seeds.
The supposed root consists of many tubers connected
to the base of the stems by cords or fibres, and
having minute branchy rootlets which issue from
different parts of each tuber, and which serve to con-
vey nourishment to the plant. The several points
whence these are produced are usually called the eyes
of the potato, and each of them contains the germ of
a future plant.

The uplands and the lighter soils are found to
be much better adapted than rich and strong lands
to the cultivation of the potato. This root has one
great advantage over all grain and leguminous crops,
in being perfectly secure against the late rains,
which often completely destroy the hopes of the
farmer. Rains which have no bad effects upon the
potato, injure the bloom upon the cerealia, or cause
them and the legumes to run so much to straw as

* Heber's Journey, vol. iii.

THE POTATO. 143

not only to be less productive of seed, but actually
to lodge and rot. The quality of the roots is no
doubt a little deteriorated by excess of moisture, but
when they are sufficiently matured, rain has little or
no injurious influence over them.

This plant seems alone to have been wanted to
make the agriculture of the British Isles complete.
Upon the western side, and among the mountains,
a grain crop is always precarious, and seldom or
never good. Scanty and bad as it is, its culture is
also expensive, as, after it has been reaped, it can-
not be left in the field to dry, but must be taken wet
into barns constructed of wicker -work, for the pur-
pose of obtaining a current of air, and there sus-
pended upon ropes. . Such a process is not merely
tedious and costly, but absolutely incompatible with
the culture of any considerable quantity of grain.

A new soil produces better potatoes than worked
land in the highest condition ; and ground which is
light and spongy, provided that it has the advantage
of plenty of moisture, which does not stagnate, is
better than the strongest lands. The reasons are
obvious — the tubers will form with the greater ease
according as the resistance is less which the ground
offers to their expansion, while so large a quantity
of vegetable matter elaborated in so brief a space
demands no little supply of humidity. Now the
little patches among mountains are composed of
the very best soil for this purpose, being generally
a mixture of sand and vegetable matter. Such a
soil is readily penetrated throughout by every shower,
and ye( the water does not stagnate ; as a moun-
tainous country near the sea is, in high latitudes,
always one in which there are frequent showers, the
watering of these mountain patches is precisely that
which is most beneficial, and therefore it would be
difficult to imagine a soil and climate better fitted

144 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

for the growth- or for producing excellence in the
quality of these tuberous roots.

When cultivated in tenacious argillaceous soils, if
the summer be dry, the swelling of the tubers is pre-
vented by the mechanical pressure of the earth ; and
on the other hand, such soils, if kept constantly in a
state of moisture, produce immature tubers, which
are sodden, waxy, and otherwise of bad quality.
But in ground which to all appearance is little else
than loose sand, if there be humidity enough, pota-
toes will grow and be of excellent quality, and, even
should there be any failure in the sufficiency of
moisture, the quality of roots yielded by the first
planting will be good, but they will be small, and
too hard for propagating. In the mountain dis-
tricts of Scotland the frequent rains in all seasons
are of so constant recurrence, that a whole week of
dry weather is considered worthy of record. This
circumstance, so unfavourable to the maturity of
other crops, operating in union with the peculiar
nature of the soil, causes the situation to be well
adapted to this cultivation : while there are still
other advantages on the west coast of the Scottish
Highlands, and which apply in a great measure to
Ireland. In the first place there is very little frost —
never any except in high and comparatively inland
places — until the potatoes are come to their proper
growth. Again, spade husbandry is best adapted
for potatoes, and it is also the best for those places,
where the acclivities are generally too abrupt, and the
spots of land really worth culture too small to admit
of the use of the plough with any advantage. Per-
sons who are acquainted with only flat countries,
where there is little inequality of soil in a field, and
no absolute sterility in a parish, but that which is
consequent on neglect, can form but an imperfect
idea of the variations witnessed in a little portion of

THE POTATO. 145

mountain land. In a section of thirty yards there
may be ten yards of useless gravel in which moisture
can find no resting-place till it be fathoms deep in
the ground, ten where there is not above three
inches of soil on the bare rock, and ten of soil of the
very best quality. The first and second portions
would not of course produce a crop of any descrip-
tion, and yet in the use of the plough it would be
necessary to pass over them, or to lose about the
same time in turning ; so that the expense of plough-
ing such a piece of land would be triple that of
ploughing the same extent of a champaign country.
On the other hand, when the spade is employed, the
culture of the fertile spots is not more expensive than
if they were continuous, and situated on the flattest
surface in the island ; while the nature of the soil
renders the labour of turning it and taking up the
crop comparatively easy.

Thus the potato has this great and peculiar ad-
vantage over all other substantive esculent vegetables,
that it can be not only cultivated in places where no
others can be profitably grown, but that it can be
cultivated there at small expense ; while it is less
subject to disease, and more secure against dege-
nerating in those situations than on richer lands.
Consequently, in a soil so diversified as that of Bri-
tain, and where the communication between any two
places is so easy, an almost unlimited supply of
potatoes may be grown without any diminution of
the breadth of profitable crop of the cerealia, the
legumes, or indeed of any other useful plant ; while
this crop is recommended as causing an amelioration
rather than an exhaustion of the soil.

The most usual and profitable manner of propa
gating this vegetable is by putting into the ground the
tubers, either whole or divided into as many parts
or sets as they contain eyes. The quality of soil best

VOL. xv. 13

146 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

adapted for this culture has already been sufficiently
indicated. The sets are planted in lines from twenty to
twenty-four inches apart, either in drills or by the dib-
ble, at intervals of from twelve to fifteen inches. The
proper season for planting the main crop is from the
middle to the end of March, and a peck of seed po-
tatoes is usually required to plant a bed of twelve
feet by thirty-two. In field culture eighteen bushels
are planted in one acre. The young plants are kept
free from weeds, and when they are about half a
foot or a foot high, some earth is drawn around the
lower part of the stern ; little or no farther care is
required till the taking up of the crop. The plants
are suffered to remain until the roots attain to their
full growth. This state is indicated by the stalks
beginning to decay, which usually takes place at the
commencement or latter end of October, when the
roots should be dug up for the winter store. Some
careful cultivators pinch off the blossoms as they ap-
pear on the plant : the good effects of this practice
have been very often proved, it being supposed that
the weight of the tubers of each plant is increased an
ounce in consequence, or considerably above a ton
per acre.* The cause of this result has been thus
explained ; — the fluid or sap gives sustenance alike to
the tuber and blossom, and therefore, if a portion be
diverted from the formation of the blossom, it will
be exerted for the enlargement of the root.

This plant may be propagated also from cuttings
or layers of the green shoots, and from seeds. The
first is not at all advantageous for any culture, ex-
cept in some instances, when it is required to mul-
tiply as quickly as possible a rare sort.

The tubers obtained from seeds are at first very
few and very small, and therefore seed cultivation
is by no means advisable to ' the grower ' of po-

* Hort. Trans, vol. i.

THE POTATO. 147

tatoes ; but it is of great service to c the breeder,'
who seeks to improve its quality. No vegetable is
more yielding to the hand of the cultivator than
this plant. Raising it from seed enables him to
obtain varieties without end, and attention to the
qualities of those between which the crossings take
place, admits of obtaining any particular quality that
may be wanted.

On the other hand, by cultivation from the tubers
a good variety may be extended and preserved after
it has been once obtained ; as the plant from the
tuber is not a new plant, like that which is procured
by the operations of flowering and seeding, but an
identical part of the old one. Though the planting
tubers will not lead to any new variety, it may have
effects every way as advantageous ; for no plant
profits more by changes from one district to another.

Besides improvement in quality which a judi-
cious change produces, it likewise often prevents the
most destructive disease to which the potato is
liable. That disease is known by the technical
name of the curl or the curl-top, a name by no means
inexpressive of the appearance of the plant, when
under its influence. The top leaves begin to shrink
just about the time that the tubers should form, the
young shoots cease to expand, and the whole plant
assumes very much the appearance of the tip of a
cherry twig, when the under leaves are assailed by
aphides. From the moment in which this disease
appears, all farther growth in the plant ceases, and
though it may linger in a yellow and sickly state
until autumn, the produce, if any, is little, and that
little is of a bad quality. If, as soon as the disease
shows itself, the tuber which has been planted be
taken up, it will be found much firmer and less ex-
hausted than those of the plants of the same age
that are in a healthy state. This at the same time
points out the cause of the disease, and suggests

148 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

its remedy. The old tuber has been too compact
for yielding to the vegetative powers of the plant.

The curl first made its appearance in this country
in the year 1764, in Lancashire, r where potatoes
had been first introduced into British field culture,
and had been propagated without any change of seed.
From Lancashire this disease spread over all the
potato districts of Britain, and as the cause and
cure were equally unknown, there was a general ap-
prehension that the plant would be exterminated.
Premiums were offered by different agricultural so-
cieties to those who should point out a remedy for
a disease so destructive ; in consequence of which
many speculations and theories were raised, which,
however, led to very little practical utility.

The discovery of at least a temporary preventive,
and therefore of the probable cause, was made, as
is believed, more from accident than design, in the
neighbourhood of Edinburgh. Some of the growers
in that situation were in the habit of procuring seed
potatoes from the cold moorland districts, and fields
planted with these were free from the curl. Upon
inquiry it was found that in those bleak and humid
situations, the potato crop was so late that the
frost came on and blackened the leaves, while they
and the stems were still green, and the tubers of
course not ripe. The change of climate was there-
fore not the sole cause of prevention, if indeed it
was the cause at all, for when the full ripened
potatoes were planted in the moors, the curl ap-
peared in them, in situations where there was none
in the native potatoes.

It was thus found that the curl could be prevented
by using tubers that were not quite ripe.

A writer in the Gardener's Magazine for May
1827, thus ingeniously accounts for this fact : — ' The
potato tuber is a perfect organized system, in which
the circulation regularly proceeds, and if suffered

THE POTATO. 149

to ripen will then tend to decay ; but if separated
before ripe from the stem or stalk which furnishes
it with blood or fruit-sap, descending from the
leaves, the circulation of the blood-sap is suddenly
arrested. The ripe potato, having performed all
its operations, becomes more inert ; but the circu-
lation of the sap in the unripe tuber having been
stopped, it starts more readily, and with greater
vigour, when planted ; the one appears to die, worn
out with age, the other seems accidentally to have
fallen asleep, and when awakened, possesses an un-
spent vigour and energy.' — p. 317.

That over-ripeness is the principal cause of the
disease, has been found by experience to be so much
the case, that out of the same potato it is possible
to make some sets that will, and others that will
not, produce the curl. The portion of the tuber
that is nearest to the cord by which it is fastened
to the plant, ripens first, as any one may observe,
especially in an elongated potato, where the root
end is often so mealy as to fall to powder, when
the top 'or thick end is soft and waxy. If such
a potato be taken when only the small end is ripe
enough to boil mealy, the eyes upon another of the
same parcel that are upon the waxy part, will all
produce sound plants, while curl may appear in
those which are taken from the mealy end. The soil
and mode of culture may have likewise some effect
in producing this evil. Experience has shown that
high culture and stimulating manure tend more to
produce curl than poorer treatment, — that this dis-
ease is less frequent in new lands than in those
which have been long in culture, — and that it seldom
appears in cold and upland places.

The economy of this article of food, as compared
with wheat, is seldom questioned, although doubts
have been raised even as to its comparative cheap-

VOL. xv. 13*

150 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

ness with wheaten bread. The following statement,
from Mr Jacob's Corn Tracts, contains, as it ap-
pears to us, all the facts that can be depended upon
for forming an opinion on this question : —

' If an acre of land, with the same degree of
labour bestowed upon it, and the same portion of
manure applied to it, yields 300 bushels of potatoes,
it may yield 24 bushels of wheat. The food pro-
duced by the former, at 38lbs to the bushel, will
then be ll,4001bs in weight; the food from the
latter, at GOlbs to the bushel, will be 1 ,4001bs, or
the weight of the wheat will be one-eighth that of
the potatoes. It is difficult to ascertain the quantity
of nutrition in a given quantity of either wheat or
potatoes. The chemical experiments of Sir Hum-
phrey Davy show that wheat contains about three
times the quantity of mucilage or starch, and of
gluten or albumen, of what is contained in a like
weight of potatoes ; but that potatoes contain also
about from three to four per cent of their weight
of saccharine matter, in which wheat is deficient,
though it abounds in barley. The difficulty of esti-
mating the nutritive power of the two substances is
not wholly removed by this appeal to chemistry,
because we are still ignorant of the effect which the
combination of the saccharine matter with the mu-
cilage and gluten may produce when used as ali-
ment. A small addition of the former to the two
latter may communicate to the whole mass a degree
of nutritive power very far exceeding its own sepa-
rate proportion of weight. Some inquiries have
been made as to the actual quantity of potatoes con-
sumed per head in families in Ireland, in Prussia,
and in Saxony ; but the answers varied to such a de-
gree, as to be little satisfactory. It does not appear
to me to be very far from the fact, if we estimate the
proportion of the nutritive power of wheat to that of
potatoes, as about seven is to two ; or that 21bs of

THE POTATO. 151

wheat afford as much subsistence as 7lbs of pota-
toes, though it may be doubtful if it affords so much
nourishment. We have seen before, that the mean
weight of the two kinds of food, from the same ex-
tent of land, is nearly as one to eight; and now as-
sume that the consumption of an individual is yearly
one quarter, or 4801bs of wheat, or an equivalent
quantity of potatoes, being 16801bs, then one acre of
wheat will produce sustenance for three persons, or
one acre of potatoes will afford it to six and five-
sixths.'*

The productiveness and other circumstances at-
tendant on the culture of this root certainly point it
out as one of the cheapest articles of substantive food
that a population can use; and therefore we may con-
clude that in those countries where the labouring class-
es are forced to subsist on this nourishment, they are
in a stale of indigence in which the healthy industry
of a fertile land should not be placed.

Potatoes may be made to yield a spirit of a very
pure quality. It is supposed that they are a cheaper
material than barley from which to extract alcohol.
But attempts in this country profitably to distil from
potatoes have always failed. At present, however,
in a distillery at Guernsey a spirit is made from them
with success.

In the eastern part of Prussia, as stated by Mr
Jacob in his Reports, potatoes are applied to many
useful purposes. They are cultivated to a great ex-
tent, and by converting them into starch and treacle
that land is made to jield a profit which might
otherwise have produced a loss. Sugar did not
answer so well; ' but the treacle,' says Mr Jacob, l ap-
peared to me as sweet as any from the tropics, the
only perceptible difference between them was that it
had less consistence.'

* Jacob's Tracts on the Corn-Trade, p. 169.

CHAPTER VII.

Other Vegetable Substances used for Substantive Food.

IT may be useful and interesting to take a rapid
view of the food which the vegetable kingdom offers
to large bodies of mankind for cultivation, in addition
to those most important productions, the corn-plants
and the potato, which we have fully noticed.

CASSAVA. — Jatropha Manihot.

THIS plant is known also as the edible-rooted phys-
ic-nut, and in Brazil it bears the name of Mandioc.
It springs from a tough, branched, woody root, the
slender collateral fibres of which swell into those
farinaceous masses for which alone the plant is cul-
tivated.

The height to which the cassava attains varies from
four to six feet; it rises by a slender, woody, knotted
stalk, furnished with alternate palmated leaves, which
are smooth, and increase in breadth till within an inch
and a half from the top, when they diminish to an
acute point. The middle lobes are six inches long,
and two inches broad in the broadest part ; the two
next are an inch shorter, and the outer lobes are only
three inches long.

South America is held to be the native region of
this plant, which formerly afforded the greatest part
of their sustenance to the entire Indian population of
that vast region. In the Mexican states, cassava is
more used on the western than on the eastern coast.

153

Cassava — Jatropha Manihot.

When the climate is favourable, the plant is of a
hardy nature and of easy culture. It however re-
quires the land to be of good quality, and the same
spot cannot well be employed to yield two crops of
it in succession. It needs a dry situation for its
most successful cultivation, and when spots of a
different nature are applied to the purpose, precau-
tions must be taken, by raising hillocks whereon to
set the cuttings, against the effects of excessive
moisture, which would rot the plants: some moisture
is, notwithstanding this, needed by the plant at its
earliest stages.

There are nine different species of Jatropha enu-
merated by botanists, only two of which are culti-
vated for human food. These two are,

154 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

The Jatropha Manihot — or bitter cassava; and

The Jatropha Janipha — or sweet cassava.

The first of these varieties, when in its natural state,
is highly poisonous; while the other, although equally
agreeable and wholly innocuous, is yet not cultivated
to anything like an equal extent. The two roots
are very similar in appearance, their only perceptible
difference being a tough, ligneous fibre or cord run-
ning through the heart of the sweet cassava root,
which the bitter variety is wholly without. Bread is
made of both kinds, which is palatable and whole-
some; and although its taste may be thought some-
what harsh by persons accustomed to soft fermented
bread made from wheaten flour, cassava bread is not
without its admirers, and is in such high repute with
those who have been accustomed to its use, as to be
frequently procured at some expense and trouble by
Creole families who have transferred their residence
to Europe.

The tubers are spindle-shaped, much resembling
parsnips in appearance: they are generally about
ifourteen or fifteen inches long, and four or five
inches thick at the middle. When first dug out of
the ground they are washed clean; the rind, which
is of a dark colour is then peeled off, and the root is
ground or grated. In Brazil, where the preparation
of mandioc is carried on to a larger extent than in
any other place, many persons are employed together
in peeling the roots, which are then applied to and
pressed against the face of a wheel, which is made to
revolve with great velocity, and in this manner they
are ground, a trough being placed beneath the wheel
to receive the pulp. The next process is that of ex-
pressing the poisonous juice, which is effected by
placing the pulp in bags, and subjecting it to the
action of a press. The only farther operation re-
quired to fit it for consumption is that of baking,

CASSAVA. 155

which is then performed on a hot iron hearth. The
pulp being placed on this, forms itself into a very
thin cake, similar in form to a pancake, and fifteen
inches or more in diameter. During the period oc-
cupied in this baking, the cake is kept constantly in
motion to prevent its being partially burnt, and as
soon as it is crisp is removed from the fire : when
sufficiently cool it is then quite fit for use. If kept
in a dry situation, these cakes will remain good for a
very long period.

To whatever cause the poisonous quality of the
juice of bitter cassava may be owing, it is so highly
volatile as to be entirely dissipated by exposure to
heat. Even a comparatively low temperature suffices
for correcting its deleterious nature ; for when the root
has been cut into small pieces and exposed during
some hours to the direct rays of the sun, cattle may
be fed on it with perfect safety. If the recently ex-
tracted juice be drunk by cattle or poultry, these will
speedily become much swollen and die in convul-
sions ; but if this same liquid is boiled with meat and
seasoned, it forms a favourite soup, called by the
Brazilians casserepo, and which is found to be whole-
some and nutritious. Dr Pinckard mentions having
partaken of this soup in Demerara.*

Stedman acquaints us that the Indians of Guiana,
among whom cassava forms the chief bread, first
grind the root on a rough stone, and then, for the
purpose of separating the juice, prepare a curious
kind of press out of reeds, which being disposed in
the form of a long tube and secured at bottom, the
ground pulp is introduced, and the press being sus-
pended to a tree, a heavy stone or log of wood is
fixed to the bottom, the weight of which draws the
tube gradually together, by which means the juice is
squeezed through the interstices. Occasionally the

* Notes on the West Indiss, vol. ii, p. 257.

156

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

juice ,s collected into a receptacle, and is then used

the poisoning of arrows. The baking process of

hese inhabitants of the woods is similar to that de-

scribed above with this only difference, that, being

Indians jireparing Cassava.

The roots of sweet cassava are eaten by the In-
dians after roasting them in hot ashes, and without

* Narrative of an Expedition to Surinam, vol. i, p. 405.

SALEP. 157

submitting them to the previous processes of grinding
and expressing the juice.

Both plants are propagated by cuttings, which very
quickly take root, and in about eight months from the
time of their being planted, the tubers will generally
be in a fit state to be collected ; they may however
be left in the ground for many months longer without
sustaining any injury.

The juice of rnandioc is sometimes fermented with
the addition of molasses, and converted into an in-
toxicating liquor in great favour with the Indians and
negroes. The former of these possessed a knowledge
of the means of preparing inebriating fluids when first
they were visited by Europeans, who in this instance
are therefore free from the reproach which in too
many cases attaches to them of introducing the prac-
tice of drunkenness among those whom they were
bound to have enlightened by communicating knowl-
edge, rather than to have brutalized by imparting
vices.

Tapioca, which is capable of being made into ex-
cellent puddings, and which is a very wholesome food
for children, and for persons whose digestive powers
are feeble, is altind of starch prepared from the farina
of cassava roots. A considerable quantity of this pre-
paration is exported annually from Brazil to Europe.

A new species of phaseolus was accidentally dis-
covered some time since in the island of St Do-
mingo. A gentleman, who was collecting plants in
that island for the King of France, taking shelter in
a cave, observed near it, upon some trees, a climb-
ing plant, bearing clusters of dry pods. These
seeds he gathered and sowed. The plants grew
quickly and luxuriantly, and produced many roots,
closely resembling that of cassava, and these, upon
being treated in the manner already described, yielded
very good cassava bread. In consequence of this

VOL. xv. 14

158

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

discovery, the plant, which was found growing com-
monly in the woods of St Domingo, was for some
time after used in this manner : no part of the plant,
with the exception of the tuberous root was found to
be edible.

Salep — Orchis mascula.

SALEP — Orchis mascula. — This plant is assidu-
ously cultivated in the East, for the sake of its root,
which forms a considerable part of the diet of the
inhabitants of Turkey, Syria, and Persia. Botanists
have enumerated many species of this genus of
plants, which are fleshy rooted, and from several
of which salep may be prepared. That which is
generally preferred, however, is the one above named,
the orchis mascula, or male orchis, and it is from

SALEP. 159

the root of this that the starchy substance brought
from the Levant is supposed to be prepared.

This article of commerce comes to us in pieces of
an oval form, very hard, approaching to transpar-
rency, and of a yellowish white colour Although
this substance has been for so long a time imported
from a distant market, the plant from which it is
prepared is furnished spontaneously, and in great
abundance, in many parts of our own country. The
Turkey roots are, however, much finer than ours ;
which may account for the greater esteem in which
they are held.

The plant consists of a root composed of two
fleshy lobes, crowned with oblong, broad, spotted
leaves, and having upright stalks growing to the
height of twelve inches, furnished with one or two
narrow leaves, and terminated by a long spike of
reddish purple flowers, which exhale a very slight
agreeable odour ; these commonly appear in the
months of May, June, and July. The soil best
adapted to its growth is that which is dry and not
very fertile. It is worthy of remark that in rich
lands, and those which have been highly manured,
the orchidese do not come to maturity ; where the
experiment has been tried, the roots of the few plants
that did appear proved black, and were half rotted
in the ground. The stem is sent up by the lobe of a
former year, and the new lobe, which is therefore
easily distinguishable from the old one, is formed in
the course of the summer as the tubers of potatoes.
The root is known to be fully matured when the leaves
and stalk begin to decay ; the plants may then be
dug up, and the new lobes — from which alone salep
is made — separated from the others.

Many methods have been proposed for preparing
ealep. In the performance of the one among those
methods which appear to be the simplest and best,

160 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

the new root is first washed in warm water, when the
fine brown skin with which it is covered may easily
be rubbed .away, by means of a coarse cloth or a
brush. The roots being thus cleaned and peeled, are
to be arranged on a tin plate, and then placed within
an oyen, heated to the same degree as is necessary
for the baking of bread ; here they are to remain
from seven to ten minutes, in which time they will
exchange their opaque and milky whiteness for a semi-
transparent horn-like appearance, and a yellowish
colour, retaining their original bulk. Being then
withdrawn from the oven, they are exposed during
some days to dry and harden in the air ; or by the
employment of a very gentle heat they may be
brought to the same state in the course of a few hours:
all that is then required to adapt the salep for food, is
to boil it in water to the required consistency.

It is said that salep contains a greater quantity
of nutriment in the same bulk than any other vege-
table body ; and for this reason it has been proposed
that it should be made to form a part of the provi-
sions of every ship that undertakes a distant voyage.
So high a nutritive power has been assigned to salep,
that, it is asserted, if one ounce of the powdered root,
mixed with an equal weight of the stiff animal jelly or
glue, known as portable soup, be boiled in two quarts
of water, it will suffice for the daily nourishment of an
able-bodied man.

A small quantity of salep added to milk has been
found to retard the commencement of the acetous
fermentation in that fluid ; and there is reason to
believe that if it were used in a moderate proportion,
it would prove a very useful and economical addi-
tion to wheaten flower, in the preparation of bread.
Dr Percival, in his ' Medical arid Experimental
Essays,' mentions the results of some experiments

INDIAN ARROW-ROOT. 161

of this kind. ' J directed,' says he. ' one ounce
of the powder to be dissolved in a quart of water,
and the mucilage to be mixed with a sufficient quan-
tity of flour, salt, and yest. The flour amounted
to two pounds, the yest to two ounces, and the salt
to eighty grains. The loaf when baked was re-
markably well fermented, and weighed three pounds
two ounces. Half a pound of flour and an ounce
of salep were mixed together, and the water added
according to the usual method of preparing bread.
The loaf when baked weighed thirteen ounces and
a half, but it should be remarked that the quantify of
flour used in this trial was not sufficient to conceal
the peculiar taste of the salep.'

It is to be presumed that the last mentioned cir-
cumstance did not occur where the proportion of
wheat flour was greater, and the result is certainly
such as should at least encourage the prosecution
of farther experiments. This vegetable preparation is
held to be exceedingly wholesome, and was formerly
in considerable favour with medical practitioners.

INDIAN ARROW-ROOT — Maranta arundinacea. —
Arrow-root, when prepared for use, bears a consid-
erable resemblance to the substance last described,
consisting, equally with that, of little else than mu-
cilaginous matter. It forms, therefore, a pleasant
and useful aliment for children and invalids.

The plant from which it is prepared is a native of
South America. It is an herbaceous perennial, and
Is propagated by parting the roots. It rises to the
height of two or three feet, has broad pointed leaves,
and is crowned by a spike of small white flowers.
It is much cultivated both for domestic use and for
exportation in our West India islands, and in some
parts of Hindostan.

There are several species of maranta, only two
of which — the arundinacea, or starch plant, and the

VOL. xv. 14*

162 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES

Indian Arrow-root — Maranta arundinacea.

M. ramosissima of India — are thus cultivated. The
name by which it is commonly known it owes to
the use which was formerly made of another plant
which was once confounded with it, but is now dis-
tinguished by the name of Jllpinia galanga. The
Indians employed that root for extracting the virus
communicated by their poisoned arrows.

The starchy matter, for the obtaining of which the
plant is cultivated, is prepared by the following
process : — When the roots are a year old they are
dug up, and having first been well washed in
clear water, are either grated or beaten to a pulp,

INDIAN ARROW-HOOT. 163

in large wooden mortars. This pulpy substance is
next thrown into a large proportion of clean water,
and after the whole has been agitated for some time
the fibrous parts are collected in the hand, squeezed,
and rejected. The milky liquor which remains is
a mixture of the starch with water, and this, after
being strained through a hair sieve to separate such
fibrous particles as have escaped before, is left for
some time to settle, when the water is drained off.
The white pasty mass remaining at the bottom is
then again washed in a further portion of water,
and allowed to subside as before ; and this process
is sometimes repeated a third time, and oftener
even by persons who wish to be exceedingly nice
in preparing the powder. When this is considered
to be sufficiently cleansed, it is dried on clean
white cloths in the sun, and is then fit for con-
sumption ; it will keep for a very considerable length
of time.

Other plants have been proposed as substitutes
for the exotic above described. Among these the
arum macttlatum, or common wake-robin, has
been mentioned. This plant grows wild in woods
and on 'shady banks in many parts of Great
Britain.

In its natural state the arum maculatum is ex-
ceedingly acrid, so that if a small piece of the
leaf be chewed, it produces a painful stinging sen-
sation in the mouth, and by applying the juice
of the raw tuber to the skin, this will be con-
siderably blistered. The noxious quality here men-
tioned, like to that inherent in the cassava root, is,
however, extremely volatile, and if the root be either
roasted or boiled, and afterwards dried and pounded,
it affords a starchy substance which is perfectly in-
sipid, and may be used for the same purposes as the
powder of the true arrow-root.

164 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Wake-Robin — A>-um maculatum.

Many roots, some the peculiar growth of America,
as well as the potato and mandioc, yield substantive
food to the inhabitants of both the northern and
southern divisions. Among these the SPANISH, or
SWEET POTATO — Convolvulus batata — is commonly
cultivated for its root in the tropical climates, both of

ESCULENT ROOTS OF AMERICA.

165

the eastern and western hemispheres. It was known
in this country before the common potato, which, as
we have before observed, received its name from the
similarity which it bears to the batata.

Sweet Totato — Convolvulus batata.

This plant was introduced into England by Sir
Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins, in the middle
of the fifteenth century. Attempts were made to
naturalize it in this country, but it was found too
tender to thrive in the open air through an English
winter. Gerarde cultivated it in his garden in 1597,
where it flourished during the warm season; but as
soon as it was assailed by the cold weather^ it drooped,
and perished in the ground. The roots were at that
time imported into England in considerable quantities

106 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

from Spain and the Canaries; and were used as a
confection rather than as a nourishing vegetable. A
more abundant supply of fruit of home growth has
caused the batata gradually to decline in favour, and
for many years it has ceased to be an article of impor-
tation into this country.

This plant is an herbaceous perennial, which
sends out many trailing stalks, extending six or
eight feet every way; these are round, and of a pale-
green colour; at each joint roots are put forth, which,
in a genial climate, grow to be very large tubers, so
that from a single plant forty or fifty large roots are
produced. The leaves are angular, and stand on
long petioles. The flowers are purple. Several
varieties of this plant are to be found in the different
countries where it is cultivated, and which differ from
each other in size, shape, and the flavour of the roots.
The batata is propagated by laying down the young
shoots in <he spring; indeed, in its native climate it
multiplies itself almost spontaneously ; for if the
branches of roots that have been pulled up are suf-
fered to remain on the ground and a shower of rain
falls soon after they have been broken ofT, their vege-
tation will recommence. The roots are sweet, nour-
ishing, and though rather insiped, of no unpleasant
flavour. In warm climates the batata is of very
abundant growth, and easy of propagation; and there-
fore it is matter of surprise that, in Brazil, the man-
dioc should be cultivated in preference as food for the
negroes, the batata being raised more as a luxury for
the planter's table.

In the national garden at Paris this plant is raised
in a hot-bed, whence it is transplanted at the latter
end of the spring into the open ground, and treated
like the common potato. In favourable seasons a
tolerable crop is produced; and hopes are entertained
that in the course of some years the batata will be so

ESCULENT ROOTS OK AMERICA.

167

far acclimatized as to be the object of successful field-
culture in the south of France.

Yam — Dioscorea sativa.

The YAM — Dioscorea sativa — is a native of the
East; and is supposed to have been transplanted
thence to the West Indies, as it has never been found
growing wild in any part of America; while in the
island of Ceylon, and on the coast of Malabar, it
flourishes in the woods with spontaneous and luxu-
riant growth. It is very extensively cultivated in
Africa, Asia, and America, for its root, which is
nutritious and of good flavour, and is used either
roasted or boiled as a substitute for bread. This root
is farinaceous, and resembles the potato, but is of a
closer texture.

168

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Some yams were first brought into this country
from the West Indies in 1733; and they are now oc-
casionally imported, more, however, as an article of
curiosity than of commerce.

The yam is a climbing plant, with tender stalks of
from eighteen to twenty feet in length; it has smooth,
sharp-pointed leaves, on long footstalks, from the base
of which arise spikes of small flowers. The root is
flat, and palmated about a foot in breadth, white
within, and externally of a dark-brown colour, almost
approaching to black.

Different sorts of Yam Roots.

The WINGED YAM — dioscorea alata — is another
species very generally cultivated; its roots attain to a
larger size, being frequently about three feet long,
and weighing about thirty pounds. Both these kinds
are cultivated like the common potato. They are
usually planted in August, and are fit for use in the
November and December following. Brown* directs

* History of Jamaica.

ESCULENT ROOTS OP AMERICA. 169

that the roots for planting should be cut so as to leave
a small portion of skin to each piece ; l for by that
alone,' he affirms, ' they germinate, the roots having
no apparent buds or eyes, but casting out their weakly
stems from every part of the surface alike.'

When dug out of the earth, the roots are placed in
the sun to dry, and are then put into sand or casks,
where, if guarded from moisture, they may be pre-
served a considerable length of time without being in
any way injured in their quality.

ARRACACHA. — This plant is cultivated in some
parts of South America for its root, which is farinace-
ous, and easy of digestion. The main roots branch
into four or five parts, which attain to the size of cows'
horns. Sanguine hopes were entertained by English
horticulturists that this root might in the course of
time become nearly as important to Europe as the
potato, and that it may, like that, be acclimatized in
England. It grows on the plains of Bogota, on an
elevation of 8700 feet above the level of the sea.
The temperature of these lofty plains is found not
greatly to vary from that of the south-west of Eng-
land. The mean temperature of Santa Fe de
Bogota is fifty-eight degrees ; the mean tempera-
ture of the warmest month sixty-two degrees ; of the
coldest month fifty-seven degrees. If any spot in
the south of England or Ireland can be found of a
similar temperature, it is probable that the arracacha
will survive throughout the year in the open air. The
mean temperature of Plymouth is about fifty-three
degrees \ mean of hottest month sixty-three degrees ;
mean of coldest month forty-two degrees. It is,
therefore, supposed that this climate may be favour-
able to the growth of the arracacha. In 1821 plants
were sent to the Horticultural Society, but they un-
fortunately died. Since that time, however, the in-
troduction of this plant has been effected ; and it is

VOL. xv. 15

170

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

thriving in the garden of Dr Hamilton of Plymouth,
who writes, in July 1828, ( My arracacha plant is
flourishing beyond my most sanguine expectations in
the open air ; indeed, it grows much more luxuriantly
in the open air than in the house.'*

To complete a general picture of the substantive
vegetable food of the world, it would be necessary
that we should notice the jruits of the date-palm,
the banana, and the bread-fruit tree ; but these
having been described at length in a preceding
volume, it will be only requisite here to refer to these
accounts.f

The Banana.

The banana and the bread-fruit are examples of
extraordinary vegetable fruitfulness, with very little
assistance from the care of man. The banana is not
known in an uncultivated state ; and those who prin-

* Card. Mag., vol. iv, p. 402.
t See ' Vegetable Substances —
36*, and 411.

Trees and Fruits,' pp. 348,

SAGO. 171

cipally depend upon the plant for subsistence pro-
pagate it by suckers. But here the labour of culti-
vation almost ends ; and M. Humboldt has calcu-
lated that thirty- three pounds of wheat and ninety-
nine pounds of potatoes require the same space as
that in which four thousand pounds of bananas will
grow. But the industry of the European surrounds
him with a much greater amount of blessings than
the almost spontaneous bounty of Nature to the In-
dian who lives upon his patch of bananas. The same
reasoning applies to the bread-fruit ; for when the
produce of two or three of those trees will suffice for
a man's yearly supply, he is not likely to call forth
the faculties of his mind which wait upon a constant
course of assiduous labour. Those bodies of man-
kind are in the happiest state who are placed by
climate between the extremes of natural fruitfulness
and sterility. Where Nature offers spontaneous food
to large tribes, as in a few situations in tropical
countries, their condition is nearly as wretched, taken
under all its circumstances, as that of those poor
inhabitants of polar regions, to whom almost every-
thing appears to be denied by the ' All-giver,' but
who really obtain comforts by their persevering
labour, which the idle native of the finest soil almost
always wants.

One of the substances of spontaneous growth^
which is largely used as an article of food, is

SAGO — Sagus farinifera, and other species.

The substance known in commerce under the
name of sago is a farinaceous pithy matter, extracted
from the trunk of a tree.

This tree is a native of the south-east of Asia,
and of the islands of the Indian Ocean, where it
grows spontaneously, and is perfected without any

172 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

culture. This circumstance occurring with regard to
a substance highly nutritive, in a climate which dis-
poses the human frame to inaction, occasions the
adoption of sago in many places as the general food
of the population, to the neglect of other plants, the
cultivation of which would call for some amount of
exertion.

The sago, or, as it is called in the Molucca
Islands, the libley tree, is of peculiar growth. The
trunk, which is formed of the bases of the leaves,
grows at first very slowly, and is covered with thorns ;
so soon, however, as the stem is once formed, the
growth of the tree proceeds with very great rapidity,
so that it speedily attains its full height of thirty feet,
with a girth of five or six feet, losing in this stage
its thorny accompaniments. Like the cocoa-nut tree,
the sago has no distinct bark that can be peeled
off, but the trunk consists of a long, hard, ligneous
tube, about two inches thick, the internal area of
which is filled with a kind of farinaceous pith, inter-
mixed with numerous longitudinal fibres. The ma-
turity of the tree is known by the transpiration of a
kind of whitish dust through the pores of the leaves,
and when this appears the trunk is felled near to the
ground.

The best account of this tree, and of the mode of
preparing its pith for use as human food, is to be
seen in Forrest's account of the Molucca Islands : it
is to the following effect.

* The tree being felled, is cut into lengths of five
or six feet. A part of the hard wood is then sliced
off, and the workman, coming to the pith, cuts across
the longitudinal fibres and the pith together, leaving
a part at each end uncut, so that when it is exca-
vated, there remains a trough, into which the pulp
is again put, mixed with water, and beaten with a piece
of wood. Then the fibres, separated from the pulp,

SAGO. -173

float at top, and the flour subsides. After being
cleared in this manner by several waters, the pulp is
put into cylindrical baskets made of the leaves of
the tree ; and if it is to be kept some time, those
baskets are generally sunk in fresh water to keep it
moist. One tree will produce from two to four hun-
dred weight of flour.

1 We seldom or never see sago in Europe but in a
granulated state. To bring it into this state from the
flour, it must be first moistened and passed through
a sieve into an iron pot (very shallow) held over a
fire, which enables it to assume a globular form.
Thus all our grained sago is half baked and will
keep long. The pulp or powder of which this is
made will also keep long if preserved from the air,
but if exposed, it presently turns sour.'*

Stem of the Sago Tree, showing the pith from which the Sago is extracted.

We learn also from the same authority, that loaves

* Forrest'* Voyage to the Moluccas, p. 89, second edition,
'vol.. xv. 15*

174 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

of bread are sometimes made in the Molucca Islands
of the pith of the sago, and that these loaves are
baked in small ovens, ( the floors of which are
divided by means of partitions into cells about the size
of an octavo volume.'

The leaf of the sago is used in the same quarter
for covering houses, and in that climate will not
need to be renewed oftener than once in seven
years.

When the sago tree is cut down, its vegetative
power still remains in the root, which again puts forth
its leaves and forms the trunk, and this proceeds again
through its different stages until it is again subjected
to the axe, and made to yield its alimentary contents
for the service of man.

Sago is also produced from many varieties of
palms, but the tree here described is that which fur-
nishes the best. The produce of the Cycas circinalis,
so often erroneously mentioned as yielding the sago
of commerce, is very inferior.

If the native of the Molucca Islands has his sago-
bread without the labour of cultivating the plant
which produces it, the Indian of the Cordilleras of
South America has his supply of milk from a tree,
growing at a vast height amidst arid mountains,
where no cattle can pasture. The Cow-Tree has
been described by Humboldt with his characteristic
spirit and accuracy ; and it was much earlier noticed
by Laet, a Dutch traveller, as growing in the pro-
vince of Cumana. * On the side of a thirsty rock,'
says Humboldt, ' grows a tree whose leaves are dry
and husky. Its large roots penetrate with difficulty
through the stony soil. During many months of
the year not a shower waters its foliage ; the branches
appear withered and dead ; but when its trunk is
pierced, a sweet and nourishing milk flows from the
wound. It is at the rising of the sun that this ve-

CABBAGE-PALM. 175

getable aliment is most plentiful. The natives and
the black slaves then gather together from all parts
with large wooden vessels to catch the milk, which as
it flows becomes yellow, and thickens on the surface.
Some make their abundant meal at the foot of the
tree which supplies it ; others carry their full vessels
home to their children.'*

In tropical countries the force of vegetation is so
great, and the wants of society so few, that magnifi-
cent trees are destroyed for the sake of a small por-
tion of food, such as a few square feet of an English
garden would produce.

The CABBAGE-PALM — Jlreca oleracea — is a most
gigantic tree ; its stem, which, near to its base, is
about seven feet in circumference, ascends straight
and tapering to a vast height. It is of a brown
colour, hard, ligneous, divided into short joints, and
pithy within like elder. Several feet from the summit,
the tree assumes a fluted form, and a green colour ;
which change is occasioned by the husky tegument
that forms the branches, which thence diverge far in
a horizontal direction, like the crown of a pine-apple.
These are decorated with numerous pinnated leaves,
some of which are about three feet long, and an inch
and a half broad, tapering into a sharp point ; the
leaves gradually decrease in size as they approach
the extremities of the branches. This regular, lofty
group of foliage, impelled by the most gentle gale,
and constantly waving in feathery elegance, is an
object of beauty which cannot be imagined by an in-
habitant of temperate climes, unused to the magnifi-
cent vegetation of a tropical sun. This seed is in-
closed in a brown spatha or sheath, which arises from
the centre of the branches, and, hanging downwards,
consists of small oval nuts, not unlike a bunch of

* ' Voyage aux Regions Equinoxiales,' torn, v, p. 264.

176 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

dried grapes, but much longer in proportion to their
circumference.

Within the branches which surround the top of
the trunk, the cabbage lies concealed. It is white,
about two or three feet long, as thick as a man's arm,
and perfectly cylindrical. This substance is composed
of longitudinal flakes like ribands, but so compact as
to form a crisp, solid body. When eaten raw it re-
sembles the almond in flavour, but is more tender and
delicious. It is usually cut into pieces, boiled, and
served as an auxiliary vegetable with meat.

To obtain this small portion, borne on the pinnacle
of the tree, and hidden from the eye of man, the axe
is applied to the stately trunk, and this majestic lord
of the mountain-top is laid low, to furnish a smalll
quantity of vegetable matter, which is ' eaten like
cauliflower,' and which receives its distinctive name
from our lowly cabbage. Surely this rivals the tales
handed down to us of Roman epicurism !

In the cavity made in the trunk by the removal of
the cabbage, a, kind of black beetle deposits its
spawn., from which grubs, which are called the palm-
tree worms, are produced, and these, strange to
say, are eaten as a great delicacy. Stedman gives
the following account of this choice luxury of Guiana.
' Another negro also brought me a regale of groe-
groe, or cabbage-tree worms, as they are called in
Surinam. This reptile grows to the size and thick-
ness of a man's thumb, and is extremely fat. How-
ever disgusting to appearance, these worms are a
delicious treat to many people, and they are regularly
sold at Paramaribo. The manner of dressing them
is by frying them in a pan with a very little butter
and salt, or spitting them on a wooden skewer. In
taste they partake of all the spices of India, as mace,
cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, &.c. Several species of

CABBAGE-PALM.

177

these worms are produced in all the palm-trees, when
beginning to rot, but some are larger than others.
They are all of a pale yellow colour, with black
heads.'*

Cabbage Palm — Areca oleracea.

* Stedman's Surinam, vol. ii, p. 23.

CHAPTER VIII.

« Wild plants used as food.

THE habitual use of wild plants as food belongs to a
state in which man lives either amidst a very luxu-
riant or a very scanty vegetation. In both cases, in
which the spontaneous produce of the earth con-
tributes in any great degree to the support of families
and tribes, civilization is very slightly advanced. In
JRurope, even in the countries least favoured by
nature, and least improved by cultivation, wild plants
are seldom resorted to, except in times of scarcity ;
and these visitations are becoming fewer and fewer
wherever the arts of life, whose perfection chiefly
results from the division of labour, are understood
and practised. It will be desirable to notice very
briefly the expedients which men resort to for the
supply of their daily wants, in places where agricul-
ture and gardening, whether from the injurious effects
of an inclement climate, or particular circumstances
of situation, or, what is more depressing, from bad
government, are very far below the perfection which
they are capable of attaining in countries possessing
a moderately favourable soil called into fertility by
free institutions.

COUCH-GRASS, one of the greatest pests with which
the farmer has to contend, — whose growth is so
spreading and rapid, and whose vitality under the
extremes! drought is equally remarkable, contains a
portion of nutritious matter in its roots. In the
earlier periods of British history, when, from insuffi-

WILD PLANTS USED AS FOOD.

179

cient modes of husbandry, arising out of insecurity
of property, dearths were by no means of uncommon
occurrence, the roots of this weed were devoured as
one of the substitutes for bread.

Couch-grass.

In Africa, in those constantly recurring seasons of
scarcity produced by the want of rain, the people
apply themselves to gathering seeds borne by grass-
plants that have grown without moisture, of which
they make a wretched bread. f These people,' say*

180 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Bruce, { appear perfect skeletons, and no wonder,
as they live upon such fare.'* Denham describes
a grass, whose seeds are eaten by the natives, that
would appear the most forbidding of all vegetables
capable of producing even the most scanty food.
' The whole surface of the country,' he says, ' had
been covered with a grass which produced a calyx
so full of prickles as to annoy us almost to misery:
these prickles were of the finest and most penetrating
sharpness that can be imagined; they attached to
every part of our dress; and so small were the points
that it was impossible to extract them without their
breaking and leaving a part behind. If we walked,
at every step we were obliged to clear them from our
feet; — mats, blankets, trowsers, were filled with these
irritating annoyances, so that there was no getting
rid of them by day or night. In short, no part of
the body was free from them. The seed from this
grass is called kaschia, and is eaten. '"j"

Wild pulse have furnished food even to the inhab-
itants of England in times of scarcity. The SEA-
PEA is a native of this country, and, differs from
the other esculent peas in being a perennial, the root
penetrating deeply into the ground among stones
and sands by the sea-shores. During a famine in
the year 1555, the application of the seeds of this
plant as an article of food was most extensively and
efficaciously practised; according to Turner, thou-
sands of families were preserved in consequence.
It was found at that time growing in large quan-
tities on the coast of Suffolk; and in the superstitious
spirit of the age this seasonable relief was ascribed
to the interposition of a saint: the holy man must,
however, have been but an indifferent judge of vege-
tables, as the sea-pea is small, hard, and indigestible,

* Travels, vol. iv, p. 511.
"t Denham's Travels in Africa, p. 56.

WILD PLANTS USED AS FOOD. 181

and probably not more nutritious than the tare, or
than many of the vegetables with which the woods
and way-sides abound.

Whenever we picture to ourselves a single man or
tribes of men living in a condition where cultivation
is not practised, we fancy that they derive their prin-
cipal support from wild roots. And this fancy is
true, to some extent; although most of the edible
roots which grow spontaneously are of little value.
Many are acrid and some poisonous. Necessity,
however, compels men to resort to this food under
particular circumstances. Linnrcus thus describes a
very prevalent food of Norwegian Lapland.

' Missen-bread is made of the WATER-DRAGON
(Calla palustris). The roots of this plant are taken
up in spring, before the leaves come forth, and, after
being extremely well washed, are dried either in the
sun or in the house. The fibrous parts are then
taken away, and the remainder dried in an oven.
Afterwards it is bruised in a hollow vessel or tub,
made of fir-wood, about three feet deep; as is also
practised occasionally with the fir-bark. The dried
roots are chopped in this vessel with a kind of spade,
like cabbage for making sour kale (sour-crout), till
they become as small as peas or oatmeal, when they
acquire a pleasant sweetish smell; after which they
are ground. The meal is boiled slowly in water,
being continually kept stirring, till it grows as thick
as flummery. In this state it is- left standing in the
pot for three or four days and nights. Some per-
sons let it remain for twenty-four hours: but the long-
er the better, for if used immediately it is bitter and
acrid; both which qualities go ofF by keeping. It is
mixed for use either with the meal made of fir-bark,
or with some other kind of flour, not being usually
to be had in sufficient quantity by itself: for the plant
is in many places very scarce, though here (Tordjor

VOL. xv. 16

102 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

fen) in such abundance that cart-loads of it are col-
lected at a time. This kind of flummery, being mixed
with flour, as I have just mentioned, is baked into
bread, which proves as tough as rye-bread, but is
perfectly sweet and white.'*

In Lapland, when the crops are injured by severe
frost, the missen-bread is a seasonable aid; and
happy is the peasant that has a store, to prevent his
resorting to the coarser food made of the bark of the
spruce-fir.

A species of SILVER- WEED — Potentilla Jhiserina
— commonly growing in some parts of Scotland, is
held in much esteem by the inhabitants of the islands
of Tiras and Col, where the roots are in times of
scarcity made a substitute for bread, and have been
known to form the chief subsistence of the inhab-
itants for several consecutive months. They are
found most abundant in poor and exhausted soils,
thus affording a most seasonable supply when, through
the failure of other crops, there is a dearth of the
ordinary provisions. These roots are similar to pars-
nips in flavour; and are frequently eaten in Scotland,
either roasted or boiled. |

In a cultivated state the CARROT is a nutritious
vegetable. The root of a wild species is small,
stringy, and hard, of a pale colour and a strong
flavour, but without succulence or nourishment. It
is indigenous to Britain, where it grows about
hedges and way-sides; and, from its flowering head
when the seeds are ripening, is in some places
popularly known by the name of ' the bird's-nest.'
The PARSNIP, again, which belongs to the same
family of plants as the carrot ( Umbelliferce}, is a na-
tive of Britain, but its root is harsh and of an un-
pleasant flavour. Other plants of the same family,
growing wild in this country, may on emergency be

* Linnocus's Tour, p. 351. f Lightfoot's Fl. Scot.

WILD PLANTS USED AS FOOD. 183

eaten ; but they all offer a very slight addition to the
food of man, and show in a marked manner the dif-
ference in the useful powers of a cultivated and an
uncultivated soil.

Flower and Root of the Wild Parsnip.

WHITE-BEET is found wild on the salt, marshy
shores of Holland, and on some parts of those of
England ; but the root is hard, bitter, and worthless.

SALSIFY, in the same manner, which was once
much used here as an esculent, and is still com-

184 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

monly found growing wild, possesses no useful pro-
perties without cultivation.

ICELAND Moss, or Lichen islundicus, is used as an
edible substance by the Icelanders, who rarely ob-
tain corn-bread, and whose limited stock of substi-
tutes obliges them to have recourse to every species
of vegetable production which is permitted by their
inclement climate to spring forth. The plant is col-
lected by the inhabitants of this northern region, and,
after being cashed, is either cut into pieces, or it is
dried by the fire or in the sun, and then put into a
!}ag, which is well beaten ; it is ultimately worked
into a powder by being trampled on, and in this
state is used as food. This lichen is found growing
on the mountains, both in the lowlands and high-
lands of Scotland. It consists of upright leaves
nearly two inches high, soft and pliant when moist,
buf rigid when dry. They are smooth and shiny,
inclining to a red colour towards the roots, and
having the exterior surface sprinkled with very
minute black warts. The margins are set with
small, short, stiff spinules.

Iceland Moss— Lichen Islandicut.

The family of plants known by botanists as Cru-

WILD PLANTS USED AS POOD. 185

ciferce, grow spontaneously in every field. The
WILD CABBAGE, or Brassica campcstms, has been
found in many countries ; — in France, by Bouchet
and De Candolle ; in Modern Greece, by Sibthorp :
and it may be the same that is mentioned by Dios-
corides. It grows naturally on the sea-shore near
Dover. The leaves of this plant are used early in
the spring as an edible ; and it is said that they are
superior in flavour to those of the cultivated sorts ;
but as it is found chiefly in situations neat the sea,
where there is salt in the soil or in the atmosphere,
the leaves acquire a saline, bitter taste ; this is,
however, removed after they have been boiled in
two waters. As the wild plants advance towards
maturity, the purple, of which there is merely a trace
in the young leaves, disperses, and the plants become
harsh, bitter, and unfit for use. An accumulation of
a larger portion of alkaline matter may be inferred
from this fact, consequent on the well-known effect of
alkali changing blue to green. A correspondent
of a valuable horticultural work describes the young
tops of the wild cabbage of Dover as a most delicate
vegetable ; but he complains that the plant is held
in low estimation by the inhabitants of the place.*
Doubtless they would find it cheaper to cultivate
cabbages than to gather them on cliffs. Various
spinaceous plants also grow wild in this country ;
but they will not repay the labour of gathering.
Nothing is so common as SORREL, but no one here
thinks the plant worth collecting. On the contrary,
the Laplanders prepare these leaves, and preserve
them for winter store. For this purpose they are
boiled in a very small quantity of water, and stirred
till reduced to a pulp. This is then mixed with milk,
and put in barrels, which are kept in holes dug in
the ground, and lined either with bricks or birch-

* London's Gardiner's Magazine, February 1832.
VOL. xv. 16*

186 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

bark, to protect them from rats and mice. This
•preparation of sorrel was found by Linnaeus to pos-
sess a very agreeable acid taste, quite different from
the flavour of the fresh plant. The Laplanders, in
their paucity of esculent vegetables, gladly avail them-
selves of those plants which other nations arc in the
habit of rejecting as weeds, and in some cases indeed
avoid as poisonous. Linna?us informs us, on autho-
rity to which he gave credence, that the YELLOW
WOLF'S-BANE — Jlconitum lycoctomtm — is collected
in large quantities in some parts of Lapland, and
boiled for the use of the table. Noxious qualities are
ascribed to this plant, and to most of the species be-
longing to the same genus, which have, ever since
the time of Theophrastus, been reckoned deadlj
poisons both to man and beast. The deleterious
effects, however, may, as in the case of cassava, be
probably dissipated by the action of heat.

Pilewort — Ficaria ranunculoides.

The young leaves of PILEWOUT *- Ranunculus fact-

WILD PLANTS USED AS FOOD. 187

ria — are boiled and used as an edible by the Swedish
peasantry. The earth round the roots of this plant
is sometimes washed away by the rain, leaving the
small tubers exposed to view. This, in superstitious
times, gave rise to the belief that it rained wheat, to
the grains of which these tubercles bear some resem-
blance.

ASPARAGUS is a native both of South and of North
Britain, growing, though not very commonly, in
stony or gravelly situations near the sea. It is
sometimes found on the coasts of Dorsetshire and
Somersetshire, and less frequently in Seaton Links,
near Edinburgh. The steppes, or dry sandy flats, in
Poland and the South of Russia, which are partially
saline, and probably at some period of their history
have been washed by the sea, produce it much more
abundantly ; and in some places the ground is cover-
ed with it, to the exclusion of almost all other vegeta-
tion. When growing thus spontaneously, however,
it is a diminutive plant, and is browsed as grass by
horses and oxen.* None, indeed, but a practised
eye, examining into the minute parts of its structure,
could detect it to be the same species which is reared
by artificial culture.

The inhabitants on the coast of Barbary eat the
young shoots of another species of asparagus,"f which
one would have supposed was sufficiently unfitted by
nature for the support of man. This is the thorny
asparagus, or asparagus horridus, beset with sharp
spines of three or four inches in length. It is said to
be indigenous to Spain, as well as to the opposite
coast of the Mediterranean.

SEA-KALE is found growing wild on the sandy
downs near the sea, of Sweden, Denmark, England,
and partially of Scotland. From time immemorial
the country people in the west of England have been

* London's Encyc. of Gard. t Desfontaines, voU i.

188 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

in the habit of searching for and gathering the tender
shoots which show themselves in the spring through
the sand and gravel, and which, thus naturally
blanched, are, when boiled, a delicate vegetable. It
is also stated that the radical leaves, which have some
resemblance to those of the smooth broad-leaved- cole-
wort, were likewise eaten like greens by the inhabitants
of those places in which the plant grew wild.

Wild plants to be employed as salads and season-
ings, when they are used as such in rude states of
society, can scarcely be said to form a necessary article
of food. They are approaches to the luxuries and
artificial wants of a civilized condition. In every
state, however, man is desirous to impart some relish
to his food. A refined people do so habitually — a
barbarous people when accident places the cool or
stimulating vegetable within their reach.

Great Cat's-Tail— Typha

THE GREAT CAT'S-TAIL is a perennial reed, grow-
ing in marshy places. It is a native of Britain, but is

WILD PLANTS USED AS FOOD. 189

not in this country used as an esculent. We learn
from travellers, however, that some nations apply
it to this purpose. In the shallows of the Don
this plant flourishes luxuriantly. ' We found the
inhabitants Of Axay,' says Dr Clarke, ' and after-
wards those of Tcherkask, devouring the typha
palustris raw, with as much avidity as if this article
of diet had been connected with some religious ob-
servances. The stalks appeared in all the streets,
and in every house, bound into little fascines about
three feet in length, as our gardeners bind aspa-
ragus ; these bundles were hawked about or sold
in the shops. The season for eating this vege-
table had just commenced. The Cossacks, peeling
off the outer cuticle, select, near the root- of the
plant, a tender white part of the stem, which, for
about the length of eighteen inches, affords a crisp,
cooling, and very pleasant article of food. We
ate of it heartily, and became as Ibnd of it as were
the Cossacks, with whom, young or old, rich or
poor, it is a most favourite repast. The taste is
somewhat insipid, but in hot climates this cool and
pleasant vegetable would be highly esteemed. The
Cossack officers, however, who had been in other
countries, said that it is only fit for food when it
grows in the marshes of the Don.'* This plant
is found native in all parts of the world, in ponds,
ditches, and marshy places, and by the sides of
brooks and rivers. It flourishes alike in the northern
regions of Sweden and under the fervid sun of the
West Indies ; it is likewise an inhabitant of New
Zealand.

The WILD-LETTUCE is indigenous to England,
and grows abundantly in many parts : yet it is doubt-
ful whether it ever furnished food to the ancient
Britons. The Romans were well acquainted with the

* Travels in Russia, vol. i, p. 349.

190 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

cultivation of this plant, and the name, Lacluca, is used
by Pliny. It would have been contrary to the usual
practice of mankind, if the inhabitants of this coun-
try had cultivated a plant for themselves out of a wild
one, when the very plant so cultivated had been
previously well known to the people who introduced
civilization, and its attendant arts, among them.
The improvement of plants by culture is not the
work of man in his rude and savage state, even
where the climate is more genial than that of Britain,
and the plant more promising than the wild lettuce.
The navigators of the South Sea obtained among
its islands many specimens of their productiveness ;
but though some of these plants were beautiful, they
were wild, and none could be found that had been
improved by culture. The visitors, however, be-
stowed on the natives many plants of this latter de-
scription. Upon the same principle, it is much more
natural to conclude that the Romans introduced into
the less civilized places which they overran the ve-
getables previously cultivated in Rome, than that
these were the result of native skill in the conquered
countries.

CELERY is a native of Britian, and in its wild state
is known by the name of smallage. It grows on the
sides of ditches and in the neighbourhood of the sea.
In all its external characters it bears a marked re-
semblance to the garden or esculent celery, which is
supposed to have been produced from it by the
ameliorating effects of cultivation, subduing its rank
and acrid taste into an :aromatic and pungent flavour.
ALISANDER, which was formerly much cultivated in
this country, is also a native plant. It is still found
wild on the sea-coast at Dunglass, on the borders
of Berwickshire. The RAMPION, whose leaves and
roots were also used for salad, in like manner grows
wild in some parts of England.

WILD PLANTS USED AS FOOD.

191

Rampion — Campanula rapunculus.

These native plants were probably little used with-
out cultivation at any time. But the Laplander is
constrained to have recourse to many plants which
the inhabitant of more temperate climes rejects as un-
worthy of notice. Among these is the COW-THISTLE
(Sonchus a/pmws), which grows spontaneously in
Northumberland. It is known in Lapland by the
name of Terja, and grows among trees at the sides
of mountains, and flowers at the end of July. The
stem, which is milky, is peeled and eaten raw by
the Laplanders. The taste is extremely bitter, but
the people of the country have become so accus-
tomed to this quality, that they are not aware of it,
although some of them acknowledged to Linnaeus

192 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

that the cow-thistle did appear very bitter to them
when they first learned to eat it. As soon as it be-
gins to bloom, the stalk becomes woody, and is no
longer edible.

The WATER-CRESS. — Nastvrtwm officinale —
which was probably used freely by our simple an-
cestors, is still a luxury of the crowded city. In
most parts of the country it is still found abundantly
in a state of nature, growing in ditches and brooks,
preferring clear water, and especially the water of
springs, to that which is foul and stagnant. For an
obvious reason we must somewhat minutely describe
the water-cress.

This plant is a trailing perennial, putting out root-
iets at the joints of the stems. The leaves, which
have a slight tinge of purple, are pinnate and rather
heart-shaped. When the current in which they
grow is rapid, the rootlets from the young shoots do
not easily take root, and then a considerable portion
of the plant rises above the surface of the water and
the form of the leaves alters. This is the case with
many plants ; when the leaf is near the ground it is
broad, but when elevated it becomes longer and
narrower. In water-cresses, this change in the
form of the leaves is sometimes followed by un-
pleasant consequences, since it then causes them to
be similar in shape with the joint-flowering water-
parsnip (slum nodiflorum) , a plant which very
generally grows mixed with the cresses, and has
poisonous qualities. The leaves of the cress are
however more smooth and shining, and are entire at
their edges, while those of the parsnip are serrated.
When the flowering stems are up, the plants are
easily distinguished. The water-parsnip bears its
flowers in umbels close upon the joints of the stem,
while the flowers of the cress are cruciform and rise
into a spike. The four petals in the flower of the

WILD PLANTS USED AS FOOD. 193

water-cress, and five in the parsnip, are also an ob-
vious distinction. ' If they are in seed the parsnip has
capsules, the water-crees pods.

The water-cress has become an object of cultiva-
tion ; and the demand of the metropolis and of
other large towns for this favourite vegetable will,
probably, render the natural products of our brooks
less and less in request. Few wild plants are the
same under cultivation ; but even when their qualities
are not changed by the care of man, the cultivated
sort soon supersedes the uncultivated. The cost of
rearing them at will is less than that of searching for
them under the difiiculties which attend all sponta-
neous produce.

In a pretty valley called Springhead, situated in
Kent, at a short distance from Gravesend, water-
cresses are grown on a very extensive scale. The
plants, neatly trimmed, growing in regular rows,
and appearing under a limpid stream of purest
water, give the idea of careful cultivation ; and
present themselves under a more pleasing form to
be plucked for the table, than when found the in-
habitants of ditches. For the purpose of this cul-
ture a clayey soil is selected, in which shallow
beds scarcely a foot deep are made, having a slight
inclination from one end to the other, and into which
a small stream of water is introduced. At the
bottom of th^ese beds the cress is planted in rows,
at about half a foot apart. Dams of six inches high
are made at intervals across each bed, their number
and frequency being regulated by the length of the
bed and its degree of inclination, in such sort, that
when these dams are full, the water may rise at least
three inches over all the plants of each compartment.
The water will thus circulate throughout, and the
plants, if not allowed to flower, will furnish an abun-
dant succession of young tops throughout the spring,

VOL. xv. 17

194

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

summer, and autumn. ' A stream of water no
larger than what will fill a pipe of one inch bore will,
if not absorbed by the soil, suffice to irrigate in this
way an eighth of an acre.'

SAMPHIRE — Crithomum maritimum — is almost
the only wild plant, with the exception of water-cress
and laver, which is gathered for the supply of the
demands of luxury. Samphire, as is well known,
grows on the rocky cliffs of our southern shores ; and
even in the time of Shakspeare it was a profitable oc-
cupation to gather it.

' How fearful

And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low !
The crows and choughs that wing the midway air
Show scarce so gross as beetles : half way down
Hangs one that gathers samphire ; dreadful trade !
Methinks he seems no bigger than his head.'*

Samphire — Crithomum maritin:«an.
* King Lear, Act iv, Scene 3.

WILD PLANTS USED AS FOOD. 195

A few pungent vegetables, and the aromatics of our
fields, probably seasoned the homely dishes of our
forefathers, before garden cultivation was understood,
or commerce brought the spices of the East, at a
cheap rate, to our doors. The mint and thyme and
marjoram of the downs gave zest to the barley-broth
of the poor cottager — and the mustard and horse-
radish seasoned his salted meat. Several wild species
of cress also answered the same purpose ; amongst
which was Dittander, a species found chiefly in salt
marshes and near the sea. The leaves of this plant
are remarkably hot and acrid, and when pepper ' was
so dear that to promise a saint yearly a pound of it
was considered as a liberal bequest,' these leaves were
no bad substitute for giving pungency to food. They
were frequently used by the peasants for this purpose,
whence the plant has obtained the name of ' poor
man's pepper.'

The FUNGI are the most abundant of spontaneous
esculent vegetables ; but they may be more conve-
niently noticed in another portion of this volume.

CHAPTER IX.

On Vegetable Gardening.

IN the rudest states of society men depend for sup-
plies of food upon the spontaneous products of un-
cultivated wilds. An acre of vegetation will not then
suffice for a single meal. It is a great step in ad-
vance when shepherd tribes convert the pastures,
which grow without any human care, into milk and
meat. When agriculture is established, civilization
has advanced some distance on its journey. But
gardening is a much later stage ; commerce precedes
it. There are few native plants, at least iu the more
northern parts of Europe, as we have seen, that can
be rendered wholesome and agreeable by cultivation.
The inhabitants have received them from distant
soils. When a nation has commercial intercourse
with the uttermost ends of the earth, it soon makes
all the valuable products of other places its own — soon,
in comparison with the length of time it takes to build
up a flourishing, because active and intelligent com-
munity. The Dutch were great gardeners, but they
were previously great merchants. The Dutch, too,
in the height of their prosperity, enjoyed free institu-
tions. Gardening may, to a certain extent, prevail in
despotic countries. There may be splendid retreats of
luxury — bowers and fountains and conservatories —
for the great ; but the cottages have no pretty patches
of rich soil, in which the owner has raised the vegeta-
bles of almost every clime. This power of the most
humble to partake of the same class of enjoyments
with the most exalted in station, is the best indication

ON VEGETABLE GARDENING. 197

of a prosperous and happy people. It has been well
observed, by a popular writer on gardening, who has
perhaps done more than any other individual of our
own times for the advancement of horticultural ob-
jects, that Louis XIV, who set the fashion of orna-
mental gardening, not only in France, but in Europe,
* never, in all probability, added a foot of ground to
the garden of a single cottager, or placed an addi-
tional cabbage or potato on his table.'*

When a country is depopulated by despotism or
civil war, each producing insecurity of property, gar-
dening makes little progress ; but when comforts
become diffused by profitable industry, and a middle-
class is created, the advantages of horticulture are
very generally spread. Harrison has a passage in
his ' Description of England,' which is particularly
illustrative of this principle: — 'Such herbes, fruits,
and roots also, as grow yeerlie out of the ground
of seed, have been verie plentiful in this land in
the time of the First Edward and after his daies;
but in processe of time they grew also to be
neglected, so that from Henrie the Fourth, till the
latter end of Henrie the Seventh, and beginning of
Henrie the Eighth, there was little or no use of them
in England, but they remained either unknowne, or
supposed as food more meet for hogs and savage
beasts to feed upon than mankind: whereas in my
time their use is not onelie resumed among the poore
commons, I meane of melons, pompions, gourds,
cucumbers, radishes, skirrets, parsneps, carrets, cab-
bages, navews, turnips, and all k inds of salad herbs;
but also fed upon daintie dishes at the tables of deli-
cate merchants, gentlemen, and the nobilitie, who
make their provision yearlie fo:r new seeds out of
strange countries, from whenc;e they have them
aboundantlie.'

* Loudon'a Encyclopaedia of Gardening, p. 112.
VOL. XV. 17*

198 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Gardening and agriculture are in some degree
allied in their progress and their results. Vegetables
that have been first introduced as luxuries into our
gardens have in time become the staple productions of
our fields. A remarkable instance of this is presented
in the history of our turnip-husbandry: — 'Until
the beginning of the eighteenth century, this valua-
ble root was cultivated among us only in gardens
or other small spots, for culinary purposes; but
Lord Townshend, attending King George the First
in one of his excursions to Germany, in the quality
of secretary of state, observed the turnip cultivated
in open and extensive fields, as fodder for cattle,
and spreading fertility over lands naturally barren;
and on his return to England, he brought over with
him some of the seed, and strongly recommended the
practice which he had witnessed to the adoption of his
own tenants (in Norfolk), who occupied a soil similar
to that of Hanover. "The experimeat succeeded; the
cultivation of field-turnips gradually spread over the
whole county; and in the course of time it has made
its way into every other district of England. The re-
putation of the county as an agricultural district dates
from the vast improvements of heaths, wastes, sheep-
walks, and warrens, by inclosure and manuring — the
fruit of the zealous exertions of Lord Townshend and
a few neighbouring land-owners — which were, ere
long, happily imitated by others. Since these im-
provements were effected, rents have risen in that
county from one or two shillings to fifteen or twenty
shillings per acre; a country of sheep-walks and rab-
bit-warrens has been rendered highly* productive; and,
by dint of manage ment, what was thus gained has
been preserved and improved even to the present mo-
ment. Some of tho finest corn-crops in the world are
now grown on lands which, before the introduction of
the turnip husbandry, produced a very scanty supply

ON VEGETABLE GARDENING. 199

of grass for a few lean and half- starved rabbits. Mr
Colquhoun, in his ' Statistical Researches,' estimated
the value of the turnip-crop annually grown in this
country at fourteen millions; but when we further
recollect that it enables the agriculturist to reclaim and
cultivate land which, without its aid, would remain in
a hopeless state of natural barrenness; that it leaves
the land so clean and in such fine condition, as almost
to insure a good crop of barley and a kind plant of
clover, and that this clover is found a most excellent
preparative for wheat, it will appear that the subse-
quent advantages derived from a crop of turnips must
infinitely exceed its estimated value as fodder for cattle.
If we were, therefore, asked to point out the individual
who, in modern times, has proved the greatest bene-
factor to the community, we should not hesitate to fix
upon the ingenious nobleman, whom the wits and
courtiers of his own day were pleased to laugh at as
' Turnip Townshend.' In something less than one
hundred years, the agricultural practice which he in-
troduced from Hanover has spread itself throughout
this country, and now yields an annual return which,
probably, exceeds the interest of our national debt.'*

What Lord Townshend did for the agriculture of
this country, the active research of professional gar-
deners does at the present day for our horticulture.
The earth is minutely surveyed for the discovery of
any new vegetable product, and experiments are made
upon every mode of cultivation that may impart a
new value, either of excellence or cheapness, to those
which we already possess. It must be obvious that
in gardening, as in every other art, excellence can
never be attained, -unless the study is systematically
and professionally pursued; and it will only be pur-
sued extensively where society is ready to pay for the
pursuit. In a country where the comforts of life are

* Quart. Rev., No. 72, pp. 395-6.

200 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

very generally distributed, there will the gardener be
most encouraged. In the infancy of societies, where
there is little wealth, the gardener's art does not exist
as a separate occupation. Each family, if there is any
knowledge of gardening, provides for its own wants.
There is reason for believing that, in the middle ages,
the little garden cultivation was principally committed
to the females of the family. The men were fighting.
This plan might be the best under the circumstances
of the case; but it is obvious that the art would not
greatly thrive where there was little profitable in-
dustry of any kind. The growth of trade and man-
ufactures established gardens for the public supply.
When, through the observation of travellers and the
labours of commercial adventurers, the indigenous
productions of different regions were assembled to-
gether in one country, and the mutual wants of man-
kind had caused them to dwell together in thickly
peopled cities, the minute spots once attached to indi-
vidual dwellings, and which sufficed for the constant
supply to their inmates of a few vegetables, would dis-
appear from the towns. More extensive spaces would
be allotted in the neighbourhood, which could be
made to contain all the varieties of soil necessary for
the successful rearing of dissimilar productions; while
the knowledge and the time required for that extended
cultivation would no longer be within the compass of
members of families. From the very necessity of
the case, professional gardeners would be called into
occupation.

There is perhaps no country to be found, wherein
the arts of civilized life have made any considerable
progress, to which the foregoing remarks do not in
some degree npply; although certainly the amount
of skill which has been displayed upon the subject of
gardening varies considerably among different com-
munities. A slight sketch, all that our limits will

ON VEGETABLE GARDENING. 201

admit, of the state of vegetable gardening as it exist-
ed in ancient times, and as it is still practised in various
countries, may not prove wholly without interest.
Our principal materials for this sketch are derived
from the history of gardening in London's Encyclo-
paedia, the perusal of which will abundantly compen-
sate those who are desirous for more minute informa-
tion upon this interesting subject.

The accounts we have received of the gardens of
antiquity are for the most part considered fabulous,
and present no information upon the particular branch
which we are now considering. The hanging gar-
dens of Babylon have been represented as romantic
in point of situation, and magnificent not only for
their extent, but also for the natural difficulties which
were surmounted in their construction. The useful
had, however, but little part in their design ; and of
the less aspiring spots, which were made to minister
to the wants of the people of that city by the produc-
tion of esculent vegetables, it has not been thought ne-
cessary to say one word.

We have abundant reason for believing that the
Jews, during their existence as an independent nation,
were accustomed to cultivate fruits in abundance, but
no mention can be found of the particular herbs and
plants which they without doubt produced for their
daily consumption.

Our knowledge of the mode of gardening practised
in the Chinese empire has been obtained at periods of
recent date ; yet, from what we know of the invete-
rate pertinacity wherewith its inhabitants adhere to
the customs of their ancestors, we are warranted in
believing that the practice of this art has been without
any material alteration for many centuries. The
learned Jesuits Du Halde and Le Comte, who re-
sided as missionaries in China, speak in commenda-

202 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

tion of the manner in which the cultivation of culi-
nary vegetables is managed in that country, where
indeed the practice of horticulture appears to have
reached to considerable perfection, although the sci-
entific principles upon which it should be founded are
wholly unknown.

It is said that the lower orders of people in some
parts of China draw a chief part of their nourish-
ment from the produce of their gardens, and that
they are in possession of some garden esculents which
are peculiar to themselves. We are indebted to
China for several valuable additions to our flower-
gardens, and among the rest for various species of
the Camellia, Pceonia, and Rose ; and it is reasonable
to suppose that the same care would have been
taken for the transmission of seeds of new descrip-
tions of esculents had any such presented them-
selves.

In an empire comprehending so great a variety of
climate, the natural productions must doubtless be
extremely varied, and the Chinese are said to be in
the enjoyment of most of the fruits and vegetables
that are reared throughout Europe. There is little
that is worthy of remark in what has been stated with
regard to the methods employed for the cultivation of
their vegetable gardens. Recent travellers have en-
deavoured to throw an air of discredit upon the re-
lations of the learned men whose accounts have been
already noticed. It is indeed not impossible that
these Reverend Fathers may have endeavoured to
draw a little upon the credulity of their readers ; but,
on the other hand, it must be considered, that while
our own intelligent countrymen who have been ad-
mitted within the borders of the Celestial Empire
have had their opportunities for observation limited to
the time employed in the performance of a rapid jour-
ney, during which they were always watched by a

ON VEGETABLE GARDENING. 203

government escort, their precursors remained for a
considerable time in the country, and could conse-
quently examine things at their leisure and in compa-
rative freedom.

From the earliest times the Persians have been
great gardeners ; but historians and travellers have
only thought deserving of their notice gardens which
have been constructed for the pleasure of monarchs,
or as proofs of their wealth and power.

That the Greeks also took pleasure in horticultural
pursuits we have the direct testimony of Theophrastus
and Aristophanes. Flowers were always in great re-
quest among them. At convivial meetings, at public
festivals, and in religious ceremonies, the presence of
these was always required. To so great an extent
was this use of flowers carried, that artists were esta-
blished in Athens whose sole occupation it was to
compose wreaths and crowns with flowers of different
species, each of which was understood to convey some
particular mythological idea.

The Romans, amid all their conquests, never forgot
to forward the useful arts of life, but carried with
them into other countries such as they already pos-
sessed, while they showed themselves to be willing
learners of others which they found established and
which were new to themselves. It is fortunate for
the interests of humanity that the benefits which they
thus became the means of disseminating were in
their nature such as would soften and repair the mise-
ries occasioned by the sword ; and that these benefits
have remained to bless the countries which their armies
overran.

It may be supposed that an art which was capable
of ministering so greatly to their personal gratification
as that of vegetable gardening would not be neglected
by the Romans. Columella has given a very con-
siderable list of culinary plants which they pos-

204 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

sessed, and some of these must have been both excel-
lent and plentiful, since he speaks of them as being
esteemed both by slaves and kings

The more luxurious among the Romans were ac-
customed to force vegetables, and the Emperor Tibe-
rius is said to have been so fond of cucumbers that he
secured by that means a supply for his table through-
out the year.

The kitchen-gardens of the modern Italians con-
tain nearly every vegetable that we possess ; but
their methods of cultivation are not such as to afford
them in that degree of perfection in which we are
accustomed to enjoy them, and to which the climate
would seem qualified to bring them. The gardens
of the peasants throughout the Italian states are
but very scantily supplied, gourds and Indian corn
comprising nearly all which they are made to con-
tain. It is only in the gardens attached to religious
houses that horticulture is pursued with any skill.
In the labours of these the friars themselves are ac-
customed to assist, while in other situations in that
country the office of a gardener is commonly filled by
one who has had little or no instruction to fit him for
the employment.

Gardens are found universally throughout the
Netherlands, so that, to use the words of Sir W.
Temple, ( gardening has been the common favourite
of public and private men ; — a pleasure of the great-
est, and a care of the meanest, and indeed an em-
ployment and a possession for which no man there is
too high nor too low.' There is not a cottage to be
seen which has not a garden attached to it ; and although
this is sometimes exceedingly small, the high degree
of culture which is bestowed upon it renders the spot
available for the comfort of the cottager's family.
Towards this desirable object every particle of matter
capable of ameliorating the soil is carefully collected

ON VEGETABLE GARDENING. 205

and applied. From these circumstances, it may be
readily supposed that the Dutch are possessed of
every fruit and esculent vegetable that their climate is
capable of maturing.

In France, although gardens are not nearly so
universal as in Holland, they are still very generally
met with, their characteristic quality being that of
neatness. This statement refers, however, more
correctly to the northern than to the southern division
of the kingdom, where the cottagers' gardens resemble
much those of the Italian peasants, as well in their
careless mode of culture as in the paucity of their
contents. Nothing can be objected against the sys-
tem pursued by the market gardeners who supply the
French metropolis, and by whose skill and industry
many vegetables are brought to a very luxuriant
growth. *

In the north of Europe gardening is in general a
favourite pursuit, and the cottages of the peasants are
for the most part provided with a spot of ground suf-
ficient in extent to answer the demands of their
inmates. This is not so much the case, however, in
the Prussian dominions. Cabbages and potatoes
form the greater part of the produce there obtained
by the cottagers. The gardens of the higher classes
are very differently managed, so as to produce vege-
tables in great variety and abundance.

The art of gardening in Russia, in common with
many other useful pursuits, owes its origin to Peter
the Great. Previous to the reign of this monarch, there
was scarcely such a thing known throughout the empire
as a garden, and the only culinary vegetables grown
in the country were a few species of stunted kale.
Even now the use of gardens in that country is con-
fined to the great and wealthy of the land, and their
choice of culinary vegetables is but small. A con-
siderable improvement in this respect is, however,

VOL. xv. 18

206 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

visible of late years, during which time many additions
have been made to their kitchen-gardens by different
travellers.

Potatoes are now cultivated to some extent in
Russia, but they are of recent introduction, and it
was for some time difficult to induce the peasantry
either to cultivate or to eat them, for the simple reason
that they came recommended by their lords, who
were not unnaturally perhaps suspected of some selfish
or sinister motive in that recommendation. Horti-
culture has attained to a high degree of perfection in
Russia under the auspices of its princes and nobles,
and it is a curious fact that more pine-apples are grown
in the immediate vicinity of St Petersburgh than in all
the other countries of continental Europe.

In Poland, gardening was practised earlier than in
Russia, considerable progress having been made in the
art at the end of the seventeenth century during the
reign of Stanislaus Augustus. There is a very re-
markable garden at Warsaw, known by the name of
Lazenki. This was formed, and the palace to which
it was attached was built, by the last king of Poland.
Among other curious and some very magnificent ob-
jects in these gardens, are numerous pedestals ranged
in various situations, and upon these, instead of
sculptured statues, living human figures of both sexes
were placed on festal occasions. These persons were
dressed in classical costume and were taught to assume
and maintain certain attitudes in keeping with the cha-
racters they were intended to represent.

It is to Spain that the rest of Europe is indebted for
the introduction of many plants from Mexico, Chili,
and Peru. Seeds were brought from these regions, in
the reign of Ferdinand the Sixth, for the royal garden
of Madrid, whence their produce has been distributed.
Spain is very rich in cultivated fruits, so that some
species are made to form articles of external commerce;

ON VEGETABLE GARDENING. 207

but the same pre-eminence in garden cultivation does
not now appear which was claimed for her by Colu-
ntiella in the time of the Roman republic, and which
was probably as well deserved during the dominion of
the Moors. The oldest and most extensive gardens
now to be found in Spain are of Moorish origin, and
have once been appendages to the palaces of their
Arabian kings.

The Chinampas, or floating gardens of Mexico, are
justly considered objects of the greatest curiosity.
The invention of these gardens is said to have arisen
out of the extraordinary situation in which the Aztecs
were placed on the conquest of their country by the
Tepanecan nation, when they were confined in great
numbers to the small islands on the lake, and were
driven to exercise all manner of ingenuity in order to
provide a sufficiency of food for their sustenance.
Humboldt conjectures that the first idea of these float-
ing gardens may have been suggested by nature
herself, seeing that, ' on the marshy banks of the
lakes of Xochimilco and Chalco the agitated waters,
in the time of the great floods, carry away pieces of
earth covered with herbs and bound together with
roots. The first Chinampas were mostly fragments
of ground artificially joined together and cultivated.'
Following up this suggestion, it would not be difficult,
by means of wicker-work formed with marine plants
and a substratum of bushes combined with tenacious
earth or clay, to construct similar gardens of adequate
dimensions. Upon these was placed fine black mould
sufficiently deep for the sustenance of the plants which
it was desired to raise. The form usually given to
these Chinampas was quadrangular, and their size
varied from one hundred and fifty to three hundred
feet in length, with a breadth of from twenty to se-
venty feet.

At first the use of these floating gardens was con-
fined to the growth of maize and other objects of

208 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

absolute necessity ; but in the progress of time, and
when the Mexicans had shaken off the yoke which
rendered this restricted appropriation necessary, the
owners of the Chinampas applied themselves to the
production of vegetable luxuries, and grew fruits and
flowers and odoriferous plants, which were used for
the embellishment of their temples and the recreation
of their nobles. Daily at sun-rise, according to the
Abbe Clavigero, were seen to arrive at the city of
Mexico innumerable boats loaded with various kinds
of flowers and herbs, the produce of these floating
islands. The garden is sometimes seen to contain the
cottage of the Indian who is employed to guard a con-
tiguous group of gardens ; and on each one there
is commonly erected a small hut under which the
cultivator can shelter himself from storms or from
the intense heat of the sun. If it is wished to place
the garden in a different place, this is easily ef-
fected by means of long poles, or by rowers placed
in a boat to which the garden is fastened. In the
driest seasons the Chinampas are always productive,
and it is not difficult to renew the powers of the soil
by means of mud taken from the bottom of the
lake, and which is highly fertilizing. One of the
most agreeable recreations afforded to the citizens of
Mexico is that of proceeding in small boats in the
evening among these gardens, the vegetation upon
which is always in a state of luxuriance.

Floating gardens are maintained also on some of
the rivers and canals in China, where an excessive
population produces the same effect as that just men-
tioned as having resulted from the oppression exercised
upon the Aztecs by their Tepanecan conquerors ; and
the inhabitants are obliged to have recourse to every
expedient for increasing the means of subsistence.

Of those emigrants whp under ordinary circum-
stances take up their permanent residence in distant
colonies, a large proportion is drawn from the agri-

ON VEGETABLE GARDENING. 209

cultural classes. It is natural that these people should
provide for their future comfort by conveying with
them seeds of various plants, to the cultivation and use
of which they have been accustomed in their native
land. Accordingly we find, that in almost all places
which have been colonized from Europe, the intro-
duction of such vegetables has been attempted, and in
this respect the condition of colonies frequently presents
a fair evidence of the progress of horticulture in the
'^arent state.

The Dutch, who found at the Cape of Good Hope
' no other fruits than the chestnut, a nut like the wild
almond and the wild plum, and no culinary plants
but a sort of vetch,'* have rendered that colony, as
regards its vegetable productions, one of the most in-
teresting spots with which we are acquainted. Here
are to be seen fruits and flowers, beautiful shrubs, and
the most magnificent trees, all collected together from
every climate and quarter of the globe, and all flou-
rishing in the greatest perfection.

Our colonists in New South Wales have naturalized
in that delightful climate nearly all the culinary
vegetables which are to be found in this country, and
in the market at Sydney some of these are to be seen
in a state of greater perfection than can be given to
them in this climate. The fruits of the South of
Europe are likewise successfully cultivated, and pine-
apples, together with many other productions of the
tropics, are raised with as little trouble as attends the
rearing of cucumbers and melons in this country.

There are good reasons for believing that during
the time of their ascendancy in Britain the Romans
introduced various vegetable productions, together
with the practice of their mode of gardening. This art
never, however, attained to any degree of perfection in
this country until the latter end of the seventeenth cen-

* London's Encyclopaedia of Gardening, p. 108.
VOL. xv. 18*

210 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

tury, and it is probable that the greatest impetus which
it ever received was given by the establishment of the
Horticultural Society in 1805. By the exertions of this
association, full advantage has been gained from the
researches of travellers, and powerful incentives offered
for the experiments of ingenious and scientific men .

At present, with the exception perhaps of Holland,
the*re is no country where the use of gardens is so
general as in our own. The humblest cottage is fre-
quently seen to be surrounded by a small spot, whence
may be drawn a wholesome and agreeable variety for
the frugal board of the inhabitants; and even in towns,
where the power of vegetation is scarcely able to with-
stand the effects of the confined and noxious atmo-
sphere, a few yards of soil are often appropriated to
the same purpose.

' The laborious journeyman mechanic,' says Mr
Loudon, ' whose residence in large cities is often in
the air rather than on the earth, decorates his garret
window with a garden of pots. The debtor deprived
of personal liberty, and the pauper in the work-house,
divested of all property in external things, and without
any fixed object on which to place their affections,
sometimes resort to this symbol of territorial appro-
priation and enjoyment. So natural it is for all to
fancy they have an inherent right in the soil, and so
necessary to happiness to exercise the affections by
having some object on which to place them.'*

It is unnecessary in this place to enlarge upon the
actual state of vegetable gardening in Great Britain.
How greatly advanced that state really is, will be made
evident from the perusal of the following pages, which
serve to record, among other things, the skill and in-
dustry of our countrymen in drawing together and
naturalizing upon our soil so many productions of
such distant regions for our innocent gratification.

* London's Encyclopaedia of Gardening, p. 95.

CHAPTER X.

Leguminous Plants.

THE Legumes, or Pulse, are, perhaps, next to the
Cerealia and the Potato, the most important of escu-
lent vegetables. They are numerous, most univer-
sally diffused, and many which are not applicable for
human food can still be advantageously used as nou-
rishment for domestic animals.

The whole of the edible legumes, with the excep-
tion of some of the species which grow on trees, have
their flowers papilionaceous, or resembling butterflies
in shape. The seeds are contained in an oblong le-
gumen, or pod, consisting of two valves, on the upper
suture of which they are placed alternately on each
side. These seeds, in germinating, have no power of
pushing forth more than one stem, as in the case, of
the cerealia, so that the pea does not tiller, but the
buds on the stem produce fertile branches.

Carbonic acid gas is always generated when plants,
particularly leguminous plants, are in the greatest
vigour of vegetation. The quantity of this gas which
is then given out, and more especially during the
period of flowering, is very considerable, and being
heavier than atmospheric air, it is carried along the
surface of the earth into pits and cavities, in the
same manner as a flood of water would be carried,
only that its effects are the sole indications of its
presence.

It is said that miners, in fertile districts where le-
gumes are extensively cultivated, are but too well

212 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

aware of the production of this mephitic gas, of the
noxious effects of which they are sometimes made
fatally sensible. Under particular states of the wea-
ther, which are known to the overseers from expe-
rience and observation, the men do not then go to
work until a fire-grate has been let down in one of the
ventilation pits, as deep as the rooms or galleries in
which the operations are to be carried on. If the fire
in the grate will not burn, of course their labours are
suspended, until, by the play of the atmospheric cur-
rent between pits at different elevations, the supera-
bundant carbonic acid gas is removed.

The principal legumes cultivated in Britain are the
pea, the bean, and the kidney-bean; which, according
to the analyses that have been made, contain quan-
tities of nutritive matter, diminishing in the order in
which they have been enumerated, and all of them
much less than any of the cerealia.

Peas contains fifty-seven and a half per cent of nu-
tritive matter, a proportion of which is saccharine.
Beans have very nearly as much nutriment, but it is
not entirely composed of the same principles. No
saccharine matter ready formed is found in this vege-
table, which is considered a coarse though nutritive
esculent. Kidney-beans do not contain more than
nine per cent of nutritive matter.

THE PEA — Pisum — is a climbing plant, furnished
with tendrils at the terminations of the compound
leaves ; and none of the species, not even the dwarf
kind, can sustain their stems in an upright position,
without either interlacing with each other, or clinging
to some extraneous support.

The varieties of this genus are very many. Bota-
nists enumerate several species, which they regard as
being distinct. The chief of these are the common or
cultivated pea (pisum snlivum^ — the sea-pea (pisum
maritimum}, — the Cape-Horn pea (pisum

LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 213

eanum), — and the yellow flowering pea (pisttm
ockrus). The first is the only one which is deemed
eligible for cultivation in Britain. The sea-pea is a
native of England, which we have noticed in Chapter
VIII.

The Pisum Jlmencanum is a biennial plant which
was found growing at Cape Horn by some of the
people attached to Lord Anson's expedition. This
fresh pulse was a most welcome addition to the ordi-
nary sea provisions, and under such circumstances
it appeared to be of more excelling flavour than the
common pea. It was accordingly brought home and
propagated, but was soon found not to equal even
the worst sort of those which were already in culti-
vation, and it is now only preserved in botanical col-
lections. The flowers are blue, each peduncle sus-
taining four or five flowers, the pods taper, and the
seeds are very small.

The yellow flowering pea is found in a wild state
in the corn-fields of Sicily, and some parts of Italy,
but is here merely preserved in botanic gardens for
the sake of variety. The peduncles have but one
flower each, and the pods and seeds are larger than
those of the sea-pea. They are sometimes eaten, but
they are coarse and of little value.

The native country of the common pea is not
known, it having been a cultivated vegetable before
the commencement of botanical history. It is prob-
able, however, that it was introduced into Britain
from the warmer parts of Europe, and may have
been brought to these from Egypt and Syria. It is
known in India, China, and Cochin China; but it is
not very plentiful in those places, and there is no
evidence of its being a native plant. It is more
abundant in the Japan Isles, the climate and soil of
which agree better with its habits; and therefore there
is reason to conclude that it is not a native of very

214 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

dry and burning regions; neither is it the offspring
of very frigid climes, since it is soon affected by cold,
severe weather, and the leaves become blackened by
the autumnal frosts.

Historical evidence would make it appear that both
the pea and the bean must not only have been intro-
duced, but extensively cultivated in some parts of
Scotland, as well as in England, at a very early
period. It is on record, that when the English forces
were besieging a castle in Lothian, in the year 1299,
their supply of provisions was exhausted, and their
only resource was in the peas and beans of the sur-
rounding fields. This circumstance would lead to a
belief that the pea was then one of the staple articles
of produce for human food.

The more delicate kinds, however, do not appear
to have been cultivated in England until a much
later period, since Fuller informs us that peas, in the
time of Queen Elizabeth, were brought from Holland,
and were ' fit dainties for ladies, they came so far,
and cost so dear.' In the reign of Henry VIII, too,
the pea would appear to be somewhat of a rarity, as
in the Privy Purse Expenses of that king is an entry,
' paied to a man in rewarde for bringing pescodds to
the King's grace, iiijs, viiid. ' From a song, how-
ever, called ' London Lyckpeny,' made in the time of
Henry VI, peascods appear to have been commonly
sold in London:

' Then unto London I dyde me hye,
Of all the land it bearyeth the pryse;
" Code pescode," one began to cry.'
At Windsor there is a street called ' Peascod,' men-
tioned by that name in old documents.

The use of the pea as an esculent, both in its green
and its dried state, is too familiar to need description.
This plant is annually cultivated to a great extent in
Britain; perhaps, since the more general introduction

LEGUMINOUS PLANTS.

of the potato, a diminution of pease culture may have
taken place in the poorer districts; but peas are al-
ways in constant requisition in this country; they are
consumed in immense quantities as sea-provisions;
they are likewise largely supplied to hospitals, infir-
maries, and work-houses, and are in familiar use in
every private family.

The principal varieties of the common pea are the
white or yellow, and the gray. Soil and culture have
probably produced all the varieties under the two
sorts; different as they now are, both in their colours
and their qualities, and even in the number of flowers
and pods growing from each peduncle.

Among gray peas, where much attention has not
been paid to the purity of the seed, it is not unusual
to find several shades of colour from a deep purple
almost approaching to a black, to a very pale or nearly
white hue. In even the same parcel, some seeds are
gray, some mottled, and others purple.

The white and yellow peas are distinguished as
garden peas and field peas. The former being the
choice sorts, are raised by more careful and expensive
culture for the purpose of being eaten green; the
latter, inferior chiefly on account of the manner of their
being raised, are allowed to come to maturity.

The sub-varieties of the common pea are never-
ending. These have obtained their names, some
from imaginary qualities, some from the peculiar
mode of culture, others from the persons who first
produced them, and some from more fanciful distinc-
tions. Of those no less than twenty-two are enumer-
ated as being objects of garden culture, differing in
the colour of the flowers, height of the haulm or stalk,
time of coming to maturity, produce of legumes, or
size and flavour of the seeds. The varieties are in
different degrees tender or hardy; if, then, a due re-
gard be paid to the choice of soil and situation, and

216 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

the time of sowing most favourable to the respective
kinds, the success of the crop may, in a great mea-
sure, be commanded.

The varieties of the garden peas may, therefore, be
divided into early and late. The former are distin-
guished as being more slender in the plant, and less
abundant in the crop, but they are more hardy, and
can better withstand the cold weather; while some
kinds admit better of being forced, and thus can be
produced at the earliest approach of summer, as the
grand vegetable luxury of the season. The late sorts
are more vigorous, and more productive both in the
number of the pods, and the size of the grain; and
as they come to maturity by the natural heat of the
season, and in a free change and circulation of the
air, they are more rich and saccharine. Thus it hap-
pens, as is the case with many other articles of human
food, that green peas are really of the best quality
when they are so cheap that they may be purchased
by the people generally.

The pea goes through all the stages of its vegetation
in a very brief period. More than one instance is on
record of a crop being obtained from seed matured
the same season. Some Spanish dwarf peas were
sown in February, and the crop was reaped the first
week in July; some of the pods were left to mature
their seed, which when sufficiently ripe were again
committed to the earth on the same piece of ground,
and a second crop was reaped on the 27th of Sep-
tember.*

To obtain the very earliest crops, the seeds are
sown in a dry soil, about the end of October; in
favourable situations and seasons they stand through
the winter, and if the spring be a forward one they
may be ready for gathering about the end of May.
They are a precarious crop, however, and do not pay

* Fleming's British Farmer's Magazine, Nov. 1826.

LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 217

the cultivator, unless they are produced so early as to
command a very high price. In consequence of the
uncertainty of the winter, in places where the demand
is such as to bear the expense, the earliest peas are
brought forward in hot-beds.

Of peas sown in the field there are several varieties.
The dark sorts are generally the longest in coming to
maturity, and they have the rankest flavour. In fa-
vourable places, if they are sown in autumn, and
cleared the instant they are ripe, they may be followed
by turnips the same year; but if the sowing is delayed
till after Christmas, the ground will not be free in time
for any crop save winter wheat. A crop of peas is
considered to improve the soil, especially for turnips.
But it is not on the whole very profitable, unless upon
very rich loams, in which situation they are often sown
with beans, and the produce used as food for stock.
The bean-stalks, from their greater strength, prevent
the peas from lodging.

THE BEAN — Vicia faba — has been cultivated in
Britain from very remote antiquity, having been in
all probability introduced into this country by the Ro-
mans. It is said to have originated in Egypt ; per-
haps because the Greeks, from whom we have the
earliest accounts of it, received it from that country as
a cultivated vegetable. Some travellers affirm that
the bean is found growing wild in Persia, near the
shores of the Caspian ; but that part of Asia has been
subjected to so many fluctuations, to so many alterna-
tions of culture and destruction, that it is not easy to
decide whether any plants which may be discovered
vegetating spontaneously be really indigenous, or
only the remains of a former cultivation. In many
parts of Britain, where all other memorials of former
habitations and culture have been swept away, certain
plants are found growing which a traveller passing
hastily over the country would very naturally describe

VOL. xv. 19

218 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

as indigenous, since of their introduction the present
inhabitants of the vicinity could most probably give
him no account, but which from history and the nature
of the plants themselves are known to be exotics in-
troduced at a specific time.

Beans are cultivated over many countries, as far to
the eastward as China and Japan, and they are very
generally used as an esculent in many parts of Africa;
from its northern coast some of the more valuable
varieties were transplanted by the Moors into Spain,
and by the Portuguese into their own country.

This plant is grown abundantly in Burbary, where
it is usually full-podded at the latter end of February,
and continues in bearing during the whole of spring.
When stewed with oil and garlic, beans form, accord-
ing to Shaw, the principal food of persons of all classes.

The bean in its green state is well known as a culi-
nary vegetable ; when mature and dried it is never
used as human food in this country, but is then con-
sidered good, though coarse nourishment for labour-
ing horses. Campbell, in his Political Survey, pub-
lished 1774, mentions that beans are exported for
the food of the negroes in our plantations, and are
employed in feeding horses at home ; so that alto-
gether they are in daily use, and most certainly turn
to a very considerable amount.'* Provisions for this
unhappy race of human beings are in the present day
somewhat better selected, and horse-beans do not any
longer form an article of export to the colonies.

All the cultivated beans are annuals, having up-
right fibrous stems rising from two to four feet high.
The flowers are usually white, with a black spot in

* King stated the annual consumption of beans at that period
to be four millions, and of peas seven millions of bushels.
Campbell, indeed, considered this estimate to be excessive, but
if it at all approximates to the truth, it shows that these
legumes were then cultivated to a very great extent.

LEGUBIINOUS PLANTS. 219

the middle of the wing ; these are succeeded by long
thick legumes, woolly within, and enclosing large flat
seeds. These flowers are very fragrant, and the rich
perfume of a bean-field, when the plants are in full
blossom, is as familiar as it is delightful to all lovers
of simple rural pleasures. The popular division of the
several varieties is, like that of peas, into field beans and
garden beans ; the same variety is, however, often cul-
tivated in both situations. The large variety called the
' Windsor Bean ' is said to have been first cultivated
in that neighbourhood by some of the Dutch gardeners
who came over at the Revolution. There is a field
near Eton still called ' the Dutchman's garden.'

Beans are propagated by seed sown in rows from
two to three feet asunder, either by the dibble or by
drilling ; the early kinds in October, and from De-
cember to January inclusive. The main crop is sown
in March and April, and the several varieties are con-
tinued in monthly succession until July. For late
crops the seeds, previously to being used, are soaked
for several hours in soft water. Some cultivators cut
off the tops of the plants when in bloom, which ope-
ration is supposed to promote an earlier and more
abundant production of well-filled legumes. While a
very late crop may be obtained by cutting down the
plants, as soon as they are in flower, to within a few
inches of the base. New stalks spring from the roots,
and yield pods at an advanced period of the year.

The bean, though a coarser plant than the pea, is
much more liable both to disease and to the depreda-
tions of insects. When the plants become sickly from
an unfavourable soil or season, small fungi are apt to
form withinside the epidermis, such as the nestling
spheria (sphceria nidula), upon the roots, and the
bean blight (uredo fabce) upon the stems and leaves.
Though these are most probably the consequence of a
diseased state of the plants, they so destroy the epi-

220 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

dermis as to render recovery impossible, and the crop
is greatly injured or altogether destroyed. The black
aphis also often commits terrible havoc ; it generally
appears first in the young leaves of the top, and there-
fore may be removed by a little timely care without
injuring the plants, but if once it is allowed time to
establish itself, it is very difficult of eradication.

The KIDNEY BEAN — (Phaseolus). — Two species
are cultivated in England, both natives of warm
countries, and though they grow and pod well in
Britain during the warm months, they will neither
bear the frosts of early spring, nor those of late autumn.
The dwarf kidney-bean (Pliaseohis vulgaris], a native
of India, but erroneously called the French bean, is
mentioned as being in common cultivation in England
in the year 1597. The species called the runner
(Phdseolus multiflorus) was introduced from South
America in the year 1633. It is supposed that the
scarlet variety, which grows so tall and is so prolific, was
first cultivated about that time by Tradescant, the
celebrated gardener at Lambeth. It was then, we are
told, in so great repute for its flowers, that they formed
the leading ornament in the nosegays of the ladies ;
and it seems to have kept its place only as an orna-
mental plant for nearly a hundred years, as its
legumes were seldom used as an edible substance until
brought into notice by Miller of Chelsea in the
eighteenth century.

The general characteristics of the two species are
the same. The leaves are ternate, attached to long
petioles; and the flowers, differing in colour according
to the variety, grow on racemes or short lateral
branches coming out from one common peduncle.
These are succeeded by oblong pods containing
smooth shining seeds of a kidney shape.

The stems are more or less voluble in all, but those
of the dwarf kind are of very low growth, and require

LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 221

no support. The stalks of the runners ascend eight or
ten feet, and, therefore, either tall sticks are provided
around which they may wind, or they are planted near
a building or fence from which slender cords are sus-
pended, and the flexile stems as they rise clasp and
entwine themselves with these. ' It deserves notice,
that in their voluble habit of growth the tendrils turn
to the right or in a direction contrary to the apparent
diurnal course of the sun . this aberration from the
common habit of plants has been accounted for by
supposing that the native climate of the scarlet runner
will be found to lie south of the equator, and that the
plant, although removed to the northern hemisphere, is
still obedient to the course originally assigned to it,
turning in a direction which in its native climate would
be towards the sun.' *

Both species are tender plants, and seldom thrive if
they are sown very early in the season ; but in favour-
able weather they are prolific bearers, especially the
scarlet runner, which for a long continuance yields a
plentiful crop from one sowing.

In England, only the immature pod is used as
a legume. The ripe seeds known by the name of
haricots are prepared in various ways as a favourite
edible in France ; where the dwarf white kidney-bean
is extensively cultivated as a field crop, to furnish a
supply of their seeds, which are in so constant demand.
The seeds of the Dutch runners, which are larger than
these, and of a superior quality, are made into a kind
of soup, which is held in much esteem in Holland.
The leaves likewise of the kidney-bean afford when
boiled a culinary vegetable which the Nubians con-
sider an excellent esculent.

Some varieties of the kidney -bean are found in cul-
tivation throughout almost every civilized country of
the western as well as the eastern hemisphere. The

* Loud. Encyc. of Gardening, p. 694.
VOL. xv. 19*

222 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

small black beans called fricollis, which are in gene-
ral demand all over Mexico, are no doubt a kind of kid-
ney-bean. Recent travellers in that country relate
that immense fields of these are under cultivation for
the supply of the large cities, where they form a part
of every meal, and are not only in great favour with
the inhabitants, but are considered excellent even by
strangers.

Among the productions of Bornou, Major Denham
enumerates four kinds of beans, which are raised in
great quantities, called mussaqua, marya, kleeny, and
kimmay, all known by the general name of gafooly.
These are eaten by the slaves and the poorer people.
A paste compounded from beans and fish was the
only eatable the Major and his companions could find
in the towns near the river. *

THE LENTIL — Ervum — is a small climbing plant,
with weak stalks, about a foot and a half high. The
leaves are winged, and each is terminated by a tendril.
The flowers, of a pale purple colour, are succeeded
by short flat pods containing two or three flat round
seeds. Another sort, distinguished as the French
lentil, is of much larger growth than the former, and
altogether more worthy of cultivation. These plants
are rarely raised in England, and then only as food for
cattle. In most parts of the Continent they are cul-
tivated for the use of man, and the seeds are made
into soups, or become an ingredient in other culinary
preparations. They are readily softened by, and
mix with, water, forming with it a pottage of a choco-
late colour. In Catholic countries, where the formu-
lary of the church enjoins a number of meagre days,
such plants as the kidney-bean and the lentil are
more cultivated than they are in countries where the
religion of the people does not prescribe the same
observances. In England there are no fasts scattered

* Denham'A Travels, vol. ii, p. 143.

LEGUMINOUS PLANTS.

223

through the year on which the people are expected to
subsist upon pulse with the addition of vegetable oils.
The use of haricots and lentils is therefore but little
known in this country.

Chick Pea — Cicer arietinum.

The CHICKPEA — Cicer arieiinum — is another
small legume which is occasionally cultivated in the
south of .Europe, especially in Spain, where it is used
as a dyeing ingredient as well as an article of food.
It is known there, and on the opposite coast of the Me-
diterranean, by the name of garavance or garvanzos.
These seeds do not, like most other pulse, become of
a soft and pulpy consistence by boiling, and therefore
they never constitute a dish by themselves, but are

224 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

strewed singly as xa garnish over certain savoury
viands, and form part of the o//o, a dish composed of
bacon, cabbage, pumpkin, and garvanzos, with which
a Spanish dinner almost invariably commences. The
chick-pea, when parched, has been much esteemed
among many nations from the earliest periods of
history, and in that state it still continues an article
of great consumption. According to Bellonius,*
this pea was the parched pulse which formed the
common provision of the Hebrews when they took
the field ; and Cassianus "f supposes it to have been
the terrified seed mentioned by Plautus and Aristo-
phanes. The frictum cicer seems also to have con-
stituted a part of the usual food of the lower orders at
Rome. J

In those warm and arid countries where travellers
are constrained to carry their scanty provisions witb
them across vast desert tracts, they gladly supply
themselves with small dried substances which require
much mastication, and thus stimulate the salivary
glands. Under these circumstances parched chick-
peas, or leblebby, are in great demand, and are
as common in the shops as biscuits in those of Eng-
land. In Grand Cairo and Damascus there are
many persons who make it their sole business to fry
peas, for the supply of those who traverse the desert.

The seeds of the kerkedan, a small shrub found
growing wild and sometimes cultivated in the north of
Nubia, are made into a kind of bread, and form the
principal food of the Kerrarish Arabs ; and a decoc-
tion of the roasted grains is used as a substitute for
coffee. Another shrub, called symka, indigenous
to the same country, produces legumes resembling

* Calm. Diet. Bibl., lib. ii, cap. 53.
t Cassian. Collat. 8.

t Plautus Bacch. act iv, 6, 7. Hor. Serm. lib. 2, sat. 3, 1.
182 ; de Arte Poet. ), 249.

LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 225

peas, and containing round rose-coloured seeds which
afford excellent nourishment for camels, and are, when
green, employed as human food. These likewise
' the Arabs collect and dry, and by hard boiling
obtain from them an oil which they use instead of
butter to grease their hair and bodies.' *

Various descriptions of pulse are cultivated in the
East, but these are seldom of a large growth. The
culture of smaller legumes as human Ibod, similarly
with that of the millets and other small-seeded
grains, is adapted only to that state of society in
which the money-price of labour is low, and yet
where the climate and other concurring circumstances
are obstacles to the cultivation of the more valuable
kinds of vegetables. Moisture and heat, as well as a
soil comparatively rich, are. required for the production
of rice ; and the cerealia grown in more temperate
climates cannot be raised unless there be either a
sufficiency of manure, which cannot be procured with-
out an abundant stock of domesticated animals, or a
natural richness of soil, which is incompatible with
dry land in a warm climate.

In the elevated parts of India which lie out of the
direction of the periodical rains, a scanty irrigation
can at best be obtained, and that only by sinking
deep wells or by constructing tanks and reservoirs at
a great expense ; where these imperfect means are
not within reach, the ground is scarcely ever mois-
tened, as probably a shower of rain does not fall
during six months. Under these circumstances the
cultivation of pulse is resorted to as a matter of neces-
sity, and the smaller and the more hardy these are,
the more certain is the prospect of their yielding a crop.
In sultry climates there is often a portion of humidity
which plays in the atmosphere, and which will form
dew upon the leaves of a plant, when the evaporative

* Burckhardt's Nubia, p. 46.

226 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

power of the naked and baked earth is so great that
not a condensed drop will settle upon it, or a trace of
moisture be found. From this cause dew may be seen
early in the morning spangling the verdant lawn when
there is no humidity whatever upon the gravel walk 5
and upon a burnt-up heath, any plant which may
have preserved its greenness, will attract moisture,
when the withered grass continues perfectly dry. The
pulses which are sown in the rainless parts of India
not only preserve themselves, but often aid in pre-
serving millet and other small grain with which they
are mixed. When the Hindu, in his simple hus-
bandry, sows several kinds of seed on the same land,
he does not therefore give a proof of his ignorance of
the art. There is in it a little of the schooling of ex-
perience — the practical knowledge of the climate with
which he has to deal. He sows his small grain in
order that he may have a good crop if the season
should send him rain ; and he at the same time sows
pulse in order that he may not only reap pulse in the
event of a drought, but that he may even then perhaps
obtain with it a little accompanying grain.

CHAPTER XI.

Succulent Roots.

THE vegetables which belong to the class of escu-
lents to be hereafter described are mostly auxiliary
substances, which are not in themselves sufficiently
nutritive to form the whole food of human beings in a
state of health and activity; but which require the
addition of something more substantial, even by those
who eat merely to satisfy the wants of nature, rather
than to stimulate an artificial appetite.

The substances which have been already treated
of may be considered as stores of matter laid up by
nature for the growth of vegetables. The auxiliary
substances are mostly vegetables in a growing or
active state.

The TURNIP — Brasslca rapa. A species of turnip
is to be occasionally found growing in a wild state in
some parts of Britain ; but the root of this plant is of
no value, and experiments have proved that cultivation
cannot, under an English sky at least, convert this
wild variety into that of which the root is used as an
edible substance.

The turnip was well known to the Romans, and all
that can be gathered on this subject from the writings
of the ancients renders it probable that it occupied
nearly the same place in Roman culture as it does in
British husbandry in the present day. Columella*
recommended that the growth of turnips should be

* De Re Rustica, lib. ii, cap. 10.

228

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

abundant, because those which were not required for
human food could be given with much advantage to
cattle; and both Pliny and he concur in their testi-
mony, that this produce was esteemed next to corn in
utility and value. The best grew in the country of
the Sabines, and were worth at Rome a sestertius or
two-pence each.*

Flowers and Pods of the Turnip.

It is averred that the Roman method of cultivation
must have been superior to that of the moderns, since
Pliny relates that some single roots weighed as much
as forty pounds, a weight far surpassing any which
has been obtained by the most skilful modern agricul-
turists. Indeed, the large size of the Roman turnip
is supposed by some authors to furnish a collateral
proof of the colder temperature of Italy in ancient than-

* Hist. Nat., lib. 18, c. 13, lib. 19, c. 5.

SUCCULENT ROOTS. 229

in modern times. Speculations, however, raised upon
what might perhaps have been an exaggerated state-
ment of the Roman naturalist must be purely hypothet-
ical. It is certainly found by experience that a warm
climate is not so favourable to the growth of the turnip
as cold moist regions. Though receiving equally care-
ful culture, it does not attain to the same size in the south
as in the north of England and in Scotland, while it
thrives best in the west of the latter country, and in
those parts of Ireland where the climate is the most
humid. Though the colder parts of the temperate
regions are found most favourable for this cultivation,
the countries of still higher latitudes are not congenial
to the growth of the turnip. Those arctic climes
where the summer, though brief, is dry and warm, are
decidedly adverse to its successful cultivation.

It is very probable that the garden culture of the
turnip was introduced by the Romans into this country,
and that, like some of the fruit-trees which they had
transplanted here, though neglected, it was never alto-
gether lost; and, if appearing to be so for a time, was
restored by the monks, those constant guardians and
fosterers of horticulture.

. There is no doubt that this root was in cultivation
in the sixteenth century. Whether revived by native
industry, or introduced at that period by the Flemings,
is a question differently answered by different writers;
nor does the inquiry possess much interest. Turnips
were partially grown for many years in this country,
before they came into extensive notice. Horticultural
pursuits were at that time so little understood and
practised here, that even the most successful issue
which attended the cultivation of the turnip in Norfolk,
a county peculiarly adapted to its growth, failed for a
time to be followed by its more extended adoption ;
and a considerable period elapsed before it travelled
out of Norfolk into Suffolk, and thence into Essex.
VOL. xv. 20

230 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Towards the latter end of the sixteenth century it is
mentioned by more than one writer. Cogan, in his
' Haven of Health,' published in 1597, says, that
' although many men love to eat turnips, yet do swine
abhor them.' Gerarde, who published in the same
year, and who had rather more rational views on the
subject of plants, leads us to conclude that more than
one variety was cultivated in the environs of London
at that time. ' The small turnip,' says he, ' grown by
a village near London, called Hackney, in a sandie
ground, and brought to the Crosse in Cheapside by the
women of that village to be solde, are the best that I
ever tasted. Gerarde is silent concerning the field cul-
ture of turnips; neither is this mentioned by Parkin-
son, who wrote in 1629. It is not until the close of
the seventeenth century that we can find any account
of this root being thus cultivated in any part of the
country.

The turnip, in some of its varieties, is of very uni-
versal culture throughout Europe. In Sweden it is
a very favourite vegetable. We also learn from the
interesting journal of Linnaeus, that even so far north
as Lapmark the colonists sow annually a considerable
quantity of turnip-seed, which frequently succeeds very
well and produces a plentiful crop. The native Lap-
landers are so fond of this root that they are often
induced to part with a whole cheese in exchange for
one single turnip, 'than which nothing,' our author
adds, ' can be more foolish.'*

In Russia, turnips are used as fruit and eaten
with avidity by all classes. In the houses of the
nobility, the raw turnip cut in slices is handed about
on a silver salver, with brandy, as a provocative to the
more substantial meal. ' The first nobleman of the
empire,' says Dr Clarke, ' when dismissed by his
sovereign from attendance upon his person, may be

* Vol. i, p. 174.

-

SUCCULENT ROOTS. 231

found throughout the day with his neck bare, his beard
lengthened, his body wrapped in a sheep's-skin, eat-
ing raw turnips, and drinking quass.'*

It is said that the root of the turnip cultivated
in the plains of Germany seldom exceeds half a pound
in weight ; and that in France and countries still far-
ther to the south they are yet more diminutive.
These are, however, no doubt a particular species
naturally of a small growth, and it must not thence
be inferred that hot countries are wholly inimical to
this production. At Benares, in Hindostan, a latitude
of about 26°, turnips, radishes, asparagus, cauli-
flowers, and other garden vegetables are raised in con-
siderable plenty by the natives, and exposed to sale in
the bazaars, principally for European purchasers,"!" to
whom these plants of home association are welcome
even among the rich display of tropical productions,
and even though they cannot be obtained in their
native excellence, being comparatively tasteless when
raised under the fervid sun of India.

The turnip is a biennial plant ; the appearance of
its large radical leaves is familiar to every body. In
the second season after sowing, a flowering stem
shoots up, which bears flowers having the four petals
arranged in the form of a cross, and therefore called
cruciform. The varieties both under garden and
field culture are very numerous ; while these again
differ with soil and climate, and manner of cultivation.
When destined for human food, of course the quality
more than the size is considered ; but in raising them
as an economic aliment for cattle the greatest possible
quantity of nourishment which can be produced in a
given space is the object most to be desired. Various
sorts, differing in size, shape, and colour, but all
assuming, in a greater or less degree, the globular or

* Clarke's Travels in Russia, vol. i, p. 46.
t Tennant's Indian Recreations.

232 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

spheroidal form, are the objects of either garden or
field culture. Of these there are ten varieties in com-
mon cultivation, distinguished by colour, size, time of
coming to maturity, productiveness, or flavour.
Among this number, the Maltese golden turnip is a
very fine variety, of one uniform orange tinge. It is
perfectly spherical r and the crown and tap-root are
both so very email, that if dexterously removed the
exact parts of the root whence they were divided are
not easily discernible. When quite fresh, and just
before it has acquired its full consistence, it makes its
appearance in the northern parts of the country with
the dessert, and it is considered to be superior both in
form and flavour to many fruits. The Swedish
turnip is another variety of a much larger growth, and
of a more hardy nature than any of the other kinds
under cultivation ; this is very seldom raised among
garden vegetables, as it is too strong and harsh to be
acceptable for human food. It has, however, the ad-
vantage of surviving through seasons when even the
hardiest of the others would be destroyed. This
turnip is largely cultivated in fields and employed as
food for cattle.

The root of the French turnip, or naveu, differs
from the other varieties, having more the appearance,
in shape and size, of the carrot. It is of a very fine
flavour, and in high repute on the Continent. When
used, the outer rind is not peeled off as in the common
turnip, but merely scraped, since the peculiar taste
chiefly resides in that part. In France, as well as in
Germany, few great dinners are set on the table with-
out this vegetable appearing under some form, either
enriching the gravies and stews, or prepared as a
viand by itself.* The naveu was more cultivated in
this country a century ago than it is at present, being
now but rarely found in our gardens.

* Hort. Trans.

SUCCULENT. ROOTS. • 233

In Barbary a small parsnip-like turnip with fibrous
roots, called in that country el bashoure, is held in
much esteem for its agreeable pungency.*

A light gravelly soil, broken fine by tillage, is most
favourable to the production of turnips of the best
quality ; but they will succeed in almost any land.
Any poor, light, sandy ground suits the naveu, which
has the great advantage of never requiring any
manure in its cultivation.

Turnips may be obtained in this country in suc-
cession almost throughout the year by sowing seed
every month in spring and summer. This is dis-
tributed broad-cast, or sometimes sown in drills in the
proportion- of about half an ounce of seed to one
hundred square feet. As soon as the plants are
sufficiently advanced, having rough leaves of- about
an inch broad, they are hoed and thinned to six or
eight inches apart from each other. In the early
stages of their growth turnips are rather a delicate
crop. When they first put forth their tender and
succulent seed-leaves, they are liable to be preyed
upon by a peculiar species of beetle called thence the
turnip fly ; this is extremely destructive, and various
preventives against the evil have been suggested.
Several preparations of the seeds previously to sow-
ing have by turns been recommended, such as steep-
ing them in sulphur-water or sprinkling them with
soot at the time of sowing ; these, however, have
not been considered efficacious, and even when
they have apparently been successful, perhaps it has
been under circumstances in which the plants would
have equally escaped without any precautionary mea-
sure . No insect can very well deposit its eggs in the
seed of the turnip before it is in the ground, at least
there is no known species which perforates the pods
£r that purpose. The sulphur or soot, or any other

* Shaw's Travels.
VOL. xv. 20*

234 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

application, is of course thrown off with the tunic or
outer coat, and does not in any way protect the co-
tyledon or side lobes of the seed, which come up
in the form of leaves, and in which the eggs of
the fly are then deposited. By some cultivators
these leaves are powdered with quick-lime as soon
as they show themselves above ground ; a plan
which appears the most rational for preventing the
mischief. One of the easiest remedies against it,
however, is recommended by Neill, to sow thick,
and thus ensure a sufficiency of plants both for the
fly and the crop. As soon as the rough leaves are
a little developed the danger from the insect depre-
dator ceases.

Turnips, if carefully cultivated, attain to a very
great size in this country, though appearing insig-
nificant when compared with the gigantic root of the
Roman naturalist. Tull* speaks of some weighing
as much as nineteen pounds, and of often meeting
with others of sixteen pounds. In Surrey, a Swedish
turnip, the seed of which had been sown in July, was
dug up in October, 1828, which weighed twenty-one
pounds, and was one yard in circumference. t But
these are far surpassed by one which was pulled up
in 1758 at Tudenham, in Norfolk, and which weighed
twenty-nine pounds. J In No. 360 of the Philoso-
phical Transactions, we find a curious calculation made
by Dr Desaguliers, on the rapid increase of a turnip
root. One ounce of turnip-seed was found by him to
contain between fourteen and fifteen thousand single
seeds ; therefore, one seed would weigh one-fourteen
or one fifteen-thousandth part of an ounce ; and
assuming its growth to be always uniform, a turnip-
seed may increase fifteen times its own weight in a
minute ! By an actual experiment made on moss or

* Tull'i Horse-Hoeing Husbandry.

t Gard. Mag. t Campbell's Pol. Survey, vol. ii.

SUCCULENT ROOTS.

peat ground, turnips have been found to increase by
growth 15,990 times the weight of their seeds each
day they stood upon it. It is not, however, only the
size and weight of the root which renders this crop so
productive ; the number contained in a given space,
with reference to their size, is very great. Some
writers speak rather marvellously on this subject, but
it is generally thought a good crop to obtain a turnip
from each square foot of ground. Mill considers an
average crop to be 11 ,664 roots per acre, which at
six pounds each will be 69,984 pounds.

The uses of the turnip as a culinary vegetable are
too familiarly known to require that they should be
here enumerated. Though in very extensive favour
among the moderns, the different modes of preparing
it appear poor and insipid compared with those efforts
of gastronomic skill by which the ancients made it
assume so many inviting forms. It is related that
( the king of Bithynia, in some expedition against
the Scythians, in the winter, and at a great distance
from the sea, had a violent longing for a small fish
called aphy — a pilchard, a herring, or an anchovy.
His cook cut a turnip to the perfect imitation of
its shape ; then, fried in oil, salted, and well powdered
with the grains of a dozen black poppies, his ma-
jesty's taste was so exquisitely deceived, that he
praised the root to his guest as an excellent fish.
This transmutation of vegetables into meat or fish is
a province of the culinary art which we appear to have
lost ; yet these are cibi innocenles (harmless food)
compared with the things themselves. ' * -

Our more immediate ancestors appear to have
applied the turnip to more extensive uses as an esculent
than is done in the present day. It is recorded,! that
in the years 1629 and 1630, when there was a dearth

* Curiosities of Literature., TO!, v, p. 88.
t Phil. Trans. Noa. 90, and 205.

236 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

in England, very good, white, lasting, and wholesome
bread was made of boiled turnips, deprived of their
moisture by pressure, and then kneaded with an equal
quantity of wheaten flour, the whole forming what was
called turnip-bread. The scarcity of corn in 1693
obliged the poor people of Essex again to have re-
course to this species of food. This bread could not,
it is said, be distinguished by the eye from a wheaten
loaf ; neither did the smell much betray it , especially
when cold.

The earliest spring-produced leaves of the turnip are
sometimes boiled or stewed, and appear on the table
under the name of turnip-tops. The Romans like-
wise applied these tender leaves to the same purpose.

Turnips, in all their varieties, do not contain so
much nourishment as either carrots or parsnips. Sir
Humphrey Davy's analysis gives only forty-two parts
of nutritive matter in one thousand parts of the com-
mon turnip, and sixty-four parts in one thousand parts
of the Swedish root ; but as the turnips cultivated in
the environs of London are not considered of so good
a quality as those farther north, it is probable that this
estimate may be somewhat below the average pro-
portion.

The CARROT — Daucus carola. It was a subject
of much interest among the botanists of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries to ascertain what plants of
the ancients could be identified with those at present
known. Accordingly we find in the works of those
writers many curious and learned disquisitions in sup-
port of their respective opinions. Among the plants
which have given rise to so much laborious, and per-
haps unprofitable research, the carrot makes a pro-
minent figure. This discussion would have little
interest in the present day ; the result, however, shows
that the carrot was certainly known and used by the
ancients as an edible root. A plant under the name

SUCCULENT ROOTS.

237

of staphylinos is minutely described by Dioscorides,*
and this description applies in every respect to that of
the carrot. Though growing wild, the plant is noticed
by the Greek physician as being likewise reared in
gardens on account of its esculent root. It is difficult
to trace the progress of the carrot since that period,
but it appears to have been always an object of culti-
vation among various nations.

Umbel of the Carrot.

Miller, and other horticulturists, have made various
attempts to change by culture the wild carrot into the
esculent one, — these attempts have, however, always
proved unsuccessful — it is therefore probable that the
two plants are not identical, or that the cultivated one
was first fostered into its present value under a warmer
temperature than that of Britain. Whatever may be
its origin, it was not, however, immediately trans-
planted into this country from a milder climate than
our own.

* Lib. iii, cap. 59.

238 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

We are indebted for its introduction to the Flemings,
who, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, sought refuge
in England from the insupportable tyranny of their
Spanish master Philip the Second. Finding the soil
about Sandwich in Kent very favourable for the cul-
ture of the carrot, the emigrants soon engaged in its
production on that spot. The English, whose know-
ledge of horticulture was at that time extremely cir-
cumscribed, were in this case well pleased to add
another edible vegetable to the scanty list which were
then under general cultivation. The carrot, therefore,
unlike the turnip, grew quickly into esteem, and being
made an object of careful culture, was very shortly
naturalized throughout the island. We are told by
Parkinson, the celebrated botanist to James the First,
that in his time the ladies adorned their head-dresses
with carrot-leaves, the light feathery verdure of which
caused them to be no contemptible substitute for the
plumage of birds. Although the taste of the fair sex
in the present day has discarded this simple and per-
ishable ornament, the leaves of the carrot are even
now sometimes used as house decorations. If in the
winter a section be cut from the end or thick part of
the root, and this be placed in a shallow vessel con-
taining water, young and delicate leaves arc developed,
forming a e radiated tuft,' the graceful and verdant
appearance of which make it a pleasing ornament for
the mantel-piece in that season when any semblance
of vegetation is a welcome relief to the eye.

The carrot is a biennial plant, attaining to the height
of two feet ; its white flowers grow in umbels, that is,
having the common peduncle divided into rays spring-
ing from one point, each ray or pedicle being termin-
ated by a floret ; they appear in June and July, and
are succeeded by rough hairy grains.

Of cultivated carrots there are many varieties,
which have in all probability been produced by climate

SUCCULENT ROOTS. 239

and culture. The kinds which are commonly grown
are distinguished into two, the long and the horn-carrot.
The first is again subdivided into others which differ
in size as well as in colour. The red or large field
carrot attains to a considerable growth ; it is chiefly
cultivated in fields as food for cattle, and in farmers'
gardens as a material for colouring butter. The
orange carrot, though not so productive, is generally
the main crop in garden culture — the flavour of this
is more delicate, and therefore it is in higher estimation
as a culinary vegetable. There are, likewise, white,
yellow, and purple varieties — these are not, however,
in common cultivation. The horn-carrot has a shorter
and smaller root than the long varieties ; it is, there-
fore, a good crop for a shallow soil, and in such a
situation is preferable to the larger kind ; it has like-
wise the advantage of coming to maturity in a shorter
period than the long, and is consequently found well
adapted for the early and late crops.

When a carrot is cut transversely it is found to
consist of two parts of different colour and texture.
These are the bark and the wood ; the bark is of the
darkest colour, and of the most pulpy consistence, and
it is also the sweetest to the taste ; the heart or wood,
especially when the root has attained its full size, is
more fibrous or stringy, and, if it be separated, it is
bristled over with hard points or fibres that extend to
the rootlets outside. Almost the whole crown of the
root, or the part which sends up the leaves, is con-
nected with the wood, and only the epidermis of the
leaves and stem with the external portion of the root.

The skin or bark is found to be more nutritious
than the central part, and consequently the value of the
carrot as an esculent will depend on the relative pro-
portion of these two parts of the root. The object of
the skilful cultivator is, therefore, to obtain the root
with the smallest possible proportionate quantity of

240 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

wood. In endeavouring to secure this result much
must of course depend upon the nature of the plants
from which the seeds are obtained ; but adaptation of
soil is likewise a very important consideration.

The carrot is most successfully cultivated in a light
mellow soil mixed with sand : the ground should be
well dug to some depth, and made extremely friable
and porous, that the roots may meet with no ob-
struction in running down, which would cause them
to grow forked and to shoot out lateral branches. This
accident will happen, especially when the ground has
been too highly manured previously to the seed being
sown. It may perhaps be taken as a general rule that
strong soils are not well adapted for any plants which
form esculent roots deep under the surface, as the
mechanical resistance which is thereby opposed to the
swelling of the bulb forces much of the strength of the
plant up into leaves ; and in the carrot especially,
that part of the root which is the most valuable is
diminished in the greatest proportion.

The best mode of cultivating these roots has been
made by many agriculturists a subject of inquiry. So
early as the year 1765, this branch of husbandry en-
gaged the attention of the Society for the Encourage-
ment of Arts, &c ; and, in consequence, an account
of the culture of carrots and the uses to which they
may be applied was published by Robert Billing, a
farmer of Norfolk, in whose work much useful matter
on the subject is contained.

The seeds of carrots are surrounded by numerous
forked hairs, by which they adhere to each other so
tenaciously, that there is some difficulty in causing
their separation ; this is performed either by rubbing
them through the hands or by passing them through
a fine chaff-sieve ; but the best and most effectual
method, as recommended by an intelligent cultivator,*

* Communications to the Agricultural Society, vol. ii.

SUCCULENT ROOTS, 241

is to mix them with fine sand in the proportion of one
bushel to every four or five pounds of seeds — this
mixture is then laid in heaps, being occasionally
watered and turned during two or three weeks previous
to sowing. The above preliminary process not only
occasions the more equal diffusHh of the seeds, but
likewise promotes their quicker germination; besides
this, when they are sown alone their extreme levity
causes great inconvenience, and prevents this opera-
tion from being successfully performed except in the
calmest weather. The ground being duly manured,
and reduced to the required degree of fineness, the
seed mixed with the sand is sown about the middle of
March or beginning of April : the seeds thus prepared
germinate and send up young plants before the ap-
pearance of the annual weeds, which are always abun-
dant in a soil so worked and manured. In about five
or six weeks the plants are in a fit state for hoeing, and
that operation two or three times repeated, according
to the increase of the weeds, is all the after-culture
which is requisite.

From this manner of sowing, more than eight
hundred bushels per acre of carrots of very large
growth have been obtained. According to Mr
Arthur Young, the produce of these roots on indifferent
land is about two hundred bushels, and on a more
congenial soil six hundred and forty bushels per acre.
The garden culture of carrots is somewhat different.
In that case they are sown in a succession of crops
from the latter end of February to the beginning of
August, and the plants when hoed are thinned at
regular distances, of from five to eight inches apart,
the particular interval being regulated by the size of
the variety under cultivation, and by the period of
their growth at which they are to be drawn.

In order to preserve carrots for winter use, they are
dug up in the beginning of November, and placed in
VOL. xv. 21

242 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

a dry place in sand, by which means they may be kept
without spoiling until March or April of the ensuing
year.

To obtain carrot-seed, some roots which have been
taken up in November are replanted in February
about two feet aparl^nd with the crown or head a few
inches below the surface. Leaves and flower-stalks
will spring up from these, and seeds will be produced
which ripen in autumn. A considerable quantity of
carrot-seed is raised at Weathersfield in Essex, but
this is insufficient for a home supply, and it is said
much is imported from Holland into this country.*
It would appear that the production of carrot-seed may
occasionally be made a source of considerable profit to
the cultivator, we find it recorded that in the latter
half of the last century a farmer in Essex obtained
from an acre of land sown with carrots ten cwt of
seed, which he sold in London for £10 per cwt.f
This is a very rare case. If it were general the price
would soon be reduced.

The size of carrots differs, of course, very much ac-
cording to soil, culture, and variety. Some have been
known to measure two feet in length and from twelve
to fourteen inches in circumference at the thickest part.
In the autumn of 182t> several were taken up in the
neighbourhood of Lancaster having an average weight
of tour pounds each; these were fine firm roots, and
in every respect good for the table.

Besides their use as human food, carrots are in
some places grown largely for the consumption of
stock, especially for horses. It is affirmed that cattle
which have once tasted these, usually prefer them so
much to turnips as with difficulty to be made to re-
turn to the latter. The milk of cows fed on carrots
never acquires any unpleasant flavour, while at the

* London's Encyc. of Gardening,
t Campbell's Political Survey.

SUCCULENT ROOTS. 243

same time the quantity produced is increased.
Calves thrive admirably, and bullocks are quickly
fattened on this food. Carrots are equally beneficial
as nourishment for sheep, and are devoured with avi-
dity by swine. In the short space of ten days a lean
hog was fattened by these roots, having consumed
during that period 196 pounds. Its fat proved very
fine, white, and firm, and did not waste in the dress-
ing. Horses receiving no other sustenance perform
their work as usual without any diminution of their
sleekness. The efficacy of these roots in preserving
and restoring the wind of horses had, it is said, been
partially known in Suffolk, where carrots were ad-
ministered as a secret specific for the complaint, long
previously to their being commonly applied as food
for horses. These roots may also with advantage be
given to poultry. In severe winters they have been
found of great utility in the preservation of deer; and
they have been strongly recommended as wholesome
and cheap nourishment for dogs. Although, perhaps,
the virtues and nutritive qualities of the carrot may be
somewhat overrated by writers who have evidently a
strong bias in its favour, it is more than probable that
carrots are a more wholesome food than either cabbages
or turnips, as they are so strongly antiseptic (opposed
to putrefaction) as to be occasionally used, on account
of this property, in certain surgical applications. Va-
rious opinions exist among agriculturists as to the rel-
ative advantages arising from the culture of the carrot
or the turnip as food for cattle. The latter root may
perhaps be more productive, and succeed better in a
variety of soils, but the positive amount of nourishment
it contains would seem to be much less than that of the
carrot. This assertion is advanced on the testimony
of Mr Billing, who obtained from twenty and a half
acres of land, varying in soil and degree of preparation,
five hundred and ten loads of carrots. Experience led

244 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

him to conclude that these were equal in use and
effect to one thousand loads of turnips, and to three
hundred loads of hay. At Parlington in Yorkshire,
the stock of a farm, consisting of twenty working-
horses, four bullocks, and six milch cows, were fed
from the end of September to the beginning of May
on the carrots produced from three acres of land. The
animals, during the whole of that period, lived on
these roots with the addition of only a very small
quantity of hay, and thirty hogs were fattened on the
refuse left by the cattle.

The greater part of the alimentary portion of the
carrot consists, according to Sir Humphrey Davy's
analysis, of saccharine matter, which may in a con-
siderable degree account for its antiseptic qualities.
The quantity of nutritive matter is nearly ten per
cent in the whole weight of carrot, being 98 parts in
1000, and of these, three are starch or mucilage, and
the remaining ninety-five saccharine matter. The
quantity of ready formed saccharine matter in carrots
is much greater than in any of the cerealia, being %£
per cent more than in barley, and about six times
more than the quantity contained in potatoes. It is
presumed, therefore, that carrots are much better
adapted than the latter for the distillery. Dr Hunter,
in the e Georgical Essays,' details experiments made
to prepare from carrots a beverage resembling beer,
and subsequently a spirituous liquor; the former proved
unsuccessful; but the result of the latter was, ac-
cording to the Doctor's opinion, very encouraging.
' From a gross calculation,' he concludes, ' I am in-
duced to think that a good acre of carrots manu-
factured in this manner will leave a profit of forty
pounds, after deducting the landlord's rent, the cost of
cultivation, distillation, and other incidental expenses.
In this calculation I presume that the spirit is worth
six shillings per gallon, and not excised.' This is

SUCCULENT ROOTS. 245

perhaps rather an exaggerated statement: it has, how-
ever, been found by other experiments that eighteen
tons, the produce of one acre, will yield one hundred
gallons of proof spirit, a larger product than that ob-
tained from an acre of barley;* while the refuse sup-
plies a greater quantity of food for hogs.

Attempts have likewise been made to prepare sugar
from carrots, but without success ; a thick syrupy
matter which refuses to crystalize can alone be ob-
tained.

The PARSNIP — Paslinaca saliva — is, like the
carrot, a biennial, and is also a native of Britain. It
belongs to the same tribe of plants ( UmbelKferai) as
the carrot, and resembles it in its general characteris-
tics. The leaves are, however, larger, the parts not
being so delicately formed, and the whole plant is more
strong and hardy. The flowers are yellow, while
those of the carrot are white with a tinge of purple in
the middle.

One variety only of the parsnip is cultivated in
England, though that runs into many sub-varieties,
according to the soil upon which it is grown. In
other countries the varieties are more numerous. In
France, as well as in Guernsey and Jersey, where the
soil is peculiarly adapted to this cultivation, three
varieties are distinguished by the names of Coquaine,
Lisbonaise, and Siam. The first runs very long, to
the depth of three and even four feet in the ground,
and attaining to from three to four inches in diameter;
while its leaves grow proportionally high, and pro-

* The average product assigned to twelve stone or one hun-
dred and sixty-eight Ibs of malt, is about six gallons and three-
quarters, imperial measure, of spirit twenty-four per cent over
proof ; thus giving about two gallons as the product of a bushel.
According to this calculation, an acre of barley should produce
sixty gallons of spirit of the strength above-mentioned, which
is equal to seventy-four gallons of proof spirit, imperial measure,
or eighty-nine gallons of the old wine measure.

VOL. XV. 21*

246 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

ceed from the whole crown of the root. The Lisbo-
naise is shorter, but considerably thicker, and of an
equally good quality ; the leaves of this variety are
small and short, and proceed only from the centre of
the crown. The iStam has not so large a root, and is
of a slightly yellow tinge ; it is mqre tender, and of a
richer flavour than the other varieties.

A light, deep soil, free from stones, is requisite for
the favourable growth of the parsnip. The seed is
usually sown at the latter end of February or March,
in the proportion of nearly three and a half pounds of
seed to one rood of land. It is sown broad-cast, and
raked into the ground. The only after-culture re-
quired is to keep the plants free from weeds, and to
thin them to about a foot distance from each other.
The roots come to maturity at the latter end of Oc-
tober; this state is indicated by the decay of the leaf;
they are then fit for use. Parsnips are not so sus-
ceptible to injury from frost as carrots, and they may
therefore remain throughout the winter in the ground
without being in any way deteriorated.

A few roots should, however, be preserved in sand
for use during those months when the ground is too
hard to allow of their being dug up. The seed is ob-
tained in the same manner as that of the carrot.

When the parsnip is grown upon poor land it
loses much of the rank taste which it acquires if
cultivated in richer soils, and though not nearly so
abundant, is far more sweet and agreeable. Thus
produced, when slowly roasted in the ashes of peat or
turf, it becomes nearly as farinaceous as the best
potatoes, and in some of the poorer districts of the
country is used with the same additions as an article
of substantive food. { In the north of Scotland,'
Neill observes, ' parsnips are often beat up with po-
tatoes and a little butter ; of this excellent mess the
children of the peasantry are very fond, and they do

SUCCULENT ROOTS. 247

not fail to thrive upon it.' From the same authority
we learn that in the north of Ireland an agreeable
beverage is prepared from the roots brewed with hops.
In some places a species of wine is also made from
them, and a very pure spirit is obtained when parsnips
are distilled after a similar preparatory process to that
used with the carrot. In Catholic countries the parsnip
is more abundantly employed for human food than in
Britain. It was, however, formerly held in much
greater estimation here than it is at present. This
root is wholesome as well as hardy, but, as the soil
which is most favourable to its production as human
food is also best adapted for the growth of the potato,
which is both more productive and more nutritious
than the parsnip, the culture of this plant as a culinary
esculent has declined ; and the use of it with salt fish
in Lent may perhaps be regarded more as the relic of
an old custom than as a choice arising from any par-
tiality for the peculiar flavour of the parsnip in combi-
nation with this particular kind of viand.

The nutritious matter in parsnips is found by
analysis to be ninety-nine parts in a thousand, of
which nine parts are mucilage, and the remaining
ninety are saccharine matter.

The SKIRRET — Slum Sisarum — differs from the
roots already mentioned, in being a perennial. This
plant is not a native of England, or of any part of
Europe. It is indigenous to China, but was introduced
into this part of the world some centuries back, being
known in British horticulture so early as about the
middle of the sixteenth century. It was formerly
much more prized than it is at present. Worlidge, a
writer in the latter end of the seventeenth century,
described it as the ' sweetest, whitest, and most whole-
some of roots.' The skirret is one of those plants
which are now neglected, because we are become
acquainted with others more pleasant to th« taste, and

248 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

more profitable in their culture. Its peculiar sweet-
ness, so delightful to the palates of our less refined
fore-fathers, to us appears nauseous lusciousness ; and
that root which the Emperor Tiberius esteemed so
much as to cause it to be brought from the banks
of the Rhine for the use of his table, is little relished
in the present day. Beckmann ingeniously accounts
for this change of taste in the use of vegetable pro-
ductions. ' In the oldest times mankind were so
fond of sweet things, that the goodness and agreeable
taste of every kind of food was determined according
to the degree of its sweetness; and such is the manner
of judging, even at present, throughout all the East, in-
Africa, and in America. This is the case also among
us with the greater part of the lower classes, who are
not able to follow the mode of richer tables. In the
northern countries this taste is almost every where
prevalent. Thus the Swedes spoil, by the addition of
sugar, costly Rhenish wines, sauer-kraut, and other
articles, the agreeable tartness of which is gratifying to
other nations. In proportion to their population and
luxury, the Swedes seem to use more sugar than the
Germans, and the Germans more than the English or
French ; and one might almost suspect that a taste
for sweet things was in the inverse ratio of culture.
At any rate, one can thus explain why many vegetable
productions which some centuries ago were reckoned
among the most agreeable dishes appear to us to be
nauseously sweet.'*

For some time after the cultivation of skirrets had
become neglected in the gardens of the rich, they still
continued to be an object of culture among the poor
in a few remote parts of the country. But even in
those situations they have now very generally given
way to the potato, and are seldom grown, and even
then rather from the love of variety than for any

* History of Inventions, vol. iv, p. 358.

SUCCULENT ROOTS.

particular merit which they may possess. The skirret
is thus occasionally cultivated in the north of Scotland,
under the name of crummack.

Flowers anil Roots of the Skirret.

This plant is small compared with the carrot and
parsnip. It has pinnated leaves, consisting of two or
three pair of long dentated leaflets, and terminated
by an odd one. The flower-stalk rises to the height
of about two feet, breaking out at top into branches,
each terminating in an umbel of small white flowers.
The root consists of a cluster of fleshy fibres, which
are connected together at the crown or head, and in
the course of a few years augment to a considerable

250 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

bunch. Each separate tuber is about the thickness of
the little finger. They grow very uneven, and are
covered with a whitish rough bark, while a hard core
or pith runs through the centre.

This plant is propagated either by seeds or by offsets
from the parent root ; the first method is considered the
most preferable for obtaining good and tender roots.

The skirret abounds in saccharine matter. Mr
Margraaf extracted from half a pound of this root
one ounce and a half of pure sugar.

The BEET — Beta — was known as an esculent root
in the time of Pliny, who has given an accurate de-
scription of it in his work. The period when this
plant was first introduced into Britain as a garden
vegetable is not ascertained. It was cultivated at
Lambeth by Tradescant the younger in 1656 ; but
there is no reason for supposing that he was the first
cultivator ; on the contrary, it is more than probable
that the beet was brought into this country by the
Romans, and that it has continued since that period
to be an object of partial cultivation.

The cultivated beets, in all their varieties, are plants
of the same duration, and nearly of the same habits,
as turnips. They are sown in the early part of the
summer, bulb towards the close of the season, and,
if allowed to stand, send up their flowering stems,
and ripen their seeds in the following year.

The variety which has its root red throughout its
whole substance is most used in England for culinary
purposes. This plant is said to be a native of the
warmer countries of Europe ; but it is sufficiently
hardy to bear the climate of most parts of Britain.
The root is in the form of a carrot, but thicker in
proportion to its length, those of a foot long often be-
ing three or four inches in diameter. It is very juicy,
and, when wounded, bleeds freely a limpid fluid of a
beautiful purple colour. The leaves are large, long,

SUCCULENT ROOTS. 251

and succulent, and generally have a red or purple
tinge. When eaten warm, beet-root has rather a
mawkish flavour ; it is, therefore, usually eaten cold,
cut in slices, after having been previously boiled, and
with the addition of vinegar is by some persons found
agreeable to the palate. Its culture, as an esculent,
has not, however, increased of late years, and it is
not generally a favourite vegetable for the table ; al-
though, according to Sir H. Davy's analysis, it con-
tains much more nutritive matter than any other root
excepting the potato, the total quantity being one
hundred and forty-eight parts in a thousand, or nearly
fifteen per cent. Nearly twelve per cent of the whole
weight of the beet is saccharine matter, which is a
much greater proportion than is contained in any
other European esculent. The quantity contained in
the red and the white beet is nearly the same ; the
proportion of mucilage in each is likewise almost
equal, the red having rather the advantage, while it
has nearly three times as much gluten as the white.
From this account of its composition it would appear
that the red beet is the most nourishing of all the
edible roots, the potato alone excepted.

In a country like Britain, where with the bulk of
the people vegetables are esteemed for their agreeable
flavour, rather than for their nutritive qualities, the
superiority of the beet, in the latter respect, is dis-
regarded, and those roots which are considered more
savoury obtain the preference.

From one variety of this root, which has a red skin,
but is internally white, sugar is extensively prepared
in France. We shall notice this manufacture in a
subsequent chapter.

The white beet is seldom, if ever, used as human
food, but is largely cultivated for the nourishment of
domestic animals, and is preferred for this purpose to
the turnip or carrot, especially in the vicinity of popu-

252 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

lous towns. The field-turnip is esculent when young ;
the carrot is so in all stages of its growth ; and,
therefore, when grown amid a thick population, they
form a great temptation to petty depredators, by
whom the farmer finds this provender for his cattle
much diminished. The field-beet, however, affords
no allurement to the hungry plunderer, as starvation
itself could scarcely induce him to make a meal of
this harsh, coarse root, previously to its being sub-
jected to culinary preparation, and even then it would
prove a most unpalatable repast. When cows are
fed with the beet, it is said that they yield a greater
quantity of milk in consequence ; and this food does
not impart any of that rank flavour which is com-
municated by turnips.

There are several varieties of the field-beet ; some
with the stem, branches, and veins of the leaves red ;
others with leaves wholly red ; and some, again, with
the epidermis of the root in different shades of red,
brown, and yellow. Those coloured varieties are con-
sidered more hardy than the white, and one, having a
reddish skin, the mangold or mangol wurizel of the
Germans, is said to produce the largest roots, and the
most weighty crop in a given space of land. In
Guernsey crops have been raised of one hundred tons
per acre. *

Some varieties of white beet are cultivated in the
gardens for their leaves alone ; these are larger than
the leaves of the red beet, and are more thick and
succulent ; they are boiled as spinach, and put into
soups. One kind, called the great white or sweet
beet, is esteemed for the footstalks and midribs of the
leaves, which are stewed and eaten under the name of
Swiss chard, or poirfe aux carotes.

The JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE — Helumthus lube-
rosus — is a native of Brazil ; and was first introduced

* Card. Mag., vol. iv.

SUCCULENT ROOTS. 253

in 1 167 into this country, where it was much esteem-
ed before potatoes were brought into general adoption.
It is of the same genus, and has the same appearance
as the common sunflower, except that it attains to a
greater height, often being ten or twelve feet high.
Its name is derived from the similarity of flavour
observable between these roots and the bottom of the
artichoke. Its distinctive epithet is said to be a cor-
ruption of the Italian word for sunflower, girasole,
from girare to turn, and sol the sun ; and bears no
reference, as many have imagined, to the city of Je-
rusalem.

The period of its flowering is autumn ; but though
the roots bear unhurt our severest winters, the plant
rarely blooms in this country, and, even then, its seeds
never come to maturity. The root is composed of
many tubers growing in a cluster, and so prolific is
this plant, that there are often from thirty to fifty of
these tubers attached to one stem. No care is re-
quired in its culture. If, when digging up the roots,
the smallest piece of a tuber be left, a plant will
spring from it, thus propagating itself almost in the
manner of a weed ; so that after it has once found
entrance in a garden, there is no little difficulty in
extirpating it thence. This plant, however, repays
cultivation, and much better roots are obtained from
regular setting than from its spontaneous growth.
Cuttings of the tubers are planted in the same manner
as potatoes in any of the spring months ; the crop
can be used in September, and taken up in Novem-
ber for winter supply. This root seems to meet with
undue neglect in our gardens ; for it is an excellent
winter vegetable, which may be grown abundantly at
very little cost ; it is wholesome, nutritious, and sa-
voury ; and, either boiled or stewed, affords a very
agreeable variety for the table. These tubers resemble

VOL. xv. 22

254

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

potatoes in being of one homogeneous substance ; and
are likewise eaten in their matured state.

Flower and Root of Scorzonera.

SCORZONERA — Scorzonera hispanica — is indige-
nous to Spain ; it was introduced into Ibis country
some years after the skirret, and, like it, was formerly
more cultivated than it is at present. Its root has
not, however, the peculiar sweetness of the latter,
but is extremely delicate, and when properly prepared
makes so pleasant an addition to the list of culinary
vegetables, that it appears to be unjustly excluded
from our gardens. It has shared the fate of those

SUCCULENT ROOTS. 255

vegetables which, according to Beckmann, have been
banished by fashion; ' for this tyrant which rules with
universal sway commands the taste, as well as the
smell, to consider as intolerable, articles to which our
ancestors had a peculiar attachment.'

Scorzonera was first known on account of its sup-
posed medicinal properties, but was afterwards culti-
vated as food in consequence of its agreeable flavour.
It was applied to this first purpose in the middle of
the sixteenth century in Spain, where it was esteemed
as an antidote to the poison of a snake, called there
scurzo. A Moor, it is said, who had learnt in Africa
that this plant possessed so valuable a property,
availed himself of the knowledge in effecting many
cures with the juices of the leaves and roots upon
peasants who had while mowing been bitten by these
venomous reptiles; but he carefully concealed the
plant, that he might retain to himself all the honour
and the profit attendant on the discovery. He was,
however, clandestinely followed to the mountains,
where he was observed to collect this plant, to which
the name of scurzonera or scorzonera was then given,
from the name of the snake, the venom of which it
was believed to render innocuous. The knowledge
was quickly disseminated. Petrus Cannizer trans-
mitted the plant, together with a drawing of it, to
John Oderick Melchion, physician to the queen of
Bohemia; and he, in his turn, lost no time in sending
it to Matthioli, who had not any previous knowledge of
the plant.* Soon after this Nicholas Monardes pub-
lished a tract, in which the particular virtue of these
roots was panegyrized. It is probable that in Spain
their adaptation as an edible substance was likewise
first discovered; and thence, about the beginning of
the seventeenth century, it was introduced into France.
The author of ' Le Jardinier Frangois,' who was a

* Matthioli Epistol. Medicinal.

256 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

practical as well as theoretical gardener, assigns to his
own exertions its first cultivation in the French
gardens.*

Scorzonera is at present much more used on the
Continent than in this country; its medicinal virtues
are now, however, but little regarded.

This plant is a hardy perennial, with a stem from
two to three feet long, and having yellow flowers, which
continue to bloom from June to August. The lower
leaves, which are linear and pointed, are about eight
or nine inches in length. The root is thin and spindle-
shaped, covered with a dark brown skin, but white
within, and containing a milky juice.

Though the plants are perennial, producing offsets
from the crown of the root, it is better to propagate
from seeds in the same manner in which carrots are
cultivated, since the offsets degenerate from year to
year, both in size and quality. The roots, like those
of parsnips, remain uninjured in the ground through-
out the winter, and till they begin to put out fresh
leaves in the spring. The whole plant is somewhat
bitter. To divest the roots of that quality, they are
scraped, and then steeped in water previously to their
being made to undergo any culinary process.

* « The first edition of his book, which greatly contributed
to improve gardening in France, was printed in 1616.' —
Beckmann.

CHAPTER XII.

Brassica — Spinaceous Plants — Asparagiuous Plants.

BRASSICA.

SOME varieties of the cabbage have been cultivated
from the very earliest times of which we have any
record. But the migrations and changes of the best
sorts have not been traced: neither is it at all prob-
able that fhe varieties which the ancients enjoyed
have descended to us unaltered. This particular
genus of plants is peculiarly liable ' to sport or run
into varieties and monstrosities.' They belong to the
numerous family Cruciferce. The cruciferous esculents
form a much longer list than those bearing umbels;
they are applied to a greater number of purposes, and
afford an addition to food in a greater number of
forms, ages, and parts of the plant. The roots, the
leaves, the stems, the buds, are eaten ravv, or dressed
in various ways; and the seed of many species are
valuable on account of the oil which they afford. None
of the family are directly poisonous. In their v recent
state they either contain a portion of nitrogen ready
formed, or have the power of detaching it from the
atmosphere when they begin to undergo decomposition.
This quality exists more, or at least displays itself
sooner, in the leaves than in the roots; and to it is
owing the very unpleasant odour of the water in which
cabbages have been boiled. The Cruciferce being
found as weeds in almost every field, constant changes
are produced, even in those plants under cultivation,

VOL. xv. 22*

258 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCE-.

by crosses with the pollen of wild plants; while soil,
culture, and climate, exert a powerful influence over
the different species, altogether causing varieties and
sub-varieties, of which it would be a hopeless task to
attempt the enumeration.

It is probable that some species of the brassica was
first introduced into this country by the Romans,
since kale is mentioned among the oldest English
records. It is well known that brassica was in very
common cultivation at Rome, where, according to
Columella, it was a favourite edible with freemen, and
in sufficient plenty to be an article of food for slaves.
The ancient Germans likewise cultivated this plant
from very remote times; whether they, too, were in-
debted to their Roman conquerors for its introduction
it is impossible to decide. The Saxon name for Feb-
ruary is sprout-kale,* and that is the season when the
sprouts from the old stalks begin to be fit for use; the
Saxons must therefore, of course, have been familiar
with the culture of cabbage or kale, as it is not at all
probable that they invented the name after their set-
tlement in this country.

The variety of brassica which was first cultivated
in England cannot be ascertained, since our ances-
tors had no distinctive name for the different kinds.
Many improvements have been made in the culti-
vation of this vegetable, and many new varieties in-
troduced by different individuals at comparatively
recent dates.

The close-hearted variety, which is now more pecu-
liarly called cabbage, was for many years imported into
England from Holland. Sir Anthony Ashley first in-
troduced its cultivation into this country, and made the
English independent of their neighbours for a supply.
This planter of cabbages likewise rendered his name
known by other deeds, less creditable to his character.
It is related that he had a command at Cales (Cadiz),

* White's History of Selborne.

BRASSICA. 259

where he got much by rapine, especially from a lady
who intrusted her jewels to his honour ; whence the
jest on him, that he got more by Cales than by cale
and cabbage. There is said to be a cabbage at his
feet sculptured on his monument at Wimborne St
Giles, in Dorsetshire.* Although Sir Anthony Ash-
ley introduced the cabbage, it does not appear to have
become generally cultivated, for we continued to im-
port the vegetable for many years. Ben Jonson, who
wrote more than half a century afterwards, says ' He
hath newSj from the Low Countries, in cabbages.'

It is recorded that cabbages were first introduced
into the north of Scotland by the soldiers of Cromwell. "f
A country embroiled in internal hostilities might be
supposed not to be in a very favourable state for the
more extended cultivation of plants, the passions of
the contending parties being too keenly roused to pay
attention to improvements in those arts the progress
of which more peculiarly belongs to a period of peace.
But in the present case the fact is opposed to this
conclusion ; we learn that ' Cromwell was a great
promoter of agriculture and the useful branches of
gardening, and that his soldiers introduced all the
best improvements wherever they went.' J

The colonies of German fishermen from Cuxhaven
and the adjacent places, which peopled the coasts of
the central parts of the east of Scotland, are, how-
ever, supposed by some writers to have brought with
them their national love of brassica, and to have in-
troduced some species of those plants at a period much
anterior to that of the Commonwealth, to this part of
Scotland, which is more peculiarly ' the land of kale.'
There the cabbage and the open colewort are in equal
favour, giving the name of kale to a soup of which
they form the principal ingredients, the outside leaves

* Cough's British Topography, vol. i, p. 133.
t Edin. Encyc. , Art. Horticulture. £ Loud. Encyc. Card., p. 87.

260 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

and the stalks of the plants falling to the share of
the cattle. The father of Burns was from Kincar-
dineshire ; and the poet alludes to the customs of
that county in his humorous comparison of Kilmar-
nock to a cow.

' Now auld Kilmarnock cock thy tail

An' toss thy horns fu' cantie :
Nae mair thou'lt route o'er moor and dale,

Because thy fare is scanty ;
For lapfu's large o' gospel kail

Shall fill thy crib in plenty ;
An' runts o' grace the feck and wale,

No gi'en by way o' dainty, —
But ilka day.'

The lapfu's allude to the outside leaves, and the
runts to the portion of the stalk and centre from
which the parts fit for culinary purposes have been
removed ; the fatter especially were given as a dainty
to the favourite milch-cows.

Many allusions in the old Scotch songs point to the
fact of the country about Aberdeen abounding with
this vegetable. In recommending the good fare of
the country, the poet says,

' There's cauld kail in Aberdeen,
An' castocks * in Stra'bogie. '

The ' kale brose o' auld Scotland' is celebrated to
the same tune as the ' roast beef of old England ; '
and though, with many of the ancient peculiarities of
the people, it has fallen much into disuse, it is still
considered a national dish.

All those kinds of cultivated brassica, the leaves
and flowers of which are eaten, belong to the species
oleracea. This resolves itself into many varieties and
endless sub-varieties, which, however, may be reduced

* Cabbage stems having the fibrous part peeled off, and the
remainder softened by boiling. Before the introduction of the
turnip into general use in Scotland, this medullary substance of
the stalks of the brassica was very commonly eaten by the pea-
santry.

BRASSICA. 261

to three classes, having their distinctive characters
sufficiently marked for all practical purposes.

1st class. — CABBAGES, in which the leaves gather
into what is called a head, and are blanched by their
own compression. The green colour is always much
more completely destroyed by this blanching than
the red ; and the smaller the tendency which the
expanded leaves have to blue or purple, the more
sweet and crisp will the head become.

Cabbages are propagated by seed, which is sown
at the three seasons, spring, summer, and autumn, to
obtain a supply in succession. The soil for the seed-
beds should be light, and not very rich.

The plants, from seed sown in autumn, are finally
transplanted in spring. Most generally the seedlings
are pricked out from the seed-beds as soon as they
have one or two leaves of an inch or two broad, into
beds of good earth : thence they are transplanted into
a rich soil, which should be well manured.

2d class. — KALE or COLEWORT. — In these the
leaves are expanded and coloured, with the exception
of a small portion in the centre, which encloses the
rudiments of the flowering stem. The plain-leaved
cole-wort is now seldom found in English cultivation.
BORECOLE, or curly-leaved colewort, Brassica olera-
cea, var. 3 sabellica, very generally, however, finds
a place in our gardens. The green borecole, or
Sketch kale, and the purple or brown borecole, are
the most hardy of the race, and are therefore best-
adapted for cold situations and late seasons. The
plants, when vegetating in a rich soil, grow vigorously,
and attain to large dimensions ; but, in common with
most of the genus, moderate sized plants are best for
culinary purposes, the very large being harsh, and
those which are so small as to be stunted are bitter.

262

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Colewort — Brassica oleracca.

Sauerkraut, ' that excellent preparation' of the Ger-
mans, and of which they are so immoderately fond,
is merely fermented cabbage. To prepare this, close-
headed white cabbages are cut in shreds, and placed

BRASSICA. 263

in a four-inch layer in a cask ; this is strewed with
salt, unground pepper, and a small quantity of salad
oil : a man with clean wooden shoes then gets into
the cask, and treads the whole together till it is well
mixed and compact. Another layer is then added,
which is again trod down, and so on until the cask is
entirely filled. The whole is then subjected to heavy
pressure, and allowed to ferment ; when the fermen-
tation has subsided, the barrels in which it is pre-
pared are closed up, and it is preserved for use. The
preparing of sauerkraut is considered of so much im-
portance as to form a separate profession, which is
principally engrossed by the Tyrolese. The operation
of shredding the cabbage is now performed by a
machine, whicii the men carry on their backs from
house -to house ; this means for the abridgment of
labour has not been invented more than ten or twelve
years. Every German family stores up, according to
its size, one or more targe casks of this vegetable pre-
paration. October and November are the busy months
for the work, and huge white pyramids of cabbage
are seen crowding the markets ; while in every court
and yard into which an accidental peep is obtained, all
is bustle and activity in the concocting of this national
food, and the baskets piled with shredded cabbage re-
semble -' mountains of green-tinged froth or syllabub.'

Sauerkraut has been found of sovereign efficacy as a
preservative from scurvy during long voyages ; it was
for many years used in our navy for this purpose,
until displaced by lemon-juice, which is equally a
specific, while it is not so bulky an article for store.

The larger and grosser kinds of cabbage are used
as food for cattle. But this nutriment has a great
tendency to impart a disagreeable flavour to the milk
of cows fed on it, and even to the flesh of other
cattle. This unpleasant effect may, we are told, be
prevented by removing the withered leaves ; but cab-

264 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

bage is more disposed to fermentation and putrefac-
tion than almost any other vegetable. When cul-
tivated as food for stock, it is of course a mat-
ter of importance with agriculturists to produce
the greatest weight in a given space. The average
crop, as stated by Mr Arthur Young, is thirty-six
tons per acre, when the plants are grown on a dry
soil, which is very similar to that quoted from other
and more modern writers ; but on a sandy soil only
eighteen tons have been obtained. Some cabbages
are occasionally produced of an astonishing size and
weight. A cabbage-seed accidentally sown among
onions came up in the onion bed, and without any
care being taken of it grew to very large dimensions,
and weighed, when taken up, twenty-five pounds.
A cabbage was also produced in Devonshire, two or
three years back, which, when growing, occupied a
space of fifteen feet of ground, measured five feet in
circumference, and weighed sixty pounds.*

A variety of brassica under the name of cow-cab-
bage (Brassica olerncea, var. arborescem} has been
recently introduced into this country from La Vendee
by the Comte de Puysage. The proximity of this
department to the ancient province of Anjou, and the
description of the plant, leave no doubt of its identity
with the Anjou cabbage, a very large variety describ-
ed by Mill.f In 1827 thirty-six seedsj were divided
among six agriculturists, for the purpose of raising
this useful vegetable in England. The perfect success
resulting from some of these seeds, which have pro-
duced plants of a luxuriant growth, is already known ;
and horticulture is now so much more disseminated
and understood in this country, that there is every
reason to hope that the cow-cabbage will at length

* Card. Mag. vol. iii, p. 351.
t Mill's Husbandry, vol. iii.
$ Card . Mag. vols. iii, and v.

JBRASSICA. 265

become naturalized in England. It is said that sixty
plants afford provender sufficient for one cow during
three or four years, without fresh planting. A square
of sixty feet will contain two hundred and fifty-six
plants, four feet apart from each other, sixteen plants
more than four cows require for a year's provender
without the aid of other food. This plant is now
successfully cultivated in Jersey, whence seeds have
been sent to a nurseryman in London.

3d Class. — This division consists of cauliflowers
and brocoli, which have the flowering stem short and
succulent, the rudiments of the flowers forming into a
curd-like head, which is not higher than the leaves,
and becomes a mass of matter before the corolla or
any other part of the flower is developed. This is the
part of the plant used in this state as an esculent, but
at the commencement of the developement of the
flowers it becomes bitter, and is no longer considered
edible.

The CAULIFLOWER — Brassica oleracea, var. e
botrytis — is the most delicate variety of the brassica
genus. It was first brought into England from the
island of Cyprus, where it is said to attain to high
perfection, although it is not supposed to be in-
digenous to that country. The exact period of the
introduction of this plant into English horticulture
is not known ; but it was certainly cultivated in this
country at the beginning of the seventeenth cen-
tury, although as a rarity which could only be
produced at the tables of the most opulent. In
the year 1619, two cauliflowers cost three shillings,
the price of wheat being at that time 35s, 4d, per
quarter.* It was not however until the latter end
of the same century that this vegetable was brought
to any degree of perfection ; at least it was not raised

* Eden's ' History of the Poor,' vol. i, p. 152.
VOL. xv. 23

266 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

in sufficient abundance to appear in our English
markets until that period. The importation then of
Dutch gardeners and Dutch gardening gave an im-
pulse to English horticulture, which had been in rather
a languishing state during the intestine troubles to
which the revolution of 1688 put a termination. But
although the Dutch gardening no doubt produced an
improvement in the cultivation of the cauliflower, as
well as in vegetables generally, this plant became more
naturalized in England than in Holland, or any of the
adjacent countries of the Continent. Up to the period
of the French revolution, cauliflowers were regularly
exported from England into Holland, some parts of
Germany, and even France ; and while the seed of
very many cultivated plants is in this country pre-
ferred, when it is of Dutch rather than of English pro-
duce, cauliflower seed obtained from England is the
most esteemed in Holland, and indeed throughout the
Continent. The superiority of the English cauli-
flower is to be attributed solely to culture, and to cul-
ture carried on in the vicinity of London, not by ex-
perimentalists or amateurs, but by those who rear
the plants for sale in the way of ordinary business.
This vegetable is now cultivated very generally
throughout the island ; but since the portion of the
plant which is used as food is not nearly as large as
that of the cabbage, occupying an equal space while
it requires a richer soil and a warmer situation, it
evidently can never become so cheap an esculent. Its
delicate flavour is, however, in general much preferred
to that of the cabbage, and it takes a higher rank
in the list of culinary vegetables. Dr Johnson,
whose most trivial and perhaps sometimes absurd
remarks have been considered worthy of record, used
to say ' Of all flowers I like the cauliflower the best. '
This plant, like the common cabbage, is first raised
in a seed-bed of light earth, and finally transplanted

' . % • - BRASSICA. 267

into soil which can scarcely be either naturally or~
artificially too rich. The seed is generally sown at
the latter end of the months of February, May, and
August, for three succeeding crops. The plants raised
from seed sown in the latter month stand through the
winter, during which season and the first part of spring
they are usually protected under hand-glasses. In
the neighbourhood of London it is not uncommon to
see whole acres overspread with such glasses fostering
an early supply of this vegetable for the inhabitants of
the metropolis, and conveying to the mind of the be-
holder a forcible idea of the riches and luxury of this
vast city.

The head of the cauliflower is not nearly so liable
to putrescency, after being cut, as its leaves, which in
this respect are similar to those of the cabbage. For
a considerable time after the leaves have become flaccid
and in a state of decay, the head remains unchanged,
and with care may be preserved without putrefaction
for some months. By merely drawing up the plants
entire, and hanging them in a cellar, they will con-
tinue in a sound state for a considerable time. The
method most successfully adopted in Scotland, is to
place the plants in layers in a pit, with their heads
inclining downwards. The pit is then covered up
closely with earth, beaten down, and smoothed in a
sloping direction, so as to exclude both the rain and
the atmosphere.

Brocoli is usually considered as merely a sub-
variety of cauliflower, and that this is the case is ren-
dered very probable from the great tendency of the
plant to run into new varieties, which are constantly
making their appearance, and as rapidly vanishing
and giving place to others. It is a matter of common
observation, that the more any plant has been changed
by culture, the more readily does it admit of other
changes.

268 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

But a few years back, only two sorts of brocoli
were recognized — the red and the purple, both of
which originally came to us from Italy. Thirteen
varieties are now enumerated as raised in the English
garden, and each in turn is recommended to the notice
of the cultivator by some characteristic quality. In
the culture of no vegetable has so marked and rapid
an improvement taken place as in that of brocoli ;
horticulturists have recently succeeded in producing
a hardy white variety, which has a handsomer ap-
pearance than either the green or the purple, while it
is more delicate in flavour. White as well as purple
are now obtained throughout the winter, some attain-
ing to the size and equalling the cauliflower in appear-
ance, though not in taste. The earliest spring crop
follows without an interval the late winter crop, and
no cessation need take place in the supply of brocoli,
although, perhaps, it is not commonly raised during a
month or two in the middle of the summer, when many
other vegetables are produced in abundance.

Brocoli succeeds best in a fresh loamy soil ; the
seed-beds should be of rich mould, on which the
seeds are thinly scattered, and covered with mats or
litter till the plants appear.

SPINACEOUS PLANTS.

THE leaves of these plants are most generally of a
softer texture and more insipid flavour than those of
the brassica tribe. As their excellence consists in the
succulence of the leaves, a rich soil is required for
their cultivation. They generally belong to the
family Chenopodea,* having very small flowers of a
greenish tinge, formed into heads of various shapes,
as a ball, a bunch, or a spike.

* De Candolle.

SPINACEOUS PLANTS.

269

Spinach — Spinacia oleracea.

SPINACH — Spinacia oleracea. — The native coun-
try of the common spinach, and the time of its intro-
duction into Britain, are not precisely known.

The west of Asia is assigned as its native country,
but on what grounds are not very clearly shown,
except that the earliest notice we find of it is in the
works of the Arabian physicians, who of course only
treat of its supposed medicinal properties, which might
probably have originally led to its adoption as an
edible vegetable. Spain is supposed to have been
the first European country into which it was intxro-
duced, for many of the old botanists call it olus
hispanicum ; while some writers, among whom is
Ruellius, distinguish it as atriplex hispaniensis, and
the latter adds that the Moors call it hispanach or
Spanish plant. According to Beckmann, the first
notice of its being used as an edible substance in
Europe occurs in the year 1351, in a list of the

VOL. xv. 23*

270 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

different vegetables consumed by the monks on fast-
days : at that time it was written s-pinargium or spi-
nachium; This plant found a place among culinary
vegetables at rather an early period in England, for
Turner, who wrote in 1568, mentions it as being at
that time in common cultivation, and prepared for the
table precisely in the same manner as it is at present.

Spinach is an annual plant, having large and suc-
culent leaves : the flowering stems, which are hollow
and branched, rise to the height of two or three feet.
The male flowers grow on different plants to those
of the female, which yield the seed. The former are
produced in long terminal spikes, and the latter in
close branches at the joints of the stem, or in the
axilla? of the leaves and branches. This plant is
remarkable as being one of the plants which are
dioecious, that is, having the different parts of fructi-
fication upon separate plants. Some trees which are
cultivated for their fruit, such as the date-palms, have
the same peculiarity.

Two varieties of spinach are cultivated. The
leaves of the one are arrow-shaped and rough, and
of the other round and smooth. July and August
are the months in which the seeds of both kinds
would naturally 'come to maturity ; but as they
slightly differ in their qualities it is found more ad-
vantageous to sow them at different seasons. The
round- leaved grows the fastest, is the largest and
most succulent, and therefore is sown for succession
crops in spring and summer ; the other, being much
more hardy, is preferred for winter supply. The
former is usually sown in January, from which time
until the end of July frequent sowings are made
for a regular succession, from the beginning of April
to continue throughout the summer. The rough-
leaved is usually sown in August for a winter crop.

SPINACEOUS PLANTS. 271

The seed is sown broad-cast, and in subsequent cul-
ture the plants are thinned first to three inches
apart, and as they increase in size that distance is
doubled.

From the circumstance of the male and female
flowers growing on different plants, when they are
left to bring their seed to maturity care is taken that
a due proportion of each is suffered to remain. As
soon as the seed capsules are set, the male plants are
pulled up, thus allowing a freer space for the female
plants wherein to perfect their seeds.

WILD SPINACH, or ENGLISH MERCURY, or GOOD
KING HARRY — Chenopodium bonus Henricus. This
plant, which has obtained so many names, grows
wild on a loamy soil, and may be found on way-
sides and among ruins in many parts of England.
The stalks rise to the height of a foot and a half ;
they are upright, thick, and striated, and covered
with a whitish powder, which is likewise found on
the under side of the leaves. These are arrow-
shaped, and rather large for the size of the plant.
The flowers, of a yellowish green colour, grow upon
close spikes : they appear in June and July, and in
August the seeds come to maturity. This plant is a
perennial, and may be propagated by seeds or by
onsets from the root. When young, both the stem
and the leaves are succulent, the former being used
as an asparagus, and the latter as a spinach.

Lincolnshire is the part of England where it is
most in request, and where it is cultivated and pre-
ferred to the common spinach. It is, however,
more nearly in a state of nature than the latter plant,
and therefore cannot accommodate itself to differences
of soil and situation.

The superior docility of a plant which has been
long under cultivation, and which has travelled or
borne changes of soil and climate in a growing state,

272 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

is very apparent to those who attempt to rear wild
plants in situations where they are not indigenous.
This fact is so important a feature in the natural
history of plants, that it is not perhaps sufficiently
pointed out or explained in books treating on these
subjects. It is a very natural result, which on con-
sideration should not excite surprise, that a wild
plant, which has been from time immemorial produced
on the same spot, and has there accommodated itself
solely to the circumstances of that spot, should refuse
to grow in any other situation where the circum-
stances are not precisely similar. It is upon this
principle that the mountain berry will not flourish
upon the champaign country, and that the sweetest
flowers of the woodlands refuse their odour to the
parterre. In like manner, ' Good King Harry,'
which makes a very estimable spinach or asparagus
in its native country, might make but a very sorry
one if removed to a place where it is not indi-
genous.

NEW ZEALAND SPINACH— Tetragonia expansa,- —
so called, because it was found growing wild on the
shores of New Zealand when Captain Cook first
touched at that island. Although the natives made
no use of this plant as an esculent, the naturalists
who accompanied the expedition were induced to
recommend it as a vegetable which might be safely
eaten, since its appearance and general characteris-
tics were so similar to the chenopodium. On trial,
it was found to be both agreeable and wholesome.
Sir Joseph Banks brought it into culture in England
in 1772, and it has subsequently oeen found to be a
much more hardy and valuable plant than was at
first supposed. It was at first treated as a green-
house plant ; but now grows freely in the open gar-
den, and indeed seems already to have naturalized
itself in the south-west of England. A writer, from

SPINACEOUS PLANTS.

273

Exmouth, observes, in the Gardener's Magazine for
February, 1829, 'The JVew Zealand spinach is
quite a weed with us, as, wherever it has once grown,
plants rise spontaneously, even when the seeds have
been wheeled out with the dung in the winter, and
again brought in as manure in the spring. I have
now a full supply of it in my old pink bed.' This
spinach has an advantage over the common sort
under cultivation, in producing an abundance of large
and succulent leaves during the hot weather, when the
latter plant runs almost immediately to seed, and pro-
duces little or nothing. It is likewise milder in fla-
vour, and of so rapid growth, that a bed with about
twenty plants is sufficient for the daily supply of a
large family.

New Zealand Spinach — Tetragunia expansa.

Though by some called a biennial, this spinach is
an annual in our climate. The stem has numerous

274 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

thick and strong branches, somewhat procumbent
for the greater part of their length, but raised at
the points. The leaves are fleshy and succulent,
three or four inches long, of a dark green on the
under part, but of a paler colour on the surface, on
which the mid-ribs and nerves are strongly marked.
They are triangular, or rather of an elongated heart-
shape, having the angles at the base rounded, and
the apex sharp and extended. The flowers are
small, and of a yellowish green colour; they appear
in August and September. The whole plant is
thickly studded with minute aqueous tubercles; a
peculiarity likewise to be found in some species of
atriplex and chenopodium.

In six weeks after sowing, some of the leaves of
the plants are fit for gathering. These are pinched
off, and not torn from the branches.

This plant has been likewise found growing on
the Tonga Islands; and Thunberg discovered it of
spontaneous growth in Japan.*

New Zealand spinach is remarkable as being al-
most the only native of the isles of Australasia which
has been found worthy of -a place in the kitchen-gar-
dens of Europe.

ASPARAUINOUS PLANTS.

THE ancients were accustomed to class all young
sprouts of vegetables under the general name of as-
paragus. In agreement with this arrangement, all
thosex pulpy shoots, stems, buds, and bottoms of com-
pound flowers, which undergo culinary preparation
before they become auxiliary articles of food, will be
here designated as asparaginous plants.

The nature of this class of vegetables causes them
to be always of more expensive cultivation than other

* Hort. Trans, vol. iv.

ASFARAGINOU3 PLANTS. 275

plants, the leaves or roots of which are used as escu-
lents. For it is only a comparatively small portion
of the whole plant which is here appropriated; arid
that too, most generally, when in a young and un-
developed state. Asparaginous plants must, there-
fore, always belong to luxurious, rather than to eco-
nomic management.

ASPARAGUS — Asparagus officinalis — stands fore-
most in this list, as having been of most ancient cul-
tivation, and as being most esteemed in every age.
It was held in much favour by the Grecians, and is
handed down to us by its present name in the wri-
tings of Dioscorides. The Romans must have been
particularly skilful in its cultivation, since, according
to Pliny, three shoots of that grown in Ravenna
weighed a pound, which is considerably more than
the weight of the largest English asparagus.

Asparagus has a perennial root and annual stalks.
The root is fleshy and succulent, composed of round
knobs, which are united together into a kind of
tuber. This is seated deep in the ground, and is not
liable to be much affected by the winter frosts. From
this root, which contains turions or eyes somewhat
analogous to those on the tuber of the potato, the
stems rise up in the early part of the spring, and are
cut for use when only a few inches above the ground.
There are few subjects in vegetable anatomy which
display more beauty in their structure, than may be
disclosed in a transverse section of a head of asparagus.
The shoot of an asparagus grows only from the ex-
tremity, and works or vegetates from the centre, and
not from the surface as in trees. Thus it pushes up
through the soil en masse, if it may be so expressed.
The branches, which lie so thick together, safe and
well protected under their scaly leaves, soon begin
to be developed, and are drawn out until the whole
plant, with its numerous thread-like leaves, assumes

276 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

very much the character of a larch tree, having its
minature parts more light and elegant, and the colour
of a more lively green. The flowers, which wave in
graceful panicles, are of a yellow hue and of a fra-
grant smell. They are followed by round berries of a
bright orange-red.

The head of the young shoot of asparagus is edible
just as far as the part which is to flower extends;
and thus one who eats a head of asparagus eats in
that little space the rudiments of many hundreds of
branches arid many thousands of leaves.

Asparagus is distinguished into two varieties, the
red and the green: the first is a larger kind, growing
fuller and closer; though handsomer in appearance,
it is not considered of so good a flavour as the green.
In consequence of its being more showy, it is, how-
ever, held in greatest esteem with market-gardeners.
This kind has been cultivated with great success in
soils consisting of little else than sea sand, dressed
annually with sea- weed; and by attending to this mode
of culture it is probable that asparagus might be rear-
ed on many spots on the coast, that will hardly pro-
duce any other vegetable.

A large quantity of asparagus is raised for the
London market. Battersea, Mortlake, and Deptford,
at each of which places the soil is light and friable, are
the chief localities for its cultivation. The breadth
of land in asparagus-beds, in the parish of Mortlake
alone, is estimated to be nearly a hundred acres;
one of the principal growers having sometimes forty
acres under this crop. The largest cultivator in
Deptford has eighty acres entirely laid out in aspa-
ragus beds.

Although the natural soil of this plant is poor
and light, beds for asparagus can scarcely be too
highly manured, since its good quality depends on
the quickness of its growth, which is accelerated by

ASPARAGINOUS PLANTS. 277

richness of soil. It is propagated by seed, which is
sown broad-cast in spring ; and at the same period
of the ensuing year the young plants are trans-
planted to beds prepared for their reception, and,
where they are allowed to remain three or four years
before the tender shoots are cut for use. When these
are from two to four inches above the ground, they
are cut two or three inches below the surface. In
cutting, care is taken to leave to each plantule or
stool one or two shoots, to grow up into flower and
seed, or otherwise the roots would perish. Under
good culture, the same plants will continue to fur-
nish annual crops during twelve or fourteen years.
It is estimated by a practical gardener that five
square poles of ground, planted with sixteen hundred
plants, will yield, during the season, from six to eight
score heads daily.*

Asparagus contains little or no nutriment, but it is
a mild vegetable, and pleasant to the taste. Though
this plant is much cultivated in places where the
luxuries of horticulture are abundant, its use is little
known in situations remote from populous towns ;
of this the following anecdote will serve as an illus-
tration. About the close of the last century the pro-
prietor of a considerable estate in one of the midland
counties of Scotland, who prided himself upon his
general knowledge and uniform consistency, had
passed the meridian of life without ever having seen
asparagus. When he did at length meet with some
at a dinner in a neighbouring town, he selected the
white end, and having with some difficulty cut off a
piece, he subjected it to rather a laborious process
of mastication. A gentle hint was given that he had
taken the wrong end ; but disliking to confess igno-
rance in the matter, he assured the company that he
always ate asparagus in that fashion, and for the sake

* Abercrombie.
VOL. xv. 24

278 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

of consistency he continued to gnaw the hard end as
long as he lived.

Asparagus contains a peculiar vegetable principle
to which the name of asparagin has been given,
and to which, in part in least, the plant owes its
qualities.

SEA-KALE — Crambe maritima. In the first volume
of the Transactions of the Horticultural Society, it is
stated by Maher, that sea-kale was sent from England
to the Continent by L'Obel and Turner, before the
middle of the sixteenth century. JVo professional
account of it, however, appeared for nearly a century
after that period ; the earliest notice being that taken
of it by Miller, in 1731 ; and it was not until the
year 1767 that it was first brought by Dr Lettsom
into fashionable repute as a garden vegetable. Since
that time it has gradually come into very general
culture in Britain, though, for the same reason as has
been assigned in the case of asparagus, it can never
become a cheap vegetable.

The cultivation of this plant is but little attended
to, and apparently not very well understood on the
Continent. In the ' Manuel du Jardinier,' for 1807,
a French horticulturist described the chou marin
d"1 Jlnglelerre ; but he was not aware of its proper
application as an esculent, since he used the broad
green leaves instead of the blanched shoots. This
of course proved no very tempting preparation, and
caused the plant to' be condemned as only fit for
the coarser tastes of the inhabitants of colder cli-
mates.

Sea-kale is a hardy perennial, and when allowed
'to attain its full growth is a very beautiful plant. It
is of a delicate sea-green colour, with a tinge of
purple, and is powdered over with a very fine meal
or bloom. The radical leaves are large, of a rounded
form, waved, and deeply notched at the edges, and

ASPARAGINOUS PLANTS. 279

having very thick foot- stalks and mid-ribs. The
flowering head is much branched ; the single flowers
are of a beautiful white, and have a rich odour of
honey. They are followed by roundish pods, having
two cells, one of which generally contains a seed,
and the other is abortive. Notwithstanding which,
however, the number of flowers upon one plant is
so great as always to produce an abundance of seed.
The shoots proceed from eyes on the roots, or from
buds in the axillae of the radical leaves ; if these
leaves are removed, and the flowering stems, as soon
as they begin to appear, are cut, the number of the
shoots, and the rapidity of their growth, are increased.
This is an effect very desirable to be attained, since
these shoots when young and tender, and the stalks
of the unfolding leaves when blanched either by na-
tural or artificial culture, are the parts used as an
edible substance in the manner of asparagus. The
peeled mid-rib of the large leaves which have been
allowed to expand, after the plants have ceased to
send up young shoots, is sometimes applied to the
same purpose.

As the roots of sea-kale are perennial, and contain
eyes or buds, the plant may be propagated either
by sowing the seeds or parting the roots. Either of
these methods may be advantageously pursued in the
middle of the spring.

A deep light soil is so essential to this culture,
that if the earth do not naturally contain sand, as
much of this must be mixed with it as will ensure
a drainage to the depth of at least two feet and a
half. Water stagnating in any part of the soil to
which the roots may reach, is found injurious to the
plants.

The well-known nature and peculiarity of the soil
and situation in which sea-kale is found point out the
mode of its artificial culture much more clearly than

280 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

is the case with plants of which the natural habits
and localities are not so well ascertained. This
culture, therefore, is similar in its circumstances,
except in that of time, to those which attend the
growth of the plant when in a state of nature. The
soil is made light and porous, and as the young
plants advance they are artificially, if not natu-
rally, watered. When the leaves of the first year
die down, the beds are covered with a thin layer
of very light and sandy mould, and over that
with a layer of about six inches of light litter, to
protect the plants from frost, and to preserve about
the same temperature which the soil has during
winter upon a light sandy beach. In the second sea-
son nearly the same treatment is pursued, the object
being not to force the upward production, but to
make the roots as full of germs and as strong as
possible. The earthing up in those two seasons
changes the buds in the axillae of the radical leaves
into germs, which will produce shoots in the ensuing
year ; and, as the process continues, the buds of one
season become the stems of the next.

When the shoots of the third year are coming into
action, preparations are made for obtaining the first
crop. For this purpose a layer of about an inch
thick of fine sand or gravel is laid on the sea-kale
bed, that it may have a still nearer resemblance to
the sea-beach. If the plants were left to their na-
tural action in that soil, freely exposed to the air
and the heat of the sun, they would come into flower
in May or June, and the progress of the flowering
stems, and the expanding and colouring of the ra-
dical leaves, would be so rapid, that the plants would
be esculent only when very small, and would in con-
sequence be of little value ; they would not, in fact,
differ much from the wild plants which the peasants
gather upon the beach, being, perhaps, inferior, if

ASPARAGINOUS PLANTS. 281

the temperature were warmer than it is in those sit-
uations which are refreshed by the immediate presence
of the sea.

This, therefore, is the point at which the skill of
the cultivator changes the season of the plant, not
by forcing it forward into productiveness, as is the
case with fruits that are forced, but by checking its
upward growth, and causing the nourishment which
would be thus expended to be directed to the en-
largement of the shoots previous to their expansion.
To produce this effect, as well as to blanch and pre-
vent them from becoming bitter, the plants are cover-
ed with pots, so pressed down into the soil as to pre-
clude the admission of light and the circulation of air,
as both are detrimental to the colour and flavour of
the produce.

Pursuing this method shoots are produced fit for
use generally in April or May, and a succession may
be obtained during six weeks. No plant is more
easily and cheaply forced than sea-kale, and, there-
fore, a supply of this vegetable may be usually obtain-
ed for the tables of the affluent during mid-winter,
and throughout those months when fresh vegetables
are most difficult to be procured.*

The ARTICHOKE — Cynara scolymus — is a native
of some of the warmer parts of the temperate zone,
and is supposed to be indigenous to the countries
which bound the Mediterranean, as well as to the
islands which are situated in that sea.

Like sea-kale, it is naturally a maritime plant, or
at least one which thrives best on soils where there is
a mixture of saline or alkaline matter. It does not,
however, flourish on the same sandy shore with the
former plant, its most genial soil being that in which
there is a mixture of peat, or other decayed marshy
vegetable matter. Nowhere does the artichoke arrive

* Loudon's Encyc. of Gard. p. 731. Abercrombie.
VOL. xv. 24*

282 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

at greater perfection than in the Orkney Islands, and
this successful culture is said to be consequent on the
plentiful supply of sea-weed, with which the ground
is annually dressed.

Beckmann made very laborious researches to as-
certain the positive antiquity of the artichoke.
These discussions are, however, more curious than
interesting. A commentator of Dioscorides, Hermo-
laus Barbarus, who died in 1494, relates that this
vegetable was first seen in the Venice garden in 1473,
at which time it was very scarce. A few years pre-
vious to that time it was, however, an object of cul-
tivation in other parts of Italy. It was introduced
into France at the beginning of the sixteenth century,
and not many years afterwards, during the reign of
Henry VIII, was first transplanted into our gardens.
In the Privy-Purse expenses of this king we find
several entries regarding artichokes. Thus: — ' Paied
to a servant of maister Tresorer in rewarde for
bringing Archecokks to the king's grace to Yorke
place, iiijs. iiijd.' — A treatise, written in the reign of
Mary, on ' the best seltynge and keepynge of arti-
chokes,' is still preserved in the Harleian library, of
which it forms the 645th number. Though in very
common culture in this country this plant is not held
in as much estimation here as on the Continent.

The artichoke has large thick perennial roots and
annual stems, rising to three feet or more in height.
The leaves are large and pinnatified, or cut in deep,
horizontal, convex segments; these are covered with
an ash-coloured down. In the midst of them rise the
upright stalks, which are surmounted by large, scaly
heads, composed of an involucrum, having numerous
oval leaves or scales, enclosing the florets, and placed
on a broad, fleshy receptacle; this, and the lower
part or talus of the scales, are the only edible por-
tions of the plant used in the early stage of their

ASPARAGINOVS PLANTS. 283

growth, before the central leaves of the calyx are
separated, or the flowers in any way exposed. A
large portion of the centre is occupied by what is
vulgarly called the choke, which consists of the young
flowers and seed-down, having the appearance of
bristles or prickly filaments, and from which the
receptacle, or bottom, must be entirely freed before it
can be eaten.

Artichokes are most readily propagated by offsets
from the roots of the old plants, from which they
may be separated, and planted out anew in March
or April, when they have attained a height of about
five inches. They will produce a crop the same
year, but not an abundant one, commencing in
August, and continuing till November; the second
year they will be in full bearing, and produce two
months earlier. Thus by planting fresh offsets every
year, a succession of artichokes may be obtained
from June to November. The old plants, however,
will continue productive for many years, provided the
ground be annually manured at the winter dressing.
But although the heads may be obtained from roots
twenty years old, they degenerate in size and abun-
dance with the age of the plant, and therefore it is
advisable often to renew the plantation.

The CARDOON — Cynara cardunculus — is a native
of Candia, whence it was not introduced into England
until more than a century after the artichoke. Its
cultivation has never, however, been an object of
much attention in Britain, where it is considered of
little value. On the Continent this vegetable takes a
higher rank, and is much more extensively used.

The stems of the young leaves, rendered mild and
crisp by blanching, are the only edible parts of the
plant; these are stewed or used as an ingredient in
soups and in salads.

284

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

The cardoon very much resembles the artichoke
in appearance ; but it is of a larger and more regular
growth.

Cardoon ~ Cermun cardunculus.

CHAPTER XIII.

Alliaceous Plants.

THESE plants consist of bulbous roots, belonging to
the natural order, Jlsphodehce, so called from the
asphodel, which, though not a native of Britain, is
cultivated as an ornament to our gardens.

A bulbous essentially differs from a tuberous root
in growing from the coronal plate upwards, and is, in
reality, not a root but a bud, which defends the em-
bryo or future shoot from external injuries during the
winter ; and which is always made up of parts which
are ultimately to be developed in the atmosphere.
Whatever may be their form and structure, or whether
they grow in the earth or above the surface, they are,
in reality, stalks or leaves, generally the latter.

Bulbs are not very nourishing ; yet though most
of those under present notice have an odour that is
far from agreeable, their pungency and supposed
sanative qualities render them general favourites, espe-
cially among the humbler classes. The rustic inhabi-
tant of the northern parts of Britain looks upon the
onion as his chief vegetable dainty; and on some parts
of the Continent, the garlic, which is rather too strong
in flavour for the people of this country, is as much
esteemed, being eaten by the poor as almost the sole
addition to their black bread, and entering into many
of the made dishes of the rich.

The ONION — Jlllium Cepa. — The use of the
onion has been so long known in this country, that
whence, and at what period, it was obtained cannot

286 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

now be ascertained. It is not supposed that any
variety of it is indigenous, since the large and mild roots
which are imported from warmer climates deteriorate
both in size and sweetness after having been cultivated
a few years in this climate. The onion called the
Strasburgh, and the varieties which have been ob-
tained from it in this country, appear to be the most
naturalized, as they are the hardiest which are grown.
It is, therefore, probable that this plant was first in-
troduced into England from the central parts of con-
tinental Europe; although it may have been originally
the native of countries farther to the south, and have
been rendered hardier and less prone to degenerate
from its gradual change of climate.

The onions of Spain and Portugal, and even those
of the south of France, are very superior to the com-
mon onion of our gardens, being of a much larger
size, and more mild and succulent. These sorts,
however, will not bear the colder climate of this country
without degenerating, while their seed seldom comes
to maturity in Britain.

Though the history of the onion can be but imper-
fectly traced in Europe, there is no doubt as to its
great antiquity in Africa, since there is evidence to
show that this bulb was known and much esteemed in
Egypt 2000 years before Christ. It still forms a
favourite addition to the food of the Egyptians. Has-
selquist, in a panegyric on the exquisite flavour of
the Egyptian onion, remarks, that it is no wonder
the Israelites, after they had quitted their place of
bondage, should have regretted the loss of this deli-
cacy ; for whoever has tasted of the onions of Egypt
must acknowledge that none can be better in any part
of the universe. < There,' says he, ' they are mild
and pleasant to the palate ; in other countries they
are strong and nauseous. There they are soft and
yielding, but in countries to the north they are hard,

ALLIACEOUS PLANTS. 287

and their coats so compact, as to render them less easy
of digestion.' The Egyptians divide them into four
parts, and eat them roasted together with pieces of
meat ; which preparation they consider so delicious,
that they devoutly wish it may form one of the viands
of Paradise. A soup made of these onions was pro-
nounced hy the learned traveller to be certainly one of
the best dishes of which he ever partook.

This predilection for the savoury bulb extends in
Africa beyond the country of the Nile. Major Den-
ham, in his route south from Bornou, observed nume-
rous gardens, but the only vegetable produced in
them appeared to be onions.

This plant is a biennial, having long tubulated leaves,
a swelling, pithy stalk, thicker in the middle than at
either of the ends, and a large spherical head of
flowers, which expand the second summer after sow-
ing. The root is a bulb, tunicated or formed of con-
centric coats ; this varies in size materially, according
to the variety, soil, and mode of cultivation. It seems
to be a general law among this species of roots, that
the small are more pungent than the large, — that
those which have a tinge of red or purple are more
pungent than those which are white, — and that those
which have the rind or outer membranous tunic upon
the bulb thin and transparent are always of milder
flavour than those which have it thick. It would be
unprofitable as well as uninteresting to attempt an
enumeration of the varieties of onions ; and, even
though it should be made complete at the present
time, new varieties are so constantly springing up,
that it would not long remain a correct list. Nearly
twenty different kinds are recommended as being
worthy of garden culture.

A rich mellow ground, on a dry subsoil, is the
most favourable to the growth of this plant. It is
propagated by seed sown broad-cast in spring ; the

288 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

quantity of seed being regulated according to the des-
tination of the onions, whether they are to be drawn
young or to remain for bulbing. The plants begin
to bulb in June, increasing in growth till the middle
of August, when the necks shrink and the leaves
decay : they are then in a fit state to be drawn, and
preserved for the winter store.

A method of improving the size of onions by
transplanting them was recommended by Worlidge,
so early as the beginning of the seventeenth century,
in his ' Systema Horticultures ;' and this practice has
lately been revived with great success by some emi-
nent horticulturists.

The theory on which it is founded is extremely
ingenious. JRvery plant which lives longer than one
year, generates the sap or vegetable blood which will
elaborate the leaves and roots of the succeeding spring.
In bulbous roots this reserved sap is deposited in the
bulb, which, in a great measure, it composes. Now
the store which is thus formed varies considerably in
the same species of plant, according to the particular
circumstances under which it is raised. Thus the
onion in the south of Europe accumulates a much
greater quantity in a single season, under a greater
degree, and longer duration of heat, than is afforded
by our colder climates, and therefore it acquires, in a
given time, a much larger size. Mr Knight was
induced by these observations to suppose that two
short and variable summers in England might, per-
haps, be equal in effect to one long and bright season
in Portugal; and, accordingly, he attempted a method
of culture which has proved his inference to be cor-
rect. In pursuance of this plan seeds of the Portugal
onion were sown in spring very thickly, on a poor
soil, and in a shady situation. Under these circum-
stances, the bulb in the autumn had attained scarcely
beyond the size of a large pea. The bulbs were then

ALLIACEOUS PLANTS.

taken from the ground and preserved during the win-
ter ; in the ensuing spring they were again planted at
equal distances ; from this treatment the plants afforded
bulbs very superior to those raised immediately from
seed, some exceeding five inches in diameter ; and
being more matured, they may be preserved sound
throughout the winter with greater certainty than those
which are raised from seed in a single season.* Many
other cultivators pursue, with some slight alterations,
the same method, and find it perfectly successful.

It is found that in those countries in which the onion
comes to the greatest perfection, the practice of trans-
planting it prevails.

In Portugal it is sown in November and December
on a moderate hot-bed, and protected from the frost,
in which situation the plants remain till April or May,
when they are transplanted to a rich soil. '\

Onions are considered wholesome under any form ;
but they become more succulent and rnild after having
undergone culinary preparation.

The WELSH ONION, or CIBOULE — Jlllium Fislu-
losum — is originally from Siberia. It is a hardy plant,
and strong in flavour, approaching more nearly to
garlic than onion. This species does not form a bulb.
The cultivation of the ciboule has been known in
England since the early part of the seventeenth cen-
tury ; how much earlier there are now no means of
knowing. It is much less cultivated in the present
day than it was in former times, when broths and pot-
tages, seasoned with the green tops of the onion tube,
were more in fashion. It is now only occasionally
raised for a spring crop. For this purpose the seed is
sown at the end of July or August ; in a fortnight the
plants usually appear above ground ; but in October
their leaves wither, and the ground appears quite
bare. In the beginning of the ensuing year, how-

* Hort. Trans., vol. iv. t Ibid. vol. iii.

VOL. xv. 25

290 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

ever, they become renovated, and in March are fit for
drawing to be used as onions. The SCALIEN is ano-
ther name given to long-necked onions, which produce
leaves abundantly, but do not bulb.

Tree-onion — Allium prolifci-um.

The TREE, or BULB-BEARJXG Oxio.v — JHlium
Cepa, var. Vivlparum — is a singular variety, which
has probably been produced by climate. It runs with
a strong stem, about two feet in height, on the top of
which the flowers are produced in a manner similar to
the rest of the species ; but instead of being succeeded
by capsules containing seeds, the germs swell, and
towards the end of the season a crop of bulbs is
obtained from the top of the stalk, and which, in a
natural state, as soon as they drop off and fall to the
ground, begin to put out roots and vegetate. This
variety is more an object of curiosity than of use,
though we learn that in some parts of Wales these

ALLIACEOUS PLANTS. 291

bulbs arc planted, and produce ground-onions of a
considerable size, while the stem supplies a succession
of bulbs for the next year's planting. *

This variety is said to have been introduced here
from Canada ; the French call it Vognon d'Egypte ;
there is no proof, however, of its being a native of
the country which its name would indicate, while the
probability is greatly to the contrary. It is not in
such a climate, but in cold ajid wet countries, that
seminal plants are changed to viviparous. The same
species of grass which has perfect seeds upon warm
and dry grounds, bears little plants in the spike when
grown upon the cold and humid mountain top ; and
the corn, which in a dry season remains firm and
without any signs of vegetation in the grain, sprouts
in the ear, and becomes green and matted in the
shock, when the weather is rainy ; this effect being
produced much more frequently in the northern parts
of the country than in the south. It is by no means
improbable that in the humid atmosphere of the He-
brides, both grain and pulse would become viviparous,
if they were not taken to the barn and dried by arti-
ficial means. By analogy drawn from facts it is
therefore probable that the tree-onion is not only from
Canada, but that it is not indigenous there, being
merely the common onion introduced from France by
the colonists, and changed to the viviparous form by
the climate.

The GROUND, or POTATO ONION is another curious
variety. This multiplies itself in an opposite direc-
tion to that of the tree-onion, producing, by the for-
mation of young bulbs on the parent root, an ample
crop below the surface. This plant has also been
described as being a native of Egypt, or at least as
having been brought from that country by the British
army in the early part of the present century. It

* Hort. Trans. , vol. Hi.

292 VEGKTABLE SUBSTANCES.

must be admitted that a plant which bears an addi-
tional number of bulbs is more likely to be a native of
a dry and warm climate than a plant which is vivi-
parous. The time of the introduction of the potato-
onion has, however, been erroneously assigned, since
it was known and cultivated in the south and west of
England some years prior to the Egyptian expedition.
If it be a native of Egypt, or of any other warm
country, it is, indeed, a hardy one, since it bears the
alteration of the seasons, and resists the attacks of
insects much better, it is said, than the common
onion.

The bulbs are planted in the middle of winter ; as
the tops appear they are usually earthed up like
potatoes, and by the middle of summer the new crop
is ready for removing. The size and number of the
new bulbs depend very much on the size of those
which hove been planted, but they always yield a pro-
portionately large produce.

The CHIVE— Jlllium Schoenoprasum — is the smal-
lest, though one of the finest flavoured of the genus.
It is a hardy perennial plant, an inhabitant of Siberia,
and said to be a native of Britain, though rarely
found growing in an uncultivated state. The bulbs
are very small, connected in clusters of an elongated
farm, and the leaves are long, slender, and pointed.
The flowering stem, when it is allowed to rise, is
slightly curved and seldom attains to more than a few
inches in height ; the flowers are white, with a purple
, tinge ; they grow crowded together, and are, even in
the- most cold and moist situations, followed by capsules
and seeds. When cultivated, the plants are, however,
seldom allowed to run to seed, as they are not usually
drawn to be eaten entire, but have the leaves and
young tops cut off to be used as a potherb. Chives
are very hardy, and require no attention during their
growth except to keep them free from weeds ; they

ALLIACEOUS PLANTS. 293

are propagated by slips, or by dividing the roots in the
spring or autumn.

When the leaves are gathered for use, if they are
cut close, others will shoot up in succession, and in this
manner a bed lasts three or four years ; after which
period it must be renewed. When fresh cut, these
leaves are by some persons considered as an im-
provement to salads and seasonings. Their flavour
suffers greatly if they be kept after gathering even
for a very short time, and their produce is but small
in proportion to the labour of gathering. On these
accounts they are not much cultivated in places where
vegetables are supplied in the markets ; and they sel-
dom find a place in the garden of the English peasant,
who, partly from ignorance, and partly from pre-
judice, does not live much upon those soups and
savoury dishes which, while they are more wholesome
and nourishing than the food which he consumes, are
also considerably cheaper.

The LEEK — Allium porrum. — is said to be in-
digenous to Switzerland, whence it was introduced
into this country ; but it has been for so many ages
under cultivation, that its native place cannot, perhaps,
be very accurately traced. According to translators
and commentators, this, as well as the onion and
garlic, was included among the Egyptian luxuries
after which the Israelites pined. It still makes its
constant appearance at the tables of the Egyptians,
who eat it chopped small as a savoury accompaniment
to meat.

The exact period when the leek was first brought
into this country is not known, but it is mentioned by
Tusser, in his ' Five Hundred Points of Good Hus-
bandry, as early as 1562. There is, however, every
reason for believing that it was introduced prior to
that time, and had long been the favourite badge of
the Welsh principality. Shakspeare makes this to have

VOL. xv. 25*

294 TEGETABT.r. STBSTANCES.

arisen at the time of the battle of Cressy. In the play
of Henry V, Fluellin, addressing the King, observes,

' Yonr grandfather of famous memory, an't please your Ma-
jesty, and your great uncle Edward the Flack f'rince of Wale?,
as I have read in the chronicles, fought a most prave pattle
here in France.

' King Henry. They did, Fluellin.

' Fluellin. Your Majesty says very true : if your Majesties
is remembered of it, the Welshmen did goot service in a gnr-
den where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their Monmouth
caps, which your Majesty knows to this hour is an honourable
badge of the service ; and I do believe your Majesty takes no
scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Tavy'a day.' — Act 4,
Scene 7.

Worlidge gives a good idea of the love of the Welsh
for these kinds of odoriferous vegetables. He says, ' I
have seen the greater part of a garden there stored with
leeks, and part of the remainder with onions and garlic.'
The hardiness and pungency of the leek both tend
to recommend it in those countries where few pot-
herbs are grown, and it seems to have great facility in
adapting itself to climate. The leek which is cultivated
in the colder parts of Scotland, and thence is called
tbe Scotch leek, is more hardy and also more pungent
than the broad-leaved variety, chiefly cultivated in
England. It was formerly a very favourite ingredient
in the ' cock-a-leekie ' of the Scotch, which is so
graphically described in ' The Fortunes of Nigel ;'
and of which James the First is reported to have been
so fond that he retained his preference for it notwith-
standing all the dainties of London cookery.

This species requires more boiling than others of
the same genus, and, unless it be reduced nearly to a
pulp, it taints the breath in a very offensive manner.
The offensive odour of a vegetable is, however, no
evidence of unwholesomeness, provided the odour is
natural to it, and not the result of putrefaction.*

* See the account of the Durion ; Library of Entertaining
Knowledge, volume on Timber Trees and Fruits, p. 404.

ALLIACEOUS PLANTS. 295

The bulb of the leek consists of the bottoms of the
leaves, which do not form in bulbules or cloves like
those of the garlic, neither are they so entire as the
tunics of the onion ; the stem runs to the height of
about three feet ; the (lowers, which are bell-shaped,
appear in May, in large close balls, followed by cap-
sules containing seeds. As the root of the leek is
rather the blanched end of the leaves than a bulb,
properly so called, the plant is to be considered chiefly
as a potherb ; though in some places both the root
and the greater part of the leaves are eaten by the
peasantry as an accompaniment to their bread. Its
chief value, however, is as a potherb, which stands
the winter well, and is in a forward and succulent
state at that part of the season when fresh vegetables
are the least abundant. The culture of the leek is
similar to that of the onion.

GARLIC — Jllliutn saiivum — is the species from
which the genus takes its name. It is very exten-
sively used in most of the continental states. This
plant was first cultivated in England in 1548, and
was held in greater repute by our ancestors than is
in accordance with modern English taste. It is a
native of the countries on the shores of the Mediter-
ranean, and is still to be found growing wild in the
island of Sicily, and in the south of France. Though
thriving best on a naturally rich and dry soil, garlic
is a very hardy plant, and not very particular as to
climate. Its leaves are linear, long, and narrow ;
the root is perennial, composed of twelve or fifteen
lesser bulbs, enclosed in one common membranous
tunic, and easily separable from one another ; these
are called cloves of garlic, and are the only parts
used. The whole plant, and especially the cloves,
has a most acrimonious taste, and offensive smell ;
and even in those countries where it is most in favour
it is seldom eaten in substance, or even mixed in sub-

296 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

stance in those culinary preparations which it is in-
tended to flavour. The garlic is generally only intro-
duced during the cooking, for a time longer or shorter
according to the intenseness of the flavour required,
and is then withdrawn. This plant is readily propa-
gated by the cloves or subdivisions of the bulbs which,
if put into the ground in March, produce a crop in
July or August.

Garlic — Alli-jm sativum.

Several species of garlic are found growing natu-
rally in various countries. The wild garlic of Kam-
chatka (allium ursimiin) is much prized by the inha-
bitants, both as a medicine and as an auxiliary article
of food. The Russians, as well as the natives, gather
it in large quantities for winter use. After being
steeped in water, it is mixed with cabbage, onions,

ALLIACEOUS PLANTS. 297

and other ingredients, the whole forming a ragout,
which is eaten cold. This plant is there considered as
almost a specific against the scurvy, no sooner lifting
its head above the snow than the dreadful disease
loses all its horrors ; as even in its worst stages a cure
is produced by the plentiful use of the wild garlic.

Three species, the sand garlic, the crow garlic,
and the leek garlic, are found native in some parts
of Britain ; but they are of little or no value, and have
never been introduced into culture.

The SHALLOT — Jlllium ascaloniwn — is a native
of warmer climates than that of England ; it is found
growing wild in many parts of Syria, especially near
Ascalon, whence it derives its name. The time of its
introduction into this country is not known ; some
writers assume that it was brought home by the Cru-
saders. It is mentioned as a well-known plant by
Turner, in his ' Signes of Herbes,' published in
1548. This plant resembles the true garlic in having
its roots divided into cloves or smaller roots, and en-
closed in a thin membrane. Each of these small
roots sends forth two or three fistular awl-shaped
leaves, issuing from a sheath ; they are nearly similar,
but not so large, as those of the onion. The shallot
does not in all situations produce perfect seeds, or
even flowers, and sometimes, indeed, does not send
up any foot-stalk. The want of seed is, however,
fully compensated by the multiplication of the roots.
It is sufficiently hardy to bear uninjured the severest
winters of England, but it is liable sometimes to be
attacked by insects. This evil is found to be surely
prevented when the bulbs are planted rather above
the surface, instead of being buried in the earth ; and
this improved mode of culture has a farther advantage
of bettering the quality and increasing the quantity
of the crop obtained.

The flavour of the shallot is much more pungent

298 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

than that of garlic, but not nearly so rank. It sea-
sons soups and made-dishes, and makes a good ad-
dition in sauces, salads, and pickles.

ROCAMBOLE — Mlium scorodoprasum — is a na-
tive of the northern parts of Europe, and is found in
situations which are rather elevated. It has been
cultivated in this country, though not very exten-
sively, from a period much anterior to any annals of
horticulture ; the earliest records on this subject men-
tion it as being a plant in common cultivation. It is
a perennial, having narrow flat leaves, with the mark
of a keel or ridge on the under sides. The flower-
stem rises to the height of about two feet ; the globular
head, on its first appearance, is contorted. As the
plant advances, however, the head untwists, and the
flowers come to maturity ; after which the spherical
top changes into a cluster of small bulbules, which
have a tinge of purple. The cloves of the rocambole,
taken either from the root or the top of the flowering
stalk, are the parts used ; the latter being the largest
in size ; but those from the roots have the most pun-
gency, especially when the whole of the bulb is buried
in the earth.

Rocambole holds an intermediate place between
garlic and shallot, and is applied to the same purpose
as the latter.

CHAPTER XIV.

Acetarious Plants, ^-c. — Seasoning Herbs.

VEGETABLES which are eaten raw, either in their
natural state, or blanched, are usually termed aceta-
rious, or salad plants. Though these contain scarcely
any nourishment, and are not at all essential accom-
paniments to a meal, yet they are recommended by
so agreeable a coolness, pungency, or flavour, as to
render the food with which they are eaten more grate-
ful to the palate; while some are considered a whole-
some addition to more substantial aliment.

LETTUCE — Lactuca saliva — has acquired its ge-
neric name from the milky juice which it contains.
This species comprises many varieties, all of which
possess a slightly narcotic principle in their juice,
which is, in general, elaborated only in small quan-
tities during the early stages of the plant, but in-
creases greatly as that advances towards flowering.
This juice is very bitter, and when it becomes abun-
dant, the plant ceases to be useful.

The absolute quantity and strength of the opiate
portion of the juice most probably varies both with
the variety of the plant and with the soil on which
it is produced. In the strong-scented wild lettuce
(Lactuca virosa) the narcotic juice is so abundant,
and so acrid in itself, or so mixed with other acrid
principles, as almost to bring the plant within the
class of vegetable poisons.

The narcotic property of lettuce-juice has been

300 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

long familiarly known. This quality has not been
overlooked even by the poets. Pope says,

' If your wish be rest,

Lettuce and cowslip wine Probatum est.'

It is only very recently, however, that this juice,
inspissated, or the extract of lettuce, has found a
place among our pharrnaceutic preparations, under
the name of Lactucarium. It is supposed to pos-
sess, though in an inferior degree, the virtues of
opium, without producing the same deleterious ef-
fects; and, therefore, it is held that it may be safely
administered in cases where the more powerful med-
icine is not desirable, or even admissible. Brechin,
in the county of Forfar, is among the places where
the lettuce is cultivated, and its juice collected in
considerable quantity for medical purposes. The
plants are grown in a dell, composed of rich soil,
and opening to the south. In so favourable a situa-
tion they thrive very vigorously, sending up thick
and juicy flower-stems. As soon as these have at-
tained a considerable size and height, but before the
flowers begin to expand, a portion of the top is cut
off transversely. This operation is performed when
the sun has excited the plants into powerful action.
The milky juice quickly exudes from the wound,
while the heat of the sun renders it so immediately
viscid, that it does not flow down in a fluid state, but
concretes around the part whence it issues, forming
a brownish scale, about the size of a sixpence.
When it has acquired the proper consistence it is
removed, and as the inspissated juice closes up the
extremities of the divided vessels, it is necessary to
cut off another small piece of the stem; this causes
the escape of the juice again, and another scale is
formed. The same process is repeated as long as
the weather is favourable, or the plant will yield any
juice.

ACETARIOUS PLANTS. 301

Under so variable an atmosphere as that of Britain,
a crop of this kind must be precarious, unless in those
places where there is generally a week or two of
settled drought, about the warmest period of the
year, and where the cultivator has sufficient local
knowledge for enabling him to time the state of his
plants accordingly. Mr Henderson, the Brechin cul-
tivator, an intelligent and experienced horticulturist,
states, that in favourable years the lettuce-opium,
notwithstanding the trouble of collecting it, is much
more profitable than any other crop that comes to
maturity, in so short a time, upon the same breadth
of land.

Turner mentions the lettuce as being, in 1652, not
a rare or recently cultivated plant, but one with which
the public generally had been long familiar. In the
Privy-Purse expenses of Henry VIII, in 1530, we
find that the gardener at York-Place . jceived a re-
ward for bringing ' lettuze' and cherries to Hampton
Court. Although it cannot now be definitely ascer-
tained when or how this plant was first introduced
into England, we are no doubt indebted for some of
its varieties to the Greek islands. The Cos lettuce,
as its name indicates, is a native of the island of
Cos, and was most probably brought thence into this
country.

The culture of this plant is so simple, and it
requires so little space, that a garden of the most
humble dimensions is seldom found without having
a small nook appropriated to this cooling and agree-
able vegetable. There are many varieties of the let-
tuce, very nearly twenty being enumerated as objects
worthy of garden culture, and each of them differing
somewhat in colour, shape, or some other circum-
stance attending its growth. These, however, may
all be ranged under two distinctive heads, the cos
and the cabbage lettuce. The former grows upright,

VOL. xv. 26

302 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

and its leaves are of an oblong shape; the latter
has rounder leaves folded together, and forming a
low, full head, spreading out close to the ground.
When in perfection for gathering, the leaves of both
sorts are lapped one over the other in a compact,
close order, forming what is usually called the heart,
the inner part of which, being thus excluded from
light and air, becomes nearly white. This natural
blanching is often assisted by artificial means, and
when the inner leaves begin to close, the outer ones
are tied round them with a piece of bast.* The
blanching prevents the formation of the bitter or
acrid principle, which is very perceptible in all the
varieties, if allowed to remain in the ground and com-
plete their growth, when the leaves expand and the
flower-stalk begins to ascend.

Lettuce being a hardy and free growing plant, may
be obtained early in the season, if sown in a warm
border, and protected from the frost during the night.
For early use the cabbage is the best, as in that stage
it is more delicate in flavour than the other; but when
both have arrived at maturity, the cos is the most
succulent.

ENDIVE — Cichorium endivia — is abundantly culti-
vated, if not found wild, in China and Japan; and
thus the accounts that describe it as a native of those
countries, and as having been imported into the West
about the early part of the sixteenth century, have
probability on their side. Few particulars of the
history of this plant are, however, known.

It is a hardy annual, producing a great stock of
leaves from the crown of the root. These leaves are
large, smooth on the surface, but much divided into
lobes, and toothed at the edge. The flowering stem

* The material of Russia matting, made from the inner bark
of the lime-tree, and which is a well-known essential in
kitchen-gardens.

ACETARIOUS PLANTS. 303

rises to the height of about two feet, and the flowers,
which are of a pale blue colour, bloom in July and
August. Like the lettuce, its leaves are used as an
edible before its flowering stem begins to appear.
These leaves are very harsh and bitter when exposed
to the air ; they are therefore blanched, and if this
be properly performed, they become crisp and tender,
and retain only an agreeable bitterness. Endive
may be blanched for use by tying the leaves together,
by earthing up the plants, or by covering them with
pots. By judicious culture and a succession of sow-
ing, endive may be obtained during autumn, winter,
and spring ; it is considered a valuable salad at a
time when few other vegetables are furnished for the
table ; and it also serves as an ingredient in some
other culinary preparations.

SUCCORY, Chicory, or Wild Endive — Cichorium
intybus. There is little doubt that the cichorium,
as mentioned by Theophrastus, in use among the
Ancients, was the wild endive, since the names by
which this plant is known in all the languages of
Modern Europe are merely corruptions of the original
Greek word ; while there are different names in dif-
ferent countries for the garden endive.

Succory is a hardy perennial plant, not uncom-
monly growing about the edges of fields, in those
parts of England where the sub-soil is lime. It will
bear all the varieties of climate in Europe, being
cultivated from Italy to St Petersburgh. This plant
has a strong and fleshy root ; the leaves have some
resemblance to those of endive, differing only in being
narrower, more feathery at the edges, and having
the mid-rib beset with hairs. The flowering stem
rises much higher, sometimes attaining to five feet
in height ; the flowers are like those of the garden
plant in appearance as well as in time of blooming.

This plant is not much valued or cultivated in

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Britain. On the Continent it is held in greater
esteem, and is used as an edible vegetable in a variety
of ways.

Both in France and England succory has occa-
sionally been cultivated as food for cattle ; it is in a
proper state for this purpose just as it is coming into
flower.

The root of this plant is used as n substitute for
coffee ; and it is sometimes considered superior to
the exotic berry. Dr Howison* is of this opinion;
while Dr Duncant believes that the plant might be
cultivated for this purpose with great national advan-
tages. In many parts of Holland and Germany
this prepared root is used in large quantities, either
alone or mixed with coffee by those who cannot
afford to indulge in the latter luxury in its genuine
state. Indeed, it has been very recently introduced
into this country as an addition which much im-
proves the flavour of coffee ; but where economy is
not the consideration, it is not likely to gain much
esteem. The succory root, when applied to this
purpose, is merely cut in pieces, and sufficiently dried
to admit of its being easily ground.

CRESS is the general name of a number of plants,
mostly, if not all, bearing cruciform flowers, and pos-
sessing, in common with plants of the same family,
pungent and aromatic qualities.

GARDEN CRESS — Lepidium sativum — is a hardy
annual, not found wild in England. Its native
country is Persia, and also Cyprus. It has been cul-
tivated here since the middle of the sixteenth century.
This plant produces a number of small leaves, which
are curled in some of the varieties, and plain in
others. The flowering stem is branched and rises to

* Caled. Hort. Mem. iv, 132.

t Disc, to Cnled. Hort. Soc. 1820,

ACETAKIOUS PLANTS. 305

the height of about a foot and a half, producing white
flowers which blow in June or July. It germinates
very rapidly, and is most generally used in its earliest
growth. In this state it is mixed with the young
leaves of mustard, and is the most esteemed of all
the small salads or plants which are used in the early
leaf.

Its flavour is so warm and pungent as to have
procured for it the name of pepper-wort. During the
greater part of the year a constant supply may be
obtained by sowing a portion every week, and the
application of a moderate artificial heat will furnish it
throughout the winter.

MUSTARD — Sinapis alba — is often found growing
wild among corn ; but it is very generally cultivated,
being sown with the garden cress to be eaten in the
seed-leaf as a small salad ; but when the plants are
of a more advanced growth, the leaves become harsh
and rank. Its flowers appear in June or July, and
these are succeeded by round rough pods. Like
cress it most readily germinates, and is, indeed, of still
quicker growth. The seeds, strewed on wet flannel,
or on cork, floating on water, quickly put forth tender
leaves, and a salad is thus in a few days produced at
the winter fireside.

The Sinapis alba is not generally cultivated for its
seeds, which are used as a condiment ; the species
usually grown for this purpose is the nigra.

BURNET — Poterium sanguisorba — is an upland
perennial, found upon dry soils, and attaining to
rather more than a foot in height. Its flowers, form-
ing small greenish heads tinged with purple, appear
in July. The leaves, when bruised, smell like cu-
cumber. They have a slightly pungent taste ; but
their chief value consists in their continuing green
and fit for use during winter. This plant was for-
merly much more cultivated than it is at present.

roL. xv. 26*

306 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

GARDEN ROCKET — Brassica eruca — was like-
wise cultivated by our ancestors, who first obtained it
from Austria in 1573. It has now entirely fallen
into disuse in this country, but is still to be found in
gardens on some parts of the Continent.

The list of plants which are occasionally eaten as
salads is so numerous, and some of them are so little
used, that a farther detail of them would possess little
interest. In fact any plant of rapid growth, and
which has the seed-leaves pungent, without any dele-
terious property, may be used as small salad.

CELERY — Jlpium graveolens. There are several
varieties of the cultivated celery. The upright kinds
are distinguished as the red and the white, and by
having their stems either hollow or solid. Of these
the red variety is of a coarse but more hardy nature
than the others, and though not so good in its crude
state, is well adapted for stews and soups.

The blanched foot-stalks of the leaves are the
part generally used as an esculent. The Italians,
however, take the unblanched leaves as an ingredient
for soup ; and when no other part of the plant can
be obtained, the seeds alone will communicate a
very agreeable flavour to certain culinary prepara-
tions.

The turnip-rooted celery, or celeriac, is more hardy
than the upright varieties. The root of this is the
only part used. It attains to a very considerable size,
especially in Germany, where it is much esteemed,
either as forming an ingredient with other viands,
or prepared by itself, the outer coat and fibres
being always previously detached. The boiled root,
sliced when cold, and mixed with oil and vinegar, is
considered a very choice salad. Celeriac is occa-

ACETARIOUS PLANTS. 307

sionally imported from Hamburgh into this country ;
but it rarely forms an object of cultivation in English
gardens.

The most favourable soil for the growth of celery
is a rich vegetable mould. This plant is raised from
seed sown in spring ; an early crop being sometimes
brought forward on a moderate hot-bed. When the
plants are from two to four inches high, the seed-bed
is thinned, and those removed are transplanted, from
three to six inches apart from each other, in an inter-
mediate bed. They remain in this situation till they
become vigorous plants of from six to twelve inches
high; they are then finally transplanted, and, gener-
ally, into trenches. The plants are placed at from
five to ten inches apart, and as vegetation goes for-
ward the stems are gradually earthed in ; this opera-
tion being repeated every fortnight, till at length they
are covered to one and even to two feet high, in order
that they may be blanched, and thus a considerable
portion be made edible. By this management celery
is obtained from August till March ; and where the
soil is favourable, and the cultivation skilful, these
plants attain to a very large size. A head of celery,
cultivated in the neighbourhood of Manchester, and
dug up in the autumn of 1815, weighed, when washed,
nine pounds, inclusive of the roots and leaves, and
measured four feet and a half in height. It was of
the red sort, very crisp and delicate, and of a good
flavour.*

The RADISH — Raphanus sativtis — is usually de-
scribed as being a native of China ; but whether
it was introduced thence direct into Britain has not
been ascertained. It has long been in cultivation in
this country. Bullein, who wrote in 1562, says :
1 Of radish-rootes there be no small store growing
about the famous city of London : they be more

* London's Encyc. of Card.

308 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

plentifull than profytable, and more noysome than
nowrishinge to manne's nature.'* Yet they were used
thirty years before at the table of Henry VIII.

This plant is of quick growth, shooting up its
flower-stem in a few weeks, after which the root
becomes stringy and too pungent to be agreeable ; it
is, therefore, fit to be pulled sooner after sowing than
almost any other plants, except those of which the
seed-leaves are eaten as salad.

There are many varieties of the radish, which differ
from each other in shape, colour, flavour, or in the
seasons most suitable for their cultivation. Radishes
are distinguished, according to their form, into long or
spindle-shaped, and round or turnip-rooted.

RHUBARB — Rheum. The petioles of rhubarb have
a pleasant acidity ; these, when peeled and cut into
pieces, form no unworthy substitute for fruit in spring
tarts ; to furnish a supply for which this plant is now
largely cultivated in the vicinity of the metropolis.

Several species of Rheum are cultivated in England.
The root of the true Rhubarb — Rheum palmatum —
is well known as a medicinal drug, and for that pur-
pose has long been imported from the Levant, though
the particular plant, of which it was the root, was not
ascertained until 1758, when it was first introduced
and cultivated in this country by Dr John Hope.f
It is a native of some parts of Tartary, where the
physical characters of the climate are well adapted
for the perfecting of its root, the properties of which
are very faintly retained in countries where the season
of dormant vegetation is humid. This plant is of
very handsome appearance. Its beautiful palmate
leaves distinguish it from the other species ; but as
the parts used for culinary purposes, the footstalks
of the radical leaves, are much smaller than those t
the other kinds, it is not in general cultivation.

* ' Book of Simples,' fo. 53. t Phil. Trans, vol. lv,

MISCELLANEOUS VEGETABLE ESCULENTS. 309

Rhubarb — RAeum ptdnatur*.

310 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

MONK RHUBARB — Rheum rhaponticum — is also
a native of Asia, but of what particular part is not
known, neither is the time of its introduction ascer-
tained ; we find it mentioned by Tusser so early as
1573, as being then cultivated in England.

The leaves of this species are blunt and smooth,
with red veins ; the footstalks have also a red tinge,
they have a groove or furrow on their upper sides, and
are rounded at the edges.

The HYBRID RHUBARB — Rheum hybridum — is
a native of more northern parts of Asia than the others,
and is of more recent introduction into Britain. It
was first cultivated in this country by Dr Fothergill
in 1778, but it did not come into general use as a
culinary vegetable till several years after, having been
introduced in our kitchen-gardens for this purpose
about thirty years back. This plant is of a much
more lively green than the former species. The
leaves are slightly heart-shaped and very large, being,
in favourable soils and under good culture, sometimes
as much as four feet in length, including the footstalk.
In the Gardener's Magazine for February, 1829, we
find a notice of a plant of this species, the leaves of
which attained to great dimensions. One leaf being
cut, with its petiole, was found to weigh four pounds.
The circumference of the leaf, not including its foot-
stalk, measured twenty-one feet three inches ; its
diameter, three feet ten inches ; length of leaf, in-
cluding the petiole, five feet two inches, and length of
petiole, one foot four inches. The stalks of the
hybrid are much more succulent, as well as larger,
than those of the Monk Rhubarb, which, therefore,
cause it to be the preferable species for cultivation,
although Hheutn. undulation, called by gardeners
Buck's Rh., and the Elford Rh., has been found the
finest in flavour.

Rhubarb is very easily cultivated, and though it

MISCELLANEOUS VEGETABLE ESCULENTS. 311

occupies much space, the produce, under proper treat-
ment, is very considerable. The petioles obtained
from it will furnish a greater supply of material for
tarts than the fruit of either apple or gooseberry-
trees occupying an equal breadth of ground. It may,
therefore, be considered as a good plant for the cot-
tage garden, more especially as it comes into pro-
ductive bearing in the earliest spring, a time when
fresh fruit cannot be obtained.

New plantations may be raised either by sowing
the seeds or parting the roots. The latter is not,
however, an eligible mode of culture. As in most
cultivated plants, the produce of a sucker is, when
it has to make its own root, always inferior in vege-
tative power to that which is originally from the
seed, — and vigorous vegetation is the quality most
sought for in rhubarb, — the flowering sterns should
be removed, except in such plants as may be wanted
for seed. If the seeds are sown in spring, the plants
will be ready for planting out in autumn, and will
come up strong enough for use the next spring,
after which the plantation will last for many years.
The plants of the hybrid kind require from two feet
and a half to three feet of space for each, and those
of the other species about a foot less ; but the supe-
rior produce of the former, under favourable circum-
stances, will more than compensate for the greater
breadth required.

ANGELICA — Angelica Jlrchangelica — is occasion-
ally to be found native in cold and moist places of
Scotland ; but it is more abundant in countries farther
to the north, as in Lapland and Iceland. This plant
was formerly much more in repute than it is at pre-
sent. It may be inferred from its common name of
angelica, as well as from another name, ' The Holy
Ghost,' which was sometimes given to it, that super-
stitious virtues were imputed to it. The chief of

312 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

these virtues was driving away the pestilence, for
which general cleanliness has proved to be a better
preventive than all the charms which ever were
named.

Its stem was formerly blanched and eaten like
celery, but the use of this plant in the present day as
an English edible is mostly confined to confectionary,
for which purpose the young and tender stalks are
candied. The roots, seeds, and leaves, are some-
times, though not very commonly in modern practice,
used in medical preparations. The whole plant is
highly aromatic. In Lapland the inhabitants con-
sider the stalks of Angelica as a great delicacy.
These are gathered before flowering ; the leaves being
stripped off' and the peel removed, the remainder is
eaten with much relish. This is a favourite plant with
the Laplanders, who have given so many names to it,
according to the different stages of its growth, as to
occasion much confusion to a stranger.*

VEGETABLES USED FOR PICKLING.

MANY of the vegetables which have been already
described are applied to this purpose, — which use
has been noticed under the different heads, as they
have presented themselves ; those plants which are
more particularly and exclusively employed in this
manner are but few in number. Cucumbers, love-
apples, capsicums, and capers are the only pickling
plants which have not already found a place in the
present volume. The two first mentioned have al-
ready been described in another division of this
series. t

* Linnaeus's Tour in Lapland.

t See Volume treating on Timber-Trees and Fruits, pp. 287
and 291.

VEGETABLES USED FOR PICKLING. 313

Capiicum.

The CAPSICUM is a native of tropical regions, but
is become so far acclimatized in this country as to
be successfully reared, and during summer to endure
the open air uninjured.

Three species of capsicum are cultivated in Eng-
land. The GUINEA PEPPER — Capsicum annuum —
was introduced into England, from India, so early
as 1548, and is mentioned by Gerarde as being
under cultivation in his time. This plant has a
branchy stem, rising about two feet high ; the leaves

VOL. xv. 27

314 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

are long, narrow, and of a dark green colour. White
flowers bloom in June or July, and are succeeded
by pods varying in shape and colour ; some being
long, others short, some round, and others again
heart-shaped, while the colour is either red or yellow.

The CHERRY PEPPER — Capsicum cerasiforme — is
a native of the West Indies, and was not cultivated
in England until 1759. This species is very similar
in appearance to the first, and is only characterised
by the different shape of the pods, which take some-
what the form of a cherry ; sometimes heart-shaped,
bell-shaped, or angular ; their colour is the same as
the preceding.

Both these species are annuals. The BELL PEP-
PER — Capsicum grossum — is a biennial, a native of
India ; it produces larger pods than either of the
others. It may be transplanted with safety in the
open garden, on the arrival of summer, requiring a
place in the stove during the winter season.

The green pods of all these varieties are used for
pickling ; those of the last are generally preferred,
being not only larger, but having the skin more pulpy
and tender.

The CAPER — Capparis spinosa — is a native of Italy
and Sicily. It was introduced into this country as an
exotic so early as 1596. Modern horticulturists are
of opinion that with care it might be raised in the open
air in England, but this has never yet been accom-
plished to any useful extent. One instance, indeed,
is recorded by Neill, of a caper-tree standing alive in
the open air for nearly a century ; this was in the
garden at Campden-House, Kensington. This plant
was sheltered from the north, and remained un-
covered during winter. It was generally much in-
jured by frost, but the roots being particularly strong
and vivacious, it sent out strong shoots and pro-
duced flower-buds every year. In France the caper-

SEASONING HERBS. 315

tree has been long naturalized, being cultivated in
the vicinity of Paris with no other shelter than a low
wall, against which it is trained ; in winter, the
shoots are laid down, and covered with litter or fern.
JVear Toulon it is not trained in this manner, but
overspreads the ground in the manner of brambles.
It is a trailing shrub, and in the southern parts
of JEurope, where it is found native, grows very
abundantly out of the joints of old walls, the fissures
of rocks, and amongst ruins. The stem is ligneous,
sending out many lateral branches ; the shoots rise
two or three feet, and then become procumbent.
From under each of the branches proceed two
crooked spines ; immediately above these the petioles
of the kidney-shaped leaves are produced. White
flowers, growing on long peduncles, would, if allowed
to remain, bloom through the summer ; but before
they expand, their buds, with the empalements, are
plucked and used for pickling. A large quantity of
these, which form a well-known pickle, is annually
imported into England, from Italy and ports in the
Mediterranean.

SEASONING HERBS.

VEGETABLES of this description are never used with
any reference to their substantive qualities, as articles
of food. They are employed merely for their fla-
vour, forming subordinate ingredients in the culi-
nary art, and are respectively applied in various com-
binations according to the skill or the pleasure of the
operator.

Many of this class of plants were formerly much
esteemed for their real or imaginary medical vir-
tues, and some of them are in the present day con-
sidered of sufficient value to be ranked among phar-
raaceutic simples.

316 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES,

PARSLEY — Jlpium petroselinum — was known to
the Greeks, and received its distinctive name of pe-
troselinum from Dioscorides. It is said to be a
native of Sardinia, whence it was brought into Eng-
land about the middle of the sixteenth century ; but
the plant is of so ancient culture in this country,
that the period of its introduction cannot, perhaps,
be accurately assigned, and though supposed not to
be indigenous to Britain, it is now completely na-
turalized in various parts, both of England and Scot-
land. It is a hardy biennial plant.

The principal varieties are the common plain-
leaved, the curled-leaved, and the Hamburgh or
broad-leaved. The plain-leaved parsley was the first
known in this country ; but it is not now much cul-
tivated, since the leaves are not so handsome as
those of the curled, are of a less brilliant green,
and are coarser in flavour. Another reason lor ba-
nishing it from the gardens is its resemblance to
fool's-parsley, or lesser hemlock, JElhusa cynapitim,
which is a noxious weed of a poisonous nature, in-
festing gardens and fields. If this intruder were
growing among plain parsley, an unobservant per-
son might confound the leaves of the one with the
other, although they differ somewhat in shape and
colour ; the leaves of the poisonous plant being of
rather a darker green, and, if bruised, they emit an
unpleasant odour, very different to that of parsley.
When in flowei they are easily distinguished, the
cethusa having an involucrum of three long, narrow,
sharp-pointed leaflets, hanging down under every
partial umbel, and vulgarly termed the beard ; while
in the garden parsley there is usually only one leaflet
at the general umbel, and at the partial umbel the
involucrum consists of only a few short folioles, almost
as fine as hairs.

Parsley is raised from seed, which is sown in the

SEASONING HERBS. 317

early part of spring, most generally in single drills,
round the edges of any of the vegetable beds. The
plants appear in three or four weeks, and soon the
tender leaves are fit to be gathered for use ; a suc-
cession springing forth and furnishing a supply through-
out the whole of the year, till the ensuing May, when
the flower-stalks begin to run, bloom, and bear seed
in July or August.

Parsley has been supposed to be an effectual cure
for the rot in sheep, provided it be given to them
in sufficient quantities. Attempts were made some
years ago to promote its extensive culture in fields
for this purpose, under the auspices of the Society
for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. It is said that
this specific was tried in Hampshire with success ;
and Mortimer* mentions the cultivation of parsley,
as a remedy against this destructive disease, being
practised in Buckinghamshire. This herb, when used
as food for sheep, imparts to their flesh, it is said, a
very agreeable flavour. ~|~

Hares and rabbits, we are told, will come from a
great distance in order to indulge their taste for
parsley ; and in countries where these animals
abound, in no situation does their favourite herb
escape from their depredations unless securely fenced.

PURSLANE — Portulaca oleracea — was introduced
from South America into this country in 1652. It
was formerly held in more esteem, and was more cul-
tivated, than it is at present.

FENNEL — Jlnethum fceniculum — is a plant of
very ancient use, and if not native, is at least natu-
ralized in England, where it is sometimes found
growing on chalky soils. It is a perennial, rising to
the height of five or six feet. The leaves are di-
vided into a variety of fine, long segments, of a

* Mortimer's Husbandry, vol. i.
t Campbell's Pol. Survey, vol. ii.

VOL. XV. 27*

318 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

bright green colour. YTellow flowers, growing in
umbels, appear in July and August. The whole
plant has a strong and disagreeable odour. Its
light and delicately formed leaves are occasionally
used as a garnish ; and, when boiled, enter into the
composition of certain fish-sauces.

HORSE-RADISH — Cochlearia armoracia — is a na-
tive of some marshy situations in Britain, where it
may be found of spontaneous growth. It has been
long an inmate of our gardens, and is well known
with its large oblong leaves, sometimes entire round
their edges, and sometimes deeply serrated. White,
cruciform flowers, growing in loose panicles, bloom
in the beginning of summer. This plant is made
the object of careful cultivation among market gar-
deners, who find that its most congenial soil is a
deep sandy loam. It is propagated by offsets, planted
in February, and in the autumn of the ensuing year
the roots are fit for use.

MINT — Mentha — is a perennial plant, of which
there are many species and varieties. They are all
indigenous to Britain, and chiefly delight in low,
moist situations. They are all more or less aro-
matic in the scent, and pungent in the flavour.
Many of them yield sharp volatile oils by distillation.
With very few exceptions, the whole of this descrip-
tion of plants is perennial, though the leaves in some,
and the flowering stem in most, die down in the
winter. They are all native plants, and their qualities
are pungent and agreeable, not one of them being in
the least degree poisonous ; thus, whenever their
taste is such that they can be used as giving flavour
to food, that application may always be made with
perfect safety. Much of the natural fragrance of the
fields is owing to the Labiatce, the family to which
these sweet herbs belong. The various species of
thyme impart their grateful odours to the arid

SEASONING HERBS.

wastes ; the balmy calamint, and others of the same
genus, diffuse their aromatic sweets over the culti-
vated fields ; and the mints correct the effluvia
arising from stagnant pools in marshy lands.

SPEARMINT, or common mint — Mentha viridis, —
PEPPERMINT — Mentha piperita, — and PENNY-ROYAL
MINT — MeMthapulegium, — are the principal species
of mint. All are propagated either by parting at the
root, by offsets, or by cuttings. When designed for
distillation, the stalks should not be gathered until
they have attained their full growth and are beginning
to bloom ; they should then be used as soon as cut.
The same roots will send forth annual stalks for many
years without degenerating.

THYME — Thymus. Two species are found na-
tives of Britain, the Thymus serpyllum and Thymus
acinas ; but that which is cultivated in our gardens,
Thymus vttlgaris, is a native of Spain, and other
parts of Southern Europe. The climate of Spain
seems peculiarly genial to the growth of all sweet
herbs. At Marvella, about midway between Malaga
and Gibraltar, De Laborde speaks of ' sage, thyme,
majorum, lavender, myrtle, and rosemary, more than
six feet high, embalming the air on all sides.' *
Thyme was introduced into this country certainly
before the middle of the sixteenth century, but how
long previous to that period is not ascertained. This
herb is well known as a low shrubby evergreen, of a
strongly aromatic odour. When of the largest growth
it scarcely attains to a foot in height. Its minute
leaves are smooth and oval, and the flowers are
smaller than those of the wild thyme. Three varie-
ties are usually cultivated, and distinguished as the
broad, the narrow, and the variegated leaved.

Two or three tufts of another species, the Lemon
Thyme — Thymus citriodorus — sometimes find a

* De Laborde's Spain, vol. iii.

320 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

place in the herb compartment of the kitchen-garden.
This is a trailing evergreen, of still smaller growth
than the common kind, and is remarkable lor its
smell, which resembles that of the rind of lemons,
whence its distinctive name. Both the species thrive
best in a dry soil. They are propagated most ge-
nerally from seed ; but they can likewise be multiplied
by slips, or by parting the roots.

This herb is used in many savoury preparations.
It was employed by the Romans to give its peculiar
aromatic flavour to cheese — a practice pursued like-
wise with some flowers and seeds of other plants.
This manner of preparing cheese was still con-
tinued during the middle ages. We collect this
from an anecdote told of Charlemagne, who, travel-
ling unattended, arrived at a bishop's palace. It
was unfortunately a fast-day, and the only fare
which the bishop would set before his royal guest,
was bread and some choice cheese ; this the king did
not appear particularly to relish, picking out with his
knife small specks, which he mistook for unsound
parts, but which, in fact, were parsley seeds. The
prelate ventured to hint that he was throwing away
the best parts of the cheese ; when the monarch
tasted it, and liked it so much, that he requested the
bishop to send him an annual supply of this excellent
flavoured curd ; and, lest the cheese-merchant might
by chance pack cheeses without any admixture of
seeds, the king desired that they might always be
cut in two, in order to ascertain the fact, and be then
fastened together again with a skewer. * The moun-
taineers, in the canton of Claris, in Switzerland,
prepare a cheese known by the name of Schabzieger,
which is readily distinguished by its peculiar marbled
appearance and aromatic flavour ; these are com-

* Foreign Review, and Continental Miscellany.

SEASONING HERBS. 321

municated by the pressed flowers, or the bruised seeds,
of the Melilotus officinalis.

SAGE — Salvia officinalis — is a native of the
warmer parts of Europe, but it has long been cultiva-
ted in Britain. Gerarde notices it as being, in 1597,
a well known herb of the English garden. It is a
hardy plant, but, though a perennial, does not last
above three or four years without degenerating. New
plantations are readily made by cuttings of the young
shoots taken in the latter end of spring.

This aromatic herb is chiefly used with the more
strong and oily kinds of food, as a mixture in stuff-
ings, and an ingredient in sauces. The leaves are
sometimes introduced into English cheese.

A species of sage (Salvia pomifera), of a very
peculiar growth, is common to some of the Greek
islands. It has firm fleshy tumours, of about three-
quarters of an inch in thickness, swelling out from
the branches of the plant, and supposed to be pro-
duced in the same manner as oak-apples, by the
puncture of an insect of the Cynips genus. These
excrescences are semi-transparent, like jelly. They
are called sage-apples, and under that name are
always to be met with in the markets, as an article
of ordinary sale. They are made into a kind of
conserve, which is highly esteemed by the Greeks.
Dr Clarke, in the sixth volume of his travels, men-
tions having been regaled with this delicacy by the
English consul, at the island of Syros, and he bears
testimony to its excellence. This plant is consider-
ably larger than the common sage of our gardens,
and its flavour and smell are much more powerful. It
grows very abundantly in Candia, Syros, and Crete,
where it attains to the size of a small shrub.

CLARY — Salvia sclarea — is a biennial plant, a
native of the south of France, of Switzerland, and of

322 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Italy. It was first introduced into English cultivation
in the year 1562.

MARJORAM — Origanum. The common marjoram,
or Origanum vulgar e, is a native of Britain ; it is a
perennial under-shrub, growing among copsewood in
calcareous soils. The leaves are small and acute.
The flowers are slightly red, and appear in July and
August, in smooth clustered spikes. The winter mar-
joram (Origanum heracleolicum) very much resem-
bles the above species in appearance ; but it is of a
more aromatic flavour, and is always used in pre-
ference. It is indigenous to Greece, whence it was
introduced into this country in 1640. A sheltered,
dry situation is most favourable to its growth. The
seeds of this, and of the two following species, seldom
come to maturity in England. Winter marjoram is,
therefore, usually propagated by cuttings. Sweet
marjoram, Origanum majorana, was an inhabitant of
the English garden about seventy years prior to the
first cultivation in this country of the above species.
It is a biennial, having its flowers growing in close
knotted-like heads. As soon as it blossoms, this plant
is cut and dried for winter use ; it must be renewed
by seed annually, for which purpose the seed is im-
ported from France and Italy into England. Pot
marjoram, Origanum oniles, was not introduced into
English cultivation until the middle of the last century.
It is a hardy perennial, with a hairy stem, rising to
more than a foot high ; it blooms from July to Novem-
ber, and is usually propagated by cuttings.

BASIL — Ocymmn — is rich in aroma, its odour and
pungency being very similar to those of cloves. It
is a favourite herb among French cooks, as giving
an additional zest to highly-seasoned dishes. The
leaves in small quantities are sometimes mixed in
salads, or are made a flavouring ingredient in soups.

SEASONING HERBS. 323

BALM — Melissa officinalis — is a native of the
south of France, and was introduced into this country
in 1573. It is a hardy perennial.

Balm was long famed for its medicinal virtues ;
and although it has ceased to be invested with its
former supposed potent qualities, it still retains a
kind of posthumous fame, and ' balm ' has become
the generic name for a soothing healer of wounds,
both of the body and the mind. Balm was the plant
which the adept Paracelsus selected from which to
prepare his elixir mice, his primutn ens melisste,
whereby he was to renovate man ; and, if he did not
bestow on him absolute immortality, to produce a
very close approximation to that state. Such strange
conceits of ill-directed minds have, however, long
gone by ; and balm, stripped of its fancied virtues,
is now only employed as an infusion in preparing a
cooling drink, or in giving flavour to a weak factitious
wine.

There are other seasoning herbs which were once
much esteemed in this country, but are now little
used. Among these are, Tarragon, Chervil, Borage,
Costmary, and Marigold. The leaves and flowers
of these plants were in request for their slight aro-
matic taste ; and they sometimes imparted their
flavour to ' cool tankards,' and sometimes to soups
and salads. There was a notion that they produced
exhilaration of spirits, and some of them were called
' comforters of the heart.' The delusion has passed
away, yielding in too many cases to more violent ex-
citements, and in others to the conviction that the
heart must derive its best comfort from a steady per-
formance of our duties.

I

We cannot conclude this part x>f our volume
without noticing that Saffron (a species of Crocus)

324 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

was once largely cultivated in England to be used in
cookery. We find it mentioned in the ' Forme of
Cury ' of the time of Richard II ; and in the
Northumberland Household Book. Harrison says,
that the produce of an acre was usually worth £20.
Such are the changes of taste, that a plant which was
grown in fields to meet a general demand, is now
entirely gone out of use.

CHAPTER XV.

Esculent Fungi.

THE fungi are a most singular class of productions,
and their place in the kingdom of nature has been
made a subject of much discussion among physiol-
ogists. Some refer them to the animal, some to the
vegetable, and others to the mineral world; while
one naturalist* has asserted that the fungi ought to
be excluded from all these divisions and considered as
intermediate beings. It would be foreign to our sub-
ject to give any abstract of the different arguments
by which each party has supported his peculiar opin-
ion. In the present day it is tolerably well estab-
lished, and generally admitted, that the fungi are of
vegetable production.

They have the habits of vegetables, but when ana-
lysed they yield the same products as animal matter,
and in a state of putrefaction give out a similar
odour. Ammonia, the phosphoric salts, and al-
bumen, very analogous to that of animals, are found
in the fungi. It might be supposed that such sub-
stances would be highly nutritious. This, however,
is not the fact, as they are among the most indi-
gestible of edibles. Most of them, when grown in
any situation, and all of them in some situations, are
hurtful and even poisonous. They differ from many
noxious vegetables in this, that their poison cannot be
separated by boiling, or even by distillation, which
has been satisfactorily proved by the experiments of
Parmentier.

* Necker's Mycitologia.
VOL. XV. 28

326 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

In the economy of nature the fungi are the at-
tendants of decomposition. Their seeds are too
minute for the eye, or even for the microscope, and
therefore may be present everywhere undetected in
the vessels, the fluids, and probably the solids of
plants and animals. The instant vitality ceases in
these, the seeds of the fungi come into action. Ac-
cordingly they are most abundant during autumn,
in rank and shady places, and in rainy weather, when
decayed plants and insects may be presumed most to
abound.

This class of plants is still very imperfectly under-
stood, and the phenomena attendant on their growth
cannot be explained. It has been found, by fatal ex-
perience, that some species, which are not poisonous
when they grow upon an open and dry champaign,
become so when they meet with stagnant water,
putrescent plants, and dead insects.

The kinds which are used as esculents in Britain
are principally the truffle, the morel, and some spe-
cies of mushroom; but in other countries, and espe-
cially in Russia, most species are eaten, even those
which in Britain are the most poisonous, or at least
the most acrid.

What the poison in fungi may be has not yet been
accurately ascertained. Some of the boleti, which
have the under sides of the caps formed of tubes
instead of gills, yield even spontaneously crystals of
oxalic acid, and others, as the champignon, are sup-
posed to contain prussic acid. According to the
analysis of Braconnot, fungi contain two peculiar
substances, fungin and boletic acid. The nutritive
part seems to reside in the fungin, and the poison
and flavour in the acid, or at least in the juices of
which the acid forms a part. Fungin is white, soft,
and insipid; when burnt it smells like bread, and by
distillation it yields a brown oil, water, ammonia,

ESCULENT FUNGI. 327

and charcoal. The charcoal contains phosphate of
lime, some silica, with traces of phosphate of alu-
mina, carbonate of lime, and sulphureted hydrogen.
Fungin, obtained from whatever species of fungi, has
all these characteristics. This composition shows that
it combines the nature of vegetable and of animal
matter; and when it is allowed to putrify in water, it
has first the odour of putrifying vegetable gluten, and
then that of a putrid animal substance.

Boletic acid crystallizes in irregular white prisms,
does not alter when exposed to the air, is soluble in
forty- five times its weight of alcohol, or in one hun-
dred and eighty times its weight of water, at the
temperature of sixty-eight degrees. Its taste is like
that of cream of tartar.

The propagation and growth of the fungi are
among the most curious subjects in the economy of
nature. Their seeds or germs, too minute in general
to be injured by any mechanical, or dissolved by any
common chemical, process, remain in the earth or in
the substance of vegetables for an unlimited period
of time; and they pass through the digestive organs
of animals, or endure the action of heat, without sus-
taining the smallest injury. This is exemplified in
paste made of flour, which produces mould or a spe-
cies of fungi, as indeed does almost every vegetable
and animal substance when it comes to a certain de-
gree of decay, and this developement is only pre-
vented by the action of the more active metallic salts.
The fungi themselves, when they decay, are, as well
as extraneous substances, subject in their turn to the
attacks of other fungi.

Montagu* mentions a case in which the mem-
brane that separates the lungs of an animal from the
rest of the viscera was covered with blue mould even

* Ornithological Dictionary, Art. Duck, Scaup.

328 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

before death; but the membrane itself was diseased,
and the surface dead.

The rapidity with which the germs of the fungi
develope themselves is quite as wonderful as the
length of time, and the number of dangers, through
which they will continue their dormant existence.
To spring up ' like a mushroom in a night' is a
scriptural mode of expressing celerity, which accords
wonderfully with observation. ' I have often,' says
Sowerby, ' placed specimens (of the phallus cani-
nus) by a window, over night, while in the egg-form,
and they have been fully grown by the morning.'
He adds, * They have never grown with me in the
day-time.' From this and other analogous experi-
ments, it is not too wild a speculation to suppose, that
if placed in the requisite circumstances as regards
temperature, moisture, and absence of light, the
whole earth would speedily be overrun with fungi.

These substances sometimes grow in a singular
manner, a remarkable instance of which is furnished
in the ' fairy rings,' which are found chiefly upon
dry downs, and which are circles perfectly regular
when the surface is uniform, but vanishing when
they come to gravel or marsh. On these rings an
innumerable array of fungi spring up in the latter end
of summer.

When the fungi are in progress the grass withers,
and the ring has the appearance of having been
trodden by invisible feet: hence its name. The
destruction is, however, only temporary; for by the
time that the rest of the grass is withered, that on
the ' fairy path' becomes green and vigorous, and
a new circle is formed, next season, immediately
outside. When two rings meet they do not cross
each other, but unite and gradually become an oval;
but if a circle be interrupted by any small obstacle,
such as a tree or a stone, it will unite again on the

ESCULENT FUNGI.

329

other side. These rings are formed by various
species of mushrooms, and also by some of the
lycoperdons, or puff-balls ; but the cause of the
circular formation has not been satisfactorily ex-
plained. It would seem that the ground which has
produced one crop of fungi is not immediately fit
for the production of another, and thus the annual
sowing is outwards. It also appears that the de-
cayed matter of the fungi is favourable to the grass by
which it is succeeded.

Black and White Truffles.

The TRUFFLE — Tuber cibarium — is found grow-
ing in clusters some inches under the surface of the
ground, in a soil which is composed of clay and
sand. It is nearly spherical, and without any vi-
sible root ; of a dark colour, approaching to black,
and studded over with pyramidal tubercles. The
internal part is firm, and grained with serpentine
lines ; its colour is white when young, but becomes
black from age. Naturalists, who have examined its
structure with microscopic attention, affirm that mi-
nute oval capsules, each containing from three to
four seeds, are embedded in its substance. Truffles
are natives of the woods both of Scotland and
England ; but they are not produced in the same

VOL. xv. 28*

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

abundance, nor do they attain to equal perfection,
with those which grow in some parts of the Con-
tinent, and especially in Italy. When of more than
three or four ounces in weight, they are considered
large, for the production of this country ; hut it is
said that, in Italy, some are occasionally found
weighing from eight to fourteen pounds.

Since there is no appearance to indicate the par-
ticular spot where the truffles lie concealed, man
calls the sagacious dog to assist him in his search
after these subterraneous delicacies. With much
pains this animal has been trained to discover them
by the scent : if successful, he barks and scratches
the ground — when tho- gatherer follows and digs up
the object of his pursuit.

Truffles are used, like mushrooms, as an ingre-
dient in certain high seasoned dishes. They are es-
teemed the best of the fungi, but are confined in
their locality, and have not hitherto been distributed
by artificial culture.

They are common on the downs of Wiltshire,
Hampshire, and Kent.

The MOREL — Phallus tsculenlus — is a spheroid;
hollow within, reticulated with irregular sinuses on
the surface, and of a yellowish colour, standing on a
smooth white stalk, the whole rising to the height of
about four inches. The substance, when recent, is
wax- like and friable. It is used in the same manner
as truffles ; and, when gathered dry, will keep for
several months. The morel is a native of Britain,
growing in damp woods and moist pastures, and
coming to perfection in May or June. Gleditsch
mentions, that in some woods in Germany this
fungus had been found in the greatest perfection in
those parts where charcoal had been made. Acting
upon this hint, the morel gatherers were accustomed
to make fires in certain spots in the thicket ; but

ESCULENT FUNGI.

these were sometimes attended with such serious
consequences, that the magistrates felt it necessary
to interfere and forbid the practice.

Morelles — Phalli esculenti.

The morel is not, like the mushroom, made an ob-
ject of culture ; but Lightfoot says that he has raised
it from seed.

The FIELD MUSHROOM — Jlgaricus camptstris —
is the only species which is cultivated in this country.
The stem of this fungus is short, solid, and white,
marked a little below the cap with a prominent ring,
the remains of the curtain which covers the gills in
their early stage. The cap is at first white, regularly
convex, and a little turned in at the edge : as it ad-
vances in growth the surface becomes brown, scaly,
and flattened. The flesh is white, firm, and solid ;
the gills are loose, reaching to the stem on all sides,
but not touching it. When young these are of a
pinky red, but change to a liver colour about the

332

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

same time that the cap alters its form, and the upper
surface also changes colour. The latter circum-
stances distinguish it, in this stage, from the dark-
gilled toad-stool, with which it might otherwise be
confounded.

Common Mushrooms, a, a, a, Agaricus campestrii. b, dgarictu

Mushrooms of this species vary very much in size,
some being not more than two inches in diameter,
others as much as eight or nine inches, and a few
reaching to much larger dimensions. We are told
that, in some parts of the northern counties, one
mushroom was gathered which measured thirty-four
inches in circumference, and weighed one pound.
Another, measuring almost thirty inches in circum-
ference, weighed one pound one ounce ;* and a
third, thirty-two inches in circumference, and ten

* ' Newcastle Courant,' Sept. 13, 1828.

ESCULENT FUNGI. 333

inches round the stem, weighed as much as one
pound eight ounces.*

The mushroom is chiefly used to communicate its
peculiar flavour to ragouts, or is served up by itself,
prepared with rich gravy. The < button,' or fleshy
part, is the only portion employed, the stem, gill, and
skin being removed. One very general application
of mushrooms is, in converting them into the sauce
called catsup. For this purpose they are laid for
some time in salt, by which means a juice is extracted
which is afterwards boiled with spices.

The places in which mushrooms chiefly grow are
dry and rich old pastures, where they are gathered in
the months of August and September. Their powers
of vegetation are extremely strong ; this is instanced
by the following circumstance.

Some men in the Isle of Wight, a few years ago,
observed a large stone rising considerably at the
interstices, and upon removing the pavement to dis-
cover the cause, found it to be occasioned by a
mushroom, the vigorous efforts of which, to increase
upwards, had forced the stone from its proper station. "f

In some parts of the country mushrooms are to
be found in great abundance, and sometimes under
circumstances and situations very unexpected. Some
cultivators of a patch of potatoes situated in a field
in Derbyshire, proceeding to dig up their crop,
found, to their great surprise, that a large quantity
of fine mushrooms had sprung up among their po-
tatoes, and in a small space of ground they gathered
at least five pecks. The ground, previously to plant-
ing the potatoes, had been dressed with road-
scrapings, and with a small quantity of moss taken

* ' Manchester Herald,' Sept. 1827.
t Gard. Mag. vol. iv.

334 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

from off an old building.* Indeed, in no case does
it appear absolutely necessary to sow the visible seeds
of these fungi. They seem to be existent almost
everywhere, and all that is wanted is to induce the
circumstances proper for their germination.

Four or five years ago, during a few weeks in the
autumn, such an abundant supply of ' this voluptuous
poison ' was brought for sale to Preston, that immense
quantities were sold at from three pence to fourpence
per peck, and the smallest kind, for pickling, at
twopence per quart. Cart-loads were purchased for
the Manchester markets.!

Although of so spontaneous and abundant growth
in some situations and seasons, yet, to obtain a re-
gular and unfailing supply, mushrooms are, in most
large gardens, raised artificially from the spawn, or
seed, in an incipient state of growth ; but wild mush-
rooms from old pastures are generally considered
more delicate in flavour than those obtained by gar-
den culture. Mushroom spawn is a white fibrous
substance, running like broken threads in any nidus
which is fitted to nourish it ; this, scattered on beds
dressed with stable manure, and skilfully managed,
produces a very plentiful crop of mushrooms. Many
methods are pursued and recommended by different
cultivators ; but it would lead us wholly beyond our
province to attempt any description of these.

Besides the cultivated mushroom, about a dozen
other species growing in England are described by
botanical writers as esculent.

The CHAMPIGNON — Agaricus pralensis — has a
solid stem, like the common mushroom, with the
cap of a pale brown at the upper surface, and the
gills yellowish. It grows on more moist land than

* Fleming's Brit. Farm. Mag., November, 1826.
t Preston Pilot ; Gard. Mag.

ESCULENT FUNGI.

335

Champignons — Agaricus pratensis.

the common mushroom, and therefore is, in itself, to
be looked upon with some suspicion. There is, how-
ever, another circumstance which renders the eating
of this mushroom unsafe. On the upper surface
it very much resembles the most poisonous of all
the toad-stools, agaricus virosus, and they both
grow in similar situations. The gills of the poison-
ous fungus are, however, broader, in proportion to
the size of the plant, than in the champignon, and
they are very dark-coloured, or black. The fleshy
part of the cap is also thinner, and there is a collar
on the stem of the poisonous one, while that of the
champignon is naked. Many of the different species
of agaricus are, however, so similar to each other,
some being wholesome, while others are highly
noxious, that persons who are not perfectly familiar
with all their respective characteristics should hesitate

336 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

before they venture to gather the mushroom for con-
sumption. In judging of the qualities of a mushroom,
the smell is not a perfect or safe criterion. If the
smell be nauseous, that is a good ground of rejection;
but the opposite odour is no decided proof of innoxious
qualities.

In other countries many species of fungi are not
only considered edible, but are likewise made the
objects of cultivation. A species of boletus is raised
by the Italians, for which purpose two kinds of
stones are used. The one of calcareous formation,
containing vegetable fibre, and found in the chalk-
hills near Naples ; the other an indurated turf, from
the volcanic mountains near Florence. Both of
these have the quality of imbibing moisture, and if
either of them be kept in a cellar and constantly
watered, it will produce this fungus ; but the water
with which they are moistened must occasionally be
that in which the boletus has been washed, and in
which, of course, its seeds are contained. This
proves that, under particular circumstances, some
fungi have the power of elaborating their own sub-
stance out of moisture and the atmosphere.* At
Brescia one species of fungus, Amanila incarnata, is
produced from the bruised fragments of the mush-
room The Jlgaricus oslreuttts, another edible
species, is obtained from the husks of the berries of
the sweet bay, Laurus nobilis ; after the oil has been
extracted by boiling, the husks are buried in a
trench, and are then submitted to considerable pres-
sure, and covered with a layer of earth about half a
foot thick, and the whole is protected from excessive
rain. From this trench mushrooms will spring up
in October, and afford a supply during that and
the two following months, for three successive years.
At Genoa mushrooms are produced in a similar

* See Transactions of the Swedish Academy, for 1797.

ESCULENT FUNGI. 337

manner, by using the refuse of the olive-oil presses.
In the Landes of the south of France, the earth
under oak-trees is sometimes kept continually moist
by water in which the Boletus edulis has been
boiled, whence, it is said, arises an abundant crop of
that species, which we are told resembles the cocoa-
nut in taste.*

The Jigaricus muscarius is used by the inhabit-
ants of the north-eastern part of Asia, in the same
manner as ardent spirits or wine, to promote in-
toxication. This species, which is a native of Britain,
abounding in the woods of the Highlands of Scotland,
is one of the largest and most beautiful of the agaric
tribe. It has a large cap, nearly flat, of a brilliant
pink or a crimson colour, sometimes beset with an-
gular warts, and ' is extremely conspicuous, even at
a distance, in the shaded recesses of its native woods.'
It is the favourite drug, moucho-more, of the Rus-
sians, Kamchadales, and Korians, who use it to
promote intoxication. ' These fungi are collected
in the hottest month, and hung up by a string in the
air to dry; some dry of themselves on the ground,
and are said to be far more narcotic than those arti-
ficially preserved. Small deep-coloured specimens,
thickly covered with warts, are also said to be more
powerful than those which attain to a larger size,
and are of a paler colour.

1 The usual mode of taking this fungus is to roll
it up like a bolus, and swallow it without chewing,
which the Kamchadales say would disorder the
stomach. It is sometimes eaten fresh in soups and
sauces, and then loses much of its intoxicating pro-
perty. When steeped in the juice of the berries of
Vaccinium uliginosum, its effects are the same as
those of strong wine. One large, or two small fungi,
is a common dose, to produce a pleasant intoxication

* Bull Univ., October, 1827.
VOL. xv. 29

330 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

for a whole day, particularly if water be drank after
it, which augments the narcotic principle. The de-
sired effect comes on one or two hours after taking
the fungus. Giddiness and drunkenness result from
the fungus in the same manner as from wine or
spirits. Cheerful emotions of the mind are first pro-
duced, involuntary words and actions follow, and
sometimes, at least, an entire loss of consciousness.
It renders some persons remarkably active, and
proves highly stimulant to muscular exertion; with
too large a dose violent spasmodic effects are pro-
duced.

* So very exciting to the nervous system in some
individuals is this fungus, that the effects are often
very ludicrous. If a person under its influence wish-
es to step over a straw or small stick, he takes a
stride or a jump sufficient to clear the trunk of a
tree ; a talkative person cannot keep secrets or silence,
and one fond of music is perpetually singing.'*

* Medical Botany, No. 43, p. 166.

CHAPTER XVI.

SOME of the most important circumstances in the
history of mankind have arisen out of their desire to
possess the luxuries of distant countries. This de-
sire has sometimes appeared to interfere with human
happiness, by engendering wars of commercial ri-
valry; — but upon the whole it has steadily advanced
civilization by binding nations together by ties of
mutual interest. If we were to follow out this ob-
servation, the history of Spices, of Coffee, of Tea, of
Sugar, would form a large and instructive volume.
But we cannot so treat the subject here, whatever we
may do at some future time in accounts of nations
such as the Hindoos and the Chinese. We must
here content ourselves with a brief sketch of each
production, to complete our notice of ' Vegetable
Substances used for the food of man.'

SPICES.

THE plants which produce the more esteemed of
these are all natives of tropical climates; and, with
the exception of some of the capsicums, none of them
can be fruited in the open air in this country, nor can
the choicer sorts be brought to maturity even by artifi-
cial heat. These subtances are either simply hot and
acrid, in which case they get the name of peppers, or
they have aromatic flavour in addition; and when
they have this, they are called spices, — though, in
some cases, the names are applied indiscriminately
to the same substance.

340 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Spices have always been regarded as luxurious
acquisitions, while their small comparative bulk,
and consequent facility of transport, caused them to
be among the first articles of commerce obtained
from remote countries. The inhabitant of more tem-
perate regions has therefore, for ages, been in the
enjoyment of most of the delicious aromatics, fostered
by a tropical sun.

The higher classes of the Romans used spices in
more costly profuseness than the moderns, though the
better knowledge of navigation, by producing a direct
and frequent intercourse between nations, has now
caused them to be sufficiently cheap to place them
within the reach of all ranks of society.

Among the ancients, spices of all kinds, as well
as frankincense and myrrh, were made to lend their
perfume to the wreathed smoke which ascended both
from the altars of their gods, and the funereal piles
of their nobles. Prodigious quantities of frankin-
cense and spices were thus consumed at the funeral
of Sylla; and Nero is said to have lavished more
than a whole year's supply in celebrating the obse-
quies of his wife Poppa3a. The country of the Sa-
beans, situated in Arabia Felix, was celebrated for
the abundance of these aromatic plants. ' Among
this people,' says Pliny, ' no other kinds of wood but
those which sent forth sweet odour were used as fuel,
and they cooked their food with the branches of trees
yielding frankincense and myrrh.'* The very ocean,
it was said, was perfumed wilh the fragrance of their
spices and aromatics. Agatharchides, an ancient
author, who wrote about two thousand years ago,
gave a glowing description of this country. It is
probable that his panegyric suggested to Milton the
following simile : —

* Pliny, lib. xii, cap. 18. Tacitus, Ann. lib. xvi, cap. 6.

SPICES. 34 1

- • ' ' -"• ' As when to them who sail

Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past

Mozambic, off at sea north-east winds blow

Sabean odours from the spicy shore

Of Araby the Blest : with such delay

Well pleased they slack their course, and many a league

Cheered with the grateful smell, old Ocean smiles.'

Although the ancient writers all agree that Arabia
Felix has thus obtained its name from its odour-
breathing plants, it is probable that their accounts
are mostly fabulous, and that being but imperfectly
acquainted with the regions beyond, they concluded
that the country whence they procured their spicy
luxuries must, of necessity, be the country of produc-
tion. The spices which Queen Sheba presented to
Solomon* were not known in Jerusalem, and were
probably obtained from Ceylon, or the Islands still
farther to the east. It is, however, most certain, that,
with but one or two exceptions, those of familiar use
among the moderns were all originally derived from
these latter countries.

CINNAMON — Laurus Cinnamomum — is said to
be indigenous only to the Island of Ceylon, and even
there confined to a small district in the south-western
part of that Island. There are however doubts, whe-
ther the inferior sorts, found in other places, known
by the name of Cassia, and considered by botanists
as a distinct species (Laurus Cassia), be not the very
same tree, deteriorated by being produced on a soil
and in a climate less adapted for the developement of
its finer qualities. Whether it be cinnamon or cassia,
the bark of the tree, freed from the external part,
forms the spice.

Although, ever since the Dutch first had a settle-

* Chron. ii, 9.
VOL. xv. 29*

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

True Cinnamon —Laurus cinnamamum.

ment in Ceylon, cinnamon was made by them a lu-
crative article of trade, and one which they strove by
every means wholly to monopolize, this tree was not
made by them an object of cultivation in Ceylon until
1766. Before that period cinnamon was collected in
the forests and jungles, since an idea prevailed that
its excellence depended on its spontaneous growth,
and that if once subjected to culture it would no lon-
ger be genuine.

When Falk was appointed Governor of Ceylon,
he felt the inconvenience of depending for a regular
supply on such a resource, the more especially as the

greater part of the cinnamon-trees lay in the domin-
ions of the King of Candy, who frequently, with or
without apparent reason, refused the cinnamon peelers
admission into his dominions, and the Dutch were, in
consequence, often restricted to less than half their
required annual exports.

Governor Falk, in his attempt to remedy this evil,
by cultivating the cinnamon-tree in the territory be-
longing to the Dutch, was discouraged by the pre-
judices of the natives, and discountenanced by the
parsimony of the Supreme Government of Batavia.
It was said, ' for one hundred and fifty years Ceylon
had supplied the requisite quantity of cinnamon, the
expense of which was ascertained and limited: why
then risk the success of a new plan, attended with
extraordinary charges.' This public-spirited gover-
nor nevertheless persevered in his undertaking, and
to his success the English owe the flourishing state
in which they found the cinnamon plantations of
Ceylon, when they captured that island. This tree
is now cultivated in four or five very large gardens,
the extent of which may in some measure be imag-
ined by the quantity of cinnamon annually exported
thence, amounting to more than 400,0001bs; and
from the number of people who are employed in the
cinnamon department, these being from twenty-five
to twenty-six thousand persons.*

The trade in this produce had always been a mo-
nopoly; during the government of the Dutch this
was enforced with an excessive degree of rigour, at
which humanity revolts. It is painful to contem-
plate man, when greediness for exclusive gains, the
meanest of all motives, incites him to acts of op-
pression and tyranny. ' The selling or giving away
the smallest quantity of cinnamon (even were it but

* Trans, of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i.

344 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

a single stick), the exporting of it, the peeling of the
bark, extracting the oil either from that or the leaves,
or the camphor from the roots, except by the servants
of government, and by their order, as well as the wil-
ful injuring of a cinnamon-plant, were all made crimes,
punishable with death, both on the persons committing
them, and upon every servant of government who
should connive at it.'*

In order to keep up the price of the spices, the
Dutch government was formerly accustomed to have
these destroyed, when supposed to be accumulated
in too large quantities. Sometimes, it was said, this
oriental produce was thrown into the sea, and some-
times the work of destruction was accomplished by
other means. M. Beaumare relates, that on the
10th June, 1760, he beheld, near the Admiralty at
Amsterdam, a blazing pile of these aromatics, which
were valued at eight millions of livres, and an equal
quantity was to be burnt on the ensuing day. The
air was perfumed with this incense, the essential
oils, freed from their confinement, distilled over,
mixing in one spicy stream, which flowed at the feet
of the spectators; but no person was suffered to
collect any of this, nor on pain of heavy punishment
to rescue the smallest quantity of the spice from the
wasting element!

When in its natural state, the cinnamon-tree at-
tains to the height of twenty or thirty feet, sending
forth large spreading branches, clothed with thick
foliage. The leaf, when first developed, is partly of
a bright red, and partly of a pale yellow; it soon,
however, assumes a verdant hue, and when at its
full growth is on the upper surface of a dark olive
colour, and on the under side of a lighter green; it
somewhat resembles that of the bay, but is longer

* Bertolacci's Ceylon, p. 241.

SPICES. 345

and narrower. The flowers bloom in January ; they
grow on footstalks, rising from the axillae of the
leaves, and the extremities of the branches, cluster-
ing in bunches, which resemble in size and shape
those of the lilac, but they are white, with a brownish
tinge in the centre ; these are followed by one-seeded
berries, of the shape of an acorn, but not so large as
a common pea. When first gathered their taste re-
sembles that of the juniper-berry. When dry, this
fruit becomes merely a thin shell, containing a kernel
about the size of an apple-seed. The smell of the
flowers, though not powerful, is extremely fragrant.
The footstalks of the leaves have a strong flavour of
cinnamon. The fruit, if boiled, yields an oil, which
when cold becomes a solid substance like wax, and is
formed into candles ; these emit an agreeable odour,
and in the kingdom of Candy are reserved for the sole
use of the court.

The trees which are cultivated are kept as a sort
of coppice, and numerous shoots spring apparently
from the roots ; these are not allowed to rise higher
than ten feet. We are told, that c when the trees
first put forth their flame-coloured leaves and deli-
cate blossoms, the scenery is exquisitely beautiful.'
In three years after planting each tree affords one
shoot fit for cutting, at the fifth year from three to
five shoots may be taken, but it requires the vigour
of ei»ht years' growth before it yields as many as ten
branches of an inch in thickness. From the ages of
ten to twelve years is the period of its greatest per-
fection ; but its duration of life is not limited, as the
root spreads, and every year sends up new shoots or
suckers.

Trees which grow in rocky situations, and the
young shoots, when the leaves are of a reddish
colour, yield the best and most pungent aromatic
bark. The tree is known to be in the best state

346 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

when the bark separates easily from the wood, and
has the inside covered with a mucilaginous juice ;
but if that be not carefully removed, the flavour of
the spice is injured. The shoots are cut when from
half to three-quarters of an inch in thickness, and in
lengths of from two to three feet. Many hands are
employed in this work ; each man is obliged to fur-
nish a certain quantity of sticks. When this part of
his task is fulfilled, he conveys his fragrant load to a
shed allotted for the purpose, where the bark is in-
stantly stripped from the wood, and freed from the
epidermis, which is scraped off. The fragrance dif-
fused around, during this process, is described as
being extremely delightful ; but in parts of the
plantation remote from this spot, unless the trees be
agitated with violence, the peculiar smell of the
cinnamon cannot be distinguished.* The wood,
deprived of the bark, has no smell, and is used as
fuel.

When the bark is perfectly cleansed it is of a pale
yellow colour, and about the thickness of parch-
ment. It is then placed on mats, to dry in the sun,
when it curls up, and acquires a darker tint. The
smaller pieces are then put inside the larger, and
the whole close together into the tubular form in
which it is sold in the shops. When the rind, or
part forming the cinnamon, is first taken from the
tree, it is described as consisting of an outer por-
tion which tastes like common bark, and an inner
portion, which is very sweet and aromatic. In the
course of the drying, the oil of the inner portion,
on which the flavour depends, is communicated
to the whole ; and the quality of the entire bark is
understood to depend more upon the relative quan-
tities of those portions of the bark than upon any-
thing else. The cinnamon of Ceylon has the outer

* Cordiner's Ceylon.

SPICES. 347

portion much thinner, in proportion to the inner, than
the cassia of other countries ; and to that its higher
pungency is attributed.

Under favourable circumstances, the cinnamon-
tree yields a large and a small harvest every year.
The large one is obtained soon after the fruit is
ripe ; that is, when the tree has again pushed out
shoots, and the sap is in vigorous circulation. May
and June are the best months in the year for the
great harvest ; in November and December the little
harvest is obtained. In those plantations which be-
long to government, however, there is but one har-
vest, beginning in May, and ending in October.

Though cinnamon has found a place in our Phar-
macopoeia, the purpose to which it has been applied
by the South Americans invests it with medicinal
properties which it is not usually supposed to pos-
sess. * One thousand bales (92,000 Ibs) are said to
be consumed annually by the slaves in the mines of
South America. Each receives daily a certain
quantity, cut into pieces one inch in length, which
he eats as a preservative against the noxious effluvia
of the mines.'*

Oil of cinnamon was formerly obtained at Co-
lombo, from distilling the fragments broken off in
packing ; latterly a great proportion has been made
from coarse cinnamon unfit for exportation. A
very small quantity of oil is contained in the bark ;
three hundred pounds of which are required to yield
twenty-four ounces of oil,| and consequently this is
extravagantly dear. When made from the finest
cinnamon its specific gravity is greater, but from the
coarse sort it is less than that of water.

CASSIA — Laurus cassia — is a native of several
parts of the south of Asia, but it is chiefly brought
from China as an article of commerce. The bark

* Cordiner's Ceylon. t Ibid.

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

and buds are known in commerce as cassia lignea
and cassia buds ; these have the same aroma though
in an inferior degree to cinnamon, and it is said that
they are in many cases very extensively substituted
for the latter. They are both imported into this coun-
try to a very large amount.

The Clove — Caryophyllata.

THE CLOVE — Caryopliyllatus aromaticus — is a
native of most of the Molucca islands, where it has

SPICES. 349

been produced, from the earliest records, so abun-
dantly, that in exchange for their spicy produce, the
inhabitants were enabled, before the intrusion of the
Europeans into their country, to procure for them-
selves the productions which they required of almost
every other region. Although Europeans have for
more than two thousand years known the use of this
spice, yet little more than three hundred years back
they were ignorant whence it was obtained. The
Persians, Arabians, and Egyptians formerly brought
cloves and nutmegs to the ports in the Mediterranean,
and hither the Venetians and Genoese resorted to buy
the spices of India, until the Portuguese, in 1511,
discovered the country of their production. This
nation did not, however, long enjoy the fruits of its
discovery ; the Dutch soon drove them from the
Moluccas, and for a long time retained a very strict
monopoly over the productions of these islands. It
is said that they destroyed the clove trees growing
on the other islands, and confined their culture
wholly to Amboyna. They allotted to the inhab-
itants four thousand parcels of land, on each of.
which it was expected that one hundred and twenty-
five trees should be cultivated ; and in 1720 a law was
passed compelling the natives to make up this num-
ber ; there were in consequence five hundred thou-
sand clove-trees planted in this small island, each of
these on an average produced annually more than
two pounds of cloves, so that the aggregate pro-
duce weighed more than a million of pounds. Sub
sequently to this period, the policy of the Dutch
somewhat relaxed, and the tree has been suffered to
grow on other islands, and even to be carried to the
West Indies ; where, however, it does not appear
until very lately to have succeeded. Sir Joseph
Banks introduced it into this country about 1797,
VOL. xv. 30

350 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

but of course it is raised here only as a mere orna-
ment or curiosity of the hot-house.

The clove is a handsome tree, somewhat like the
bay tree in some of its characters, though the
leaves more nearly resemble those of the laurel.
The flowers of the clove grow in bunches at the
very extremity of the branches ; when they first ap-
pear, which is at the beginning of the rainy season,
they are in the form of elongated greenish buds,
from the extremity of which the corolla is expanded,
which is of a delicate peach-blossom colour. When
the corolla begins to fade, the calyx turns yellow, and
then red : the calyces, with the embryo seed, are in this
stage of their growth beaten from the tree, and after
being dried in the sun, are what are known as the
cloves of commerce. If the fruit be allowed to re-
main on the tree after arriving at this period, the
calyx gradually swells, the seed enlarges, and the
pungent properties of the clove are in great part
dissipated. Each berry contains only one seed,
which is oval, dark coloured, and of a considerable
size. It is a long time before a clove-tree yields
any profit to the cultivator ; it rarely producing fruit
till eight or nine years after being first planted.

The whole tree is highly aromatic, and the foot-
stalks of the leaves have nearly the same pungency
as the calyx of the flowers. * Clove-trees, ' says
Sir T. Raffles, 'as an avenue to a residence are
perhaps unrivalled — their noble height, the beauty of
their form, the luxuriance of their foliage, and above
all, the spicy fragrance with which they perfume the
air, produce, on driving through a long line of them,
a degree of exquisite pleasure only to be enjoyed in
the clear light atmosphere of these latitudes.'

Cloves contain a very large proportion of essential
oil, larger perhaps than any other plant or parts of a

SPICES. 351

plant. This oil is extremely pungent, and is one of
the few essential oils which is specifically heavier
than water. It is usually procured by'distillation, but
when the cloves are newly gathered it may be obtained
by pressure. A part is often so taken, and the cloves,
which are thereby rendered of little value, are fraud-
ulently mixed with sound ones ; but the robbed cloves
are easily detected by their pale colour, shrivelled
appearance, and want of flavour.

The pungent and aromatic virtues of the clove
reside in this essential oil, combined with the resinous
matter of the spice ; but it does not appear that these
qualities are absolutely necessary to the growth or
fructification of the tree. To give to this its greatest
value, it must, however, be cultivated in a situation
where they can be elaborated in the greatest quantity.
Its profitable growth is therefore limited to a very
narrow range of temperature and climate ; as the
clove loses its flavour if the situation be too moist or
too dry, too near the sea, or too much elevated above
its level. Though the tree be found in the larger
islands of Eastern Asia and in Cochin China, it has
there little or no flavour. The Moluccas seem to be
the only places where the clove comes to perfection
without cultivation.

This tree is so great an absorbent of moisture that
no herbage will grow under its branches ; while the
cloves, when gathered, if placed in a heap near a
vessel of water, are found very much to have in-
creased their weight at the end of only a feiv hours,
in consequence of the large portion of water which
they have attracted and imbibed. It is said that both
the grower and trader in cloves avail themselves of
the knowledge of this fact, and since this spice is
always sold by weight, thus give a factitious value to
their goods.

352

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Nutmeg — Myristica moschata.

The NUTMEG — Myristica moschata — is likewise
a native of the Moluccas, and after the possession of
these islands by the Dutch, was, like the clove, jea-
lously made an object of strict monopoly. Actuated
by this narrow-minded policy, the Dutch endea-
voured to extirpate the nutmeg-tree from all the
islands except Banda ; but it is said that the wood-
pigeon has often been the unintentional means of
thwarting this monopolizing spirit by conveying and
dropping the fruit beyond these limits ; thus dis-
seminated, the plant has been always more widely
diffused than the clove. This tree grows in several
islands in the Eastern Ocean, in the southern part
both peninsulas of India, and it has been introduced
into the Mauritius and some other places. It was
for a long time supposed that though the plant

SPICES. 353

could be transplanted, the peculiar aroma of the nut,
which gives to the tree its commercial value, was
weakened, if not entirely lost, when this was removed
from its native soil, and that, as a spice-producing
tree, it, as well as the clove, was confined to the same
narrow locality to which the clove was said to be
restricted. In Sumatra, however, it has been suc-
cessfully cultivated to a large extent. Sir Thomas
Raffles gives an account of the plantation at Bencoo-
len in 1820: ' Out of the number of one hundred thou-
sand nutmeg-trees,' he writes, ' one fourth are in full-
bearing, and although their culture may be more ex-
pensive, their luxuriance and produce are considered
fully equal to those of the Moluccas.' An attempt has
been made at Trinidad to naturalize there the clove
and the nutmeg ; and, very recently, samples of these
spicea produced in that island have been transmitted
to England for the inspection and approval of the
Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. The
opinions of the best judges have been taken with
respect to their quality as compared with the Oriental
produce, and, in consequence of a most favourable
report, the gold medal of the Society has been
awarded to the western cultivator of these spices ;
while sanguine hopes are entertained that the clove
and the nutmeg will one day be perfectly acclimatized
in the tropical regions of the Western Hemisphere.
The nutmeg-tree, as well as the clove, was introduced
into this country by Sir Joseph Banks as an orna-
mental hot-house plant.

Two spices are obtained from the nutmeg-tree —
nutmeg, which is the kernel of the fruit ; and mace,
which is the membranous tunic or covering immedi-
ately investing the thin black shell in which the
nutmeg is contained ; the whole is enveloped by the
external portion of the fruit in the same manner as
the stone of a peach is by the pulp. This tree is

VOL. xv. 30*

354 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

larger than that of the clove ; the leaves are more
handsome in the outline, and are broader in propor-
tion to the length. They are of a fine green on the
upper surface, and grey beneath. When the trees
have attained the age of about nine years they begin
to bear. They are dioecious, having male or barren
flowers upon one tree, and female or fertile upon
another. The flowers of both are small, white, bell-
shaped, and without any calyx ; the embryo fruit
appearing at the bottom of the female flower, in the
form of a little reddish knob. The female flowers
grow on slender peduncles, two or three together, but
it is rare that more than one flower in each bunch
comes to maturity and produces fruit ; this resembles
in appearance and size a small peach, but it is rather
more pointed at both ends. The outer coat is about
half an inch thick when ripe, at which time it bursts
at the side and discloses the spices. These are —

The Mace, having the appearance of a leafy net-
work of a fine red colour, which seems the brighter
by being contrasted with the shining black of the
shell that it surrounds. Jn general, the more bril-
liant its hue the better is its quality. This is laid
to dry in the shade for a short space ; but if dried
too much, a great part of its flavour is lost by
evaporation, while it is also more apt to break in
packing. On the other hand, if packed too moist,
it either ferments or breeds worms. After being
dried, it is packed in bags and pressed together very
tightly.

The Nutmeg. The shell is larger and harder than
that of a filbert, and could not, in the state in which
it is gathered, be broken without injuring the nut.
On that account the nuts are successively dried in
the sun and then by fire-heat, till the kernel shrinks
so much as to rattle in the shell, which is then easily

SPICES. 355

broken. After this, the nuts are three times soaked
in sea-water and lime ; they are then laid in a heap,
where they heat, and get rid of their superfluous
moisture by evaporation. This process is pursued
to preserve the substance and flavour of the nut, as
well as to destroy its vegetative power. Dry lime is
the best package for nutmegs.

There are two varieties, the royal and the green.
The royal is the largest, and it produces mace longer
than the nut ; on the nut of the green the mace
reaches only half-way down. A good nutmeg should
be large, round, and heavy, of a light grey colour,
and finely marbled in the cross section.

Oil of nutmegs is obtained by pressure from the
broken kernels ; a pound of them generally yields
three ounces of oil. According to Neumann's ex-
periments, the oil produced is one third of the
weight of nutmeg ; it is yellow, of the consistence of
tallow, and of a pleasant smell. This is a fixed oil,
but a transparent volatile oil may likewise be ob-
tained by distillation, in the proportion of -^ part of
the weight of nutmeg used.

There are other spices, natives of the Moluccas,
the principal of these are Massoy bark, and a species
of cinnamon, or cassia ; but these, though much used
in Chinese and Japanese cookery, are of inferior con-
sequence, and nearly confined to the commerce of the
East.

GrNGER — Zingiber officinale — is a native of the
south-east of Asia and the adjacent isles. It was
naturalized in America very soon after the discovery
of that country by the Spaniards ; indeed, at so
early a period that it is scarcely believed to be an ex-
otic, and is supposed to have been found indigenous
in the Western World. Acosta relates that a person
named Francisco de Mendoza first transplanted it
from the East Indies into New Spain, where ita cul-

356

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

tivation was diligently pursued by the Spanish Ame-
ricans to no small extent, as, from the testimony of
the same author, 22,053 cwt were exported thence to
Europe in the year 1547.*

Ginger — Zingiber officinal*.

The plant is now cultivated in great quantities in
the West Indies, especially in the island of Jamaica.
Ginger is imported into this country under the form
of dried roots, and as a preserve. We receive it both
from the East and West Indies, but that from the latter

* Edwards's West-Indies, vol. ii.

SPICES. 357

is much superior in quality to the former. British
plantation ginger pays eleven shillings per cwt, im-
port duty, and all other is not admitted under fifty-
three shillings per cwt ; these two causes unite in
confining the home consumption of ginger almost
entirely to that coming from the West Indies.

The ginger plant has been cultivated in this
country as a stove exotic since about the year 1600.
It has a perennial root, which creeps and increases
under ground in tuberous joints, from each of which
arises in the spring a green reed-like stalk of about
two feet and a half in height, having narrow and lan-
ceolate leaves. The stem is annual ; the flowering
stalk rises directly from the root, ending in an oblong
scaly spike ; from each of these scales a single white
and blue flower is produced. The ginger of commerce
is distinguished into black and white ; but the differ-
ence of colour depends wholly on the modes of pre-
paration. For both of these kinds the tubers are
allowed to be ripe, that is, the roots are taken up
after the annual stalks are withered. For the black,
they are scalded in boiling water and then dried in
the sun ; and for the white, they are scraped clean
and dried carefully without being scalded. The best
and soundest roots are selected for the latter process,
and therefore white ginger is, independent of the
manner of preparation, superior to the black, and it
always bears a much higher price in the market.
When a preserve is to be made of the roots, they are
dug up in the sap, the stalks not being then more
than five or six inches long. For this purpose the
young roots are scalded, then washed in cold water
and afterwards carefully peeled. This process lasts
for three or four days, during which period the water
is frequently changed.

When the cleansing is complete, the tubers are
put into jars, and covered with weak syrup of

358 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

sugar. After a day or two the weak syrup is re-
moved, and replaced by a stronger ; and the shifting
is two or three times repeated, increasing the strength
of the syrup each time. The preserve thus formed
is one of the finest that is made ; and the removed
syrups are not lost, but fermented into a pleasant
liquor, which gets the name of cool drink.'

The manner of cultivating ginger is extremely
simple, requiring little skill or care ; it is propagated
with as much ease and nearly in the same manner as
potatoes are in Great Britain.

PEPPER — Piper. — The species of this genus are
very numerous — botanists describing about sixty —
some of which are to be found in every quarter of
the world except Europe. The Piper nigrum pro-
duces the black and white pepper of commerce.
This pepper-bush is a perennial plant found native
upon the slopes of mountains in the southern parts
of both the Indian peninsulas, especially on the coast
of Malabar. It is likewise cultivated to a great
extent in Sumatra, Java, and the adjacent places.
Pepper at one time formed the principal export from
Java ; it was chiefly cultivated in Bantam, and like-
wise in the dependencies of that province in the
southern part of Sumatra ; these districts producing
the greater part of the supply exclusively furnished
by the Dutch to the European market. It is, how-
ever, a satisfaction to find that the greedy spirit
which would appropriate all to self, may sometimes,
in its unjust efforts to secure this end, defeat its own
purpose. We learn from Sir T. S. Raffles, that ' the
system by which it (pepper) was procured, was too
oppressive and unprincipled in its nature, and too
impolitic in its provisions to admit of long duration.
It was calculated to destroy the energies of the
country, and with them the source whence the fruits
of the monopoly proceeded. In the year 18 J J, ac-

SPICES. 359

cordingly, neither Bantam nor its dependencies fur-
nished the European government with a single
pound of this article.'*

The system of raising pepper in Java is now, how-
ever, completely changed; there is no longer a mo-
nopoly, and the cultivation of pepper has for the last
few years been declared free.

This plant was introduced some time back at
Cayenne, by General Bernard, who has with un-
ceasing perseverance attended to its cultivation in
that settlement, in the hope of making the French
independent of foreign supply for its produce. It is
said that he has already formed a plantation of more
than thirty thousand pepper-trees on his estate."]"

The pepper-plant, or pepper-vine as it is some-
times called, is a creeping or climbing plant, with a
dark coloured stem, which requires support. When
dry it exactly resembles the grape-vine branch, having
the same sort of knots or joints. It is usual io plant
a thorny tree by the side of this plant, to which it may
cling. In Malabar, the chief pepper country of India,
the Jacca tree (Jlrlocarpus integrifolia} is made thus
to yield its support, because the same soil is well
adapted to the growth of both plants.

The stem of the pepper-plant entwines round its
support to a considerable height; the flexile branches
then droop downwards, bearing at their extremities,
as well as at other parts, spikes of green flowers,
which are followed by the pungent berries; these
hang in large bunches resembling in shape those of
grapes, but the fruit grows distinct on little stalks
like currants. Each berry contains a single seed,
which is of globular form and brownish colour, but
changes to nearly a black when dried — this is the

* History of Java, vol. i, p. 131.
t La Guiane Franpaise for 5th January, 1825.

360 VKGKTAUL2 SUBSTANCES.

pepper of commerce. The leaves somewhat resemble
those of the ivy, but they are larger, and of rather
a lighter colour; they partake strongly of the peculiar
smell and pungent taste of the berry.

The plant is propagated by shoots, which do not
produce fruit the first three years; the fourth year
they come into bearing, and yield an increase of pro-
duce annually until the eighth year of their growth;
they then gradually decline, and rarely bear for more
than two or three years longer. When in full vigour,
the pepper-plant is very prolific; each bunch usually
contains from twenty to thirty berries, and some-
times as much as six or seven pounds of pepper are
obtained from one tree. The time of the pepper har-
vest on the western coast of Sumatra is usually about
September and October, and sometimes another
smaller crop is gathered in March and April. The
pepper plantations on this island are described as
being most carefully cultivated; not a weed is to be
seen, every species of litter is removed, and if the
season be dry, the plants are watered with unre-
mitting assiduity.

The black and white sorts of pepper are both the
produce of the same plant; the best white peppers
are supposed to be the finest berries which drop
from the tree, and lying under it become somewhat
blanched by exposure to weather — these the poor
people pick up and bring to the merchants; they are,
however, obtained in very small quantities, and are
on that account, as well as for their superior quality,
sold much dearer than the gathered pepper. The
greater part of the white pepper used as a condi-
ment, is, however, the black merely steeped in water
and decorticated, by which means the pungency and
real value of the pepper are diminished; but in this
state it can be more readily reduced to powder, and,

SPICES. 361

when thus prepared, it has a fairer and more uniform
appearance.

The pepper is distinguished in Sumatra into three
sorts: the Molucca, which is the best; the second,
Cayiongee; and the worst sort, Negaree, which last is
the most abundant; this is a small pepper usually full
of dust; it is much lighter than the others, and there-
fore, unless the buyer be wise enough to purchase his
pepper by weight instead of measure, he will assured-
ly be imposed upon, and have this substituted for the
heavy Molucca berry.

By distillation a green coloured matter is obtained
from pepper; this is partly resinous, and partly oily,
and to this the pepper owes its pungent quality.*

Several other species of this genus are used be-
sides the piper nigrum. The southern Asiatics
wrap up the slices of the areca nut, which they are
in the habit of chewing, in the leaves of the beetta
codi (piper betle), which is a native of India and
China. Some species are likewise found in the West
Indies and in South America; they are used there
to season food, but are not at present known in
commerce.

Cayenne pepper is the pod of a species of capsi-
cum dried and reduced to powder. There are many
species of this genus, some of which have been al-
ready described in a former section. They differ from
each other in bearing fruit of various size, shape, and
colour; but they all have, in different degrees, the
same pungent qualities; the smallest possessing them
with the greatest intensity. They are natives of most
of the tropical regions, but are most abundant and
most used in the Western Hemisphere. In the West
Indies, and in some parts of South America, they
form, either in substance or in powder, an ingredient
to almost every dish.

* Thomson's Chemistry.
VOL. xv. 31

362

VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Allspice — Myrtus pim^nta.

PIMENTO, JAMAICA PEPPER, or ALLSPICE TREE —
Myrlus pimento, — is an extremely handsome tree;
native of South America and the West Indies — es-
pecially of the island of Jamaica, whence the berries
or pimento of commerce, are exported in large quan-
tities. This tree grows to the height of about thirty
feet, with a smooth brown trunk, and shining green
leaves, resembling those of the bay; branches, coming
out on all sides, are clothed in the most luxuriant

SPICES. 363

foliage. In the months of July and August a pro-
fusion of white flowers pleasingly contrast with the
dark green leaves — the whole forming an object of
vegetable beauty rarely surpassed ; while the rich
perfume which is exhaled around, and which is wafted
by the gentlest breeze, renders an assemblage of these
trees one of the most delicious plantations of even a
tropical clime. When the leaves are bruised, they
emit a fine aromatic odour as powerful as that of the
fruit ; indeed it is said that they yield by distillation a
delicate oil, which is often used in the dispensaries as
a substitute for oil of cloves.

The pimento tree grows spontaneously in many
parts of Jamaica ; it abounds more particularly on
the northern side of that island, in elevated spots
near the coast. When a new plantation of these is
to be formed, no regular planting or sowing takes
place ; it is usual to appropriate a piece of land either
in the neighbourhood of a plantation already formed,
or in a part of the woodlands where these trees are
scattered in a native state. The land is then cleared
of all wood but these trees, which are left stand-
ing, and the felled timber is allowed to remain where
it falls to decay and perish. In the course of a year
young pimento plants are found springing up on all
parts of the land ; produced, it is supposed, in con-
sequence of the ripe berries having been scattered
there by the birds, while the prostrate trees protect
and shade the tender seedlings. At the end of two
years the land is thoroughly cleared, only those
plants being left which promise a vigorous growth ;
these come to maturity in about seven years from
the first formation of the plantation, and usually at-
tain to the height of thirty feet. But though appa-
rently of so easy propagation, it is only in those parts
where the tree is of spontaneous production. Ed-
wards observes, that ' this tree is purely a child of

364 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

nature, and seems to mock all the labours of man, in
his endeavours to extend or improve its growth : not
one attempt in fifty to propagate the young plants, or
to raise them from the seeds, in parts of the country
where it is not found growing spontaneously, having
succeeded.' The tree was introduced into this country
in the early part of last century, but the fruit does not
ripen. It is delicate and difficult to manage, requiring
at the same time warmth and a great deal of air.

The flowers scarcely fade and give place to the
berries, ere these are fit for gathering ; since, if the
fruit be suffered to ripen on the tree, it loses its
pungency and becomes valueless. While yet green,
therefore, the berries are carefully picked by hand ;
one person on the tree gathers the small branches ;
and three others, usually women and children, find
full employment in picking the berries from these.
The produce is then spread on terraced floors, and
exposed to the action of the solar heat for about a
week ; in the course of this time the berries lose their
green hue, and become of a reddish brown. When
perfectly dry, they are in a fit state for exportation.

In a favourable season the pimento crop is enor-
mous. ' A single tree has been known to yield one
hundred and fifty pounds of the raw fruit, or one
hundred weight of the dried spice ; there being
commonly a loss in weight of about one-third in
curing.' This return is not, however, of very usual
occurrence, as the produce is variable ; a very plen-
teous harvest seldom occurring above once in five
years.

Pimento combines the flavour and properties of
many of the oriental spices, hence its popular name.

Coffee, with the Flower and Berry.

CHAPTER XVII.

Coffee — Cacao — Tea — Sugar.

COFFEE.

COFFEE is the seed contained in a berry, the pro-
duce of a moderate-sized tree called the Coffea
Jlrabica, and which has also been named Jasminum
Arabicum. This tree grows erect, with a single
stem, to the height of from eight to twelve feet,
and has long, undivided, slender branches, bending

VOL. xv. 31*

366 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

downwards : these are furnished with evergreen,
opposite leaves, not unlike those of the bay-tree.
The blossoms are white, sitting on short foot-stalks,
and resembling the flower of the jasmine. The fruit
which succeeds is a "red berry, resembling a cherry,
and having a pale, insipid, and somewhat glutinous
pulp, inclosing two hard oval seeds, each about the
size of an ordinary pea. One side of the seed is
convex, while the other is flat, and has a little straight
furrow inscribed through its longest dimension ; while
growing, the flat sides of the seeds are towards each
other. These seeds are immediately covered by a
cartilaginous membrane which has received the name
of the parchment.

Botanists have enumerated several varieties of this
tree as existing in the Eastern and Western Hemi-
spheres. These varieties result from accidents of
soil and climate, and must have been produced sub-
sequently to the naturalizing of the plant in America,
since it is pretty certainly shown, that all the coffee
trees cultivated there are the progeny of one plant,
which so recently as the year 1714 was presented by
the magistrates of Amsterdam to Louis XIV, King
of France. This plant was placed at Marly under
the care of the celebrated Mons. de Jussieu, and it
was not until some years after this that plants were
conveyed to Surinam, Cayenne, and Martinico.
The cultivation must have afterwards spread pretty
rapidly through the islands, since in the year 1732 the
production of coffee was considered to be of sufficient
consequence in Jamaica to call for an act of the legis-
lature in its favour.

The use of coffee as an alimentary infusion was
known in Arabia, where the plant is supposed to
have been indigenous, long before the period just
mentioned. All authorities agree in ascribing its
introduction to Megalleddin, Mufti of Aden, in Arabia

COFFEE. 367

Felix, who had become acquainted with it in Persia,
and had recourse to it medicinally when he returned
to his own country. The progress which it made was
by no means rapid at first, and it was not until the
year 1554 that coffee was publicly sold at Constan-
tinople. Ils use had, in the meanwhile, been much
checked by authority of the Syrian government on
the ground of its alleged intoxicating qualities ;
but more probably because of its leading to social
and festive meetings incompatible with the strictness
of Mahommedan discipline.

A similar persecution attended the use of coffee
soon after its introduction into the capital of Turkey,
where the ministers of religion having made it the
subject of solemn complaint that the mosques were
deserted while the coffee-houses were crowded, these
latter were shut by order of the Mufti, who employed
the police of the city to prevent any one from
drinking coffee. This prohibition it was found im-
possible to establish, so that the government, with
that instinctive faculty so natural to rulers of con-
verting to their own advantage the desires and pre-
judices of the people, laid a tax upon the sale of the
beverage, which produced a considerable revenue.

The consumption of coffee is exceedingly great in
Turkey, and this fact may be in a great measure
accounted for by the strict prohibition which the
Moslem religion lays against the use of wine and
spirituous liquors. So necessary was coffee at one
time considered among the people, that the refusal
to supply it in reasonable quantity to a wife, was
reckoned among the legal causes for a divorce.

Much uncertainty prevails with respect to the first
introduction of coffee into use in the western parts
of Europe. The Venetians, who traded much with
the Levant, were probably the first to adopt its use.
A letter, written in 1615 from Constantinople, by

368 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

Peter de la Valle, a Venetian, acquaints his corre-
spondent with the writer's intention of bringing home
to Italy some coffee, which he speaks of as an
article unknown in his own country. Thirty years
after this, some gentlemen returning from Constan-
tinople to Marseilles brought with them a supply of
this luxury, together with the vessels required for its
preparation ; but it was not until 1671 that the first
house was opened in that city for the sale of the pre-
pared beverage.

Coffee-houses date their origin in London from
an earlier period. The first was opened in George
Yard, Lombard Street, by one Pasqua, a Greek,
who was brought over in 1 652 by a Turkey merchant
named Edwards.

The first mention of coffee that occurs in our
statute books, is found in the act 12th Car. ii, cap. 24,
(Anno 1660) whereby a duty of fourpence per
gallon, to be paid by the maker, was imposed upon
all coffee made and sold : three years after this,
coffee-houses were directed to be licensed by the
magistrates at quarter-sessions.

Coffee cannot be cultivated to advantage in cli-
mates where the temperature at any time descends
below 55 degrees of Fahrenheit's scale. The trees
flourish most in new soils on a gentle slope, where
water will not lodge about the roots. In exposed
situations it is necessary to moderate the scorching
heat of the sun by planting rows of umbrageous trees
at certain intervals throughout the field.

Coffee-trees are usually raised from seed in nur-
sery grounds, and are afterwards planted out at
regular distances, which vary according to the nature
of the soil. Where this is very dry or gravelly, the
trees seldom rise higher than six feet, and may be
planted five feet apart ; but in rich soils, where they
attain the height of nine or ten feet, or more, the

COFFEE. 369

plants should not be so crowded, and intervals of eight
or ten feet should be left between them.

It is well known that coffee imported from the
West Indies does not equal in its flavour that pro-
duced in Arabia arid other parts of the East ; and it is
commonly imagined that this inferiority is principally
owing to local causes, and is therefore incapable of
being remedied. There is reason for believing,
however, that the superior quality of Turkey and
East-India coffee is not in any great degree to be
referred to the influences of soil and climate, but de-
pends, in part at least, upon the age to which the
seeds are kept before they are brought into con-
sumption. Trees planted in a light soil, and in dry
and elevated spots, produce smaller berries, which
have a better flavour than those grown in rich, flat
and moist soils : the weight of produce yielded by
the latter is, however, double that obtained from the
former ; and as the difference in price between the
two is by no means adequate to cover this deficiency
of weight, the interest of the planter naturally leads
him to the production of the largest but least excellent
kind. It is confidently asserted that this difference of
quality entirely disappears by keeping, and that ' the
worst coffee produced in America will, in a course of
years not exceeding ten or fourteen, be as good,
parch and mix as well, and have as high a flavour as
the best we have now from Turkey.'

The trees begin bearing when they are two years
old ; in their third year they are in full bearing.
The aspect of a coffee plantation during the period
of flowering, which does not last longer than one or
two days, is very interesting. In one night the
blossoms expand themselves so profusely as to pre-
sent the same appearance which has sometimes been
witnessed in England when a casual snow-storm at
the close of autumn has loaded the trees while still

370 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

furnished with their full complement of foliage. The
seeds are known to be ripe when the berries assume
a dark red colour, and if not then gathered will
drop from the trees. The planters in Arabia do not
pluck the fruit, but place cloths for its reception
beneath the trees which they shake, and the ripened
berries drop readily. These are afterwards spread
upon mats and exposed to the sun's rays until per-
fectly dry, when the husk is broken with large heavy
rollers made either of wood or of stone. The cof-
fee thus cleared of its husk is again dried tho-
roughly in the sun, that it may not be liable to heat
when packed for shipment.

The method employed in the West-Indies differs
from this. Negroes are set to gather such of the
berries as are sufficiently ripe, and for this purpose
are provided each with a canvas bag having an
iron ring or hoop at its mouth to keep it always dis-
tended, and this bag is slung round the neck so as
^to leave both hands at liberty. As often as this bag
is filled, the contents are transferred to a large basket
placed conveniently for the purpose. When the
trees are in full-bearing, an industrious man will
pick three bushels in a day. If more are gathered,
proper care can hardly be exercised in selecting only
the berries that are ripe. It is the usual calculation,
that each bushel of ripe berries will yield ten pounds
weight of merchantable coffee.

In curing coffee it is sometimes usual to expose
the berries to the sun's rays in layers, five or six
inches deep, on a platform. By this means the pulp
ferments in a few days, and having thus thrown off
a strong acidulous moisture, dries gradually during
about three weeks : the husks are afterwards sepa-
rated from the seeds in a mill. Other planters re-
move the pulp from the seeds as soon as the berries
are gathered. The pulping mill used for this pur-

COFFEE. 371

pose consists of a horizontal fluted roller, turned by
a crank and acting against a movable breast-board,
so placed as to prevent the passage of whole berries
between itself and the roller. The pulp is then
separated from the seeds by washing them, and the
latter are spread out in the sun to dry them. Jt is
then necessary to remove the membranous skin or
parchment, which is effected by means of heavy rol-
lers running in a trough wherein the seeds are put.
This mill is worked by cattle. The seeds are after-
wards winnowed to separate the chafF, and if any
among them appear to have escaped the action of
the roller, they are again passed through the mill.

The roasting of coffee for use is a process which
requires some nicety ; if burned, much of the fine
aromatic flavour will be destroyed, and a disagreea-
ble bitter taste substituted. The roasting is now
usually performed in a cylindrical vessel which is
continually turned upon its axis over the fire-place,
in order to prevent the too great heating of any one
part, and to accomplish the continual shifting of the
contents. Coffee should never be kept for any
length of time after it has been roasted, and should
never be ground until the moment of its infusion, or
some portion of its fine flavour will be dissipated.

The quantity of coffee consumed in Europe is
very great. Humboldt estimates it at nearly one
hundred and twenty millions of pounds, about one
fourth of which is consumed in France. Since the
time when this estimate was made, a vast increase
has been experienced in the use of coffee in England.
This was at first occasioned by the very considerable
abatement made in the rate of duty, and the public
taste has since been continually growing more and
more favourable to its consumption.

372 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

CACAO.

THE Cacao, or Chocolate-tree, is known to botanists
by the name of Theobroma, signifying ' food for a

fod,' and which name was bestowed upon it by
-.innaeus, to mark his opinion of the excellent quali-
ties of its seeds. Benzoni, who travelled in the six-
teenth century, formed a very different estimate of
its merits, and declared that chocolate was a drink
'fitter for a pig than for a man.'

The Cacao-tree is carefully cultivated in many of
the settlements in Spanish America, and particularly
in Mexico, where, we learn from Humboldt, it was
extensively reared so long ago as the time of Monte-
zuma ; and whence, indeed, it was transplanted into
other dependencies of the Spanish monarchy. The
names whereby the plant, and the food prepared
from its seeds, are recognized in the present time,
are both derived from the Mexican language ; the
former being called by that people, cacava quahuitl,
and the latter chocolatl. The seeds of the cacao
were made use of as money in Mexico, in the time
of the Aztec kings, and this use of them is still
partially continued, the smaller seeds being employed
for the purpose. The lowest denomination of coined
money current in Mexico is of the value of about
sixpence ; and as there must arise many petty
transactions of business to a lower amount, the con-
venience of these seeds, six of which are reckoned
as of the value of one halfpenny, must needs be very
great.

The cacao-tree seldom rises above the height of
twenty feet ; its leaves are large, oblong, and pointed.
The flowers, which are small, and of a pale red co-
lour, spring from the large branches ; they are suc-
ceeded by oval pointed pods, that contain a white
pithy substance, which is sweet, but disagreeable, and

CACAO. 373

surrounding numerous seeds : these are the cacao of
commerce. These seeds are oval-formed, and about
as large as a moderate-sized almond-kernel, but not
so slender ; they are internally of a very dark brown
colour, approaching to black, and are covered with a
thin skin or husk, of a light reddish-brown colour.
The nuts are very numerous, but vary in this respect,
some pods containing as many as a hundred, while
others do not yield more than twenty, seeds : they
are of a very oily nature.

The trees are raised from seed, which is sown
under the shade of the coral-tree, or the banana, and
they do not come into bearing until six or seven years
old. Their cultivation does not call for any great
application of labour ; and when the trees are once
in a productive state, they require hut little attention
beyond that necessary for merely collecting the
produce.

Cacao is principally used after having been made
into cakes, to which the name of chocolate is given.
The method anciently employed by the Indians in
making these cakes, was simply to roast the seeds in
earthen pots, and after clearing them from the husks,
which by reason of the heat employed could be easily
removed, the raked seeds were bruised between two
stones, and made up with the hands into cakes. The
process at present used by Europeans does not differ
greatly from that just described : more care is taken
in grinding the seeds after they are roasted, so as to
convert them into a paste which is perfectly smooth,
and some flavouring ingredients are added, according
to the taste of the people who are to consume the
chocolate. Cloves and cinnamon are much used for
this purpose bjp the Spaniards ; other aromatics, and
even perfumes, such as musk and ambergris, have
sometimes been added ; but the principal flavouring
ingredient used with cacao is vanilla, a short notice

VOL. xv. 32

374 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

of which is here given. The intimate mixture of
these substances having been effected, the whole is
put while yet hot into tin moulds, where it hardens in
cooling, and in this form, if preserved from the air,
it will keep good for a considerable time. Chocolate
is not very much consumed in England ; it is in greater
esteem in France ; it forms the ordinary breakfast in
Spain ; and in Mexico, according to Humboldt, it is
not considered an object of luxury, but rather of prime
necessity.

VANILLA — Vanilla aromatica — is a native of
Mexico, and of some parts of India. The Spaniards
found its fruit in use among the Aztecs at the time
of their first invasion of Mexico. At this day, al-
though a considerable quantity of vanilla pods is
collected in that state for the purpose of exportation,
the people do not themselves employ them in the
manufacture of chocolate — the only use to which
they have ever been anywhere applied — conceiving
them to be possessed of unwholesome properties.

The vanilla is a parasitical plant ; its leaves
are lanceolate and ribbed, eighteen inches long, and
three inches broad. Its flowers are white, intermixed
with stripes of red and yellow colours ; these are
succeeded by long and slender pods, which at first
are green, but become yellow as they ripen, and are
then collected for use. The cavity of the pod con-
tains, besides its numerous seeds, a substance which
is black, oily, and balsamic ; when recently gathered
this is humid, and its odour is said to induce a kind
of temporary intoxication. The pods are harvested
during the three latter months of the year, and are
carefully dried by exposure to the sun's rays until
they are made warm, in which state they are wrapped
in woollen cloths, to promote and absorb evaporation.
By this process the vanilla acquires a black hue, with

375

a somewhat silvery appearance. Five of the pods,
thus treated, will usually weigh one ounce.

The vanilla plant is very easily propagated by cut-
tings; these, each about a foot in length, are planted
at the root of the tree about which it is intended
to climb. These plants will yield pods in their third
year, and each will continue to furnish about fifty
annually for thirty or forty years. What is a sin-
gular advantage in that climate, no insect will attack
this plant.

Tea — Thea viridis.

TEA.

THE history of commerce does not, perhaps, present
a parallel to the circumstances which have attended
the introduction of tea into Great Britain. This leaf
was first imported into Europe by the Dutch East-
India Company, in the early part of the seventeenth
century; but it was not until the year 1666 that a
small quantity was brought over from Holland to

376 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES,

this country by the Lords Arlington and Ossory; and
yet, from a period earlier than any to which the mem-
ories of any of the existing generation can reach, tea
has been one of the principal necessaries of life among
all classes of the community. To provide a sufficient
supply of this aliment, many thousand tons of the
finest mercantile navy in the world are annually em-
ployed in trading with a people by whom all dealings
with foreigners are merely tolerated; and from this
recently-acquired taste, a very large and easily-
collected revenue is obtained by the state.

The tea-plant is indigenous to China or Japan,
and probably to both. It has been used among the
natives of the former country from time immemorial;
and, from the age of Confucius, has been the constant
theme of praise with their poets. It is only in a
particular tract of the Chinese empire that the plant
is cultivated; and this tract, which is situated on the
eastern side, between the 30th and 33d degree of
north latitude, is distinguished by the natives as ' the
tea country.' The more northern part of China
would be too cold; and further south the heat would
be too great. There are, however, a few small plan-
tations to be seen near to Canton.

The tree or shrub whence the tea of commerce is
derived, is the Thea of botanists. There is only one
species of this plant; and although it has been said
by some writers that there are two varieties, differing
in the breadth of their leaves, this assertion is as con-
fidently denied by others, who affirm that the differ-
ences discernible in the qualities of the dried leaves
are owing to the period of their growth at which they
are gathered, and to some variations in the methods
employed for curing them.

The Chinese give to the plant the name of tcha or
iha. It is propagated by them from seeds, which
are deposited in rows four or five feet asunder;

377

and so uncertain is their vegetation, even in their
native climate, that, it is found necessary to sow as
many as seven or eight seeds in every hole. The
ground between each row is always kept free from
weeds, and the plants are not allowed to attain a higher
growth than admits of the leaves being conveniently
gathered. The first crop of leaves is not collected
until the third year after sowing; and when the trees
are six or seven years old, the produce becomes so
inferior that they are removed to make room for a
fresh succession.

The flowers of the tea-tree are white, and some-
what resemble the wild rose of our hedges: these
flowers are succeeded by soft green berries or pods,
containing each from one to three white seeds. The
plant will grow in either low or elevated situations,
but always thrives best and furnishes leaves of the
finest quality when produced in light stony ground.

Tea-gathering — from a Chinese drawing.

The leaves are gathered from one to four times
during the year, according to the age of the tree.
Most commonly there are three periods of gathering;
VOL. xv. 32*

378 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

the first commences about the middle of April 5 the
second at Midsummer; and the last is accomplished
during August and September. The leaves that are
earliest gathered are of the most delicate colour and
most aromatic flavour, with the least portion of either
fibre or bitterness. Leaves of the second gathering
are of a dull green colour, and have less valuable
qualities than the former; while those which are latt
collected are of a dark green, and possess an inferior
value. The quality is farther influenced by the age
of the wood on which the leaves are borne, and by
the degree of exposure to which they have been
accustomed; leaves from young wood, and those most
exposed, being always the best.

The leaves, as soon as gathered, are put into wide
shallow baskets, and placed in the air or wind, or
sunshine, during some hours. They are then placed
on a flat cast-iron pan, over a stove heated with
charcoal, from a half to three quarters of a pound of
leaves being operated on at one time. These leaves
are stirred quickly about with a kind of brush, and
are then quickly swept off the pan into baskets. The
next process is that of rolling, which is effected by
carefully rubbing them between men's hands; after
which they are again put, in larger quantities, on the
pan, and subjected anew to heat, but at this time to
a lower degree than at first, and just sufficient to dry
them effectually without risk of scorching. This
effected, the tea is placed on a table and carefully
picked over, every unsightly or imperfectly-dried
leaf that is detected being removed from the rest, in
order that the sample may present a more even and
a better appearance when offered for sale. With
some finer sorts of tea a different manipulation is em-
ployed; the heated plates are dispensed with, and the
leaves are carefully rolled into balls, leaf by leaf, with
the hands.

TEA. 379

The names whereby some of the principal sorts of
tea are known in China, are taken from the places in
which they are produced, while others are distinguish-
ed according to the periods of their gathering, the
manner employed in curing, or other extrinsic circum-
stances.

Bohea, of which description there are five kinds,
takes its name from the mountain of Vou-yee, which
is covered with tea plantations. The earliest gather-
ings, in this district, is culled Souchong, the Chinese
name for which is Saatyang ; and Pekoe, called by
the cultivators back-ho, or pack-ho ; Congou, Kong-
fou, and other commoner kinds of Bohea-tea, are
made from the leaves when in a state of greater
maturity. Padre-Souchong, or Pao-sut-lcha, is gath-
ered in the province where the best green tea is
produced. This kind is esteemed on account of some
medicinal virtues which it is supposed to possess.

There are three kinds of green tea, of which one
called hyson, hayssuen, is composed of leaves very
carefully picked, and dried with a less degree of heat
than others ; it is one fourth dearer than souchong.
The kind of green tea which is most abundant is
called Singlo, which is the name of a mountain on
which it grows, about one hundred and fifty miles
to the eouthward of Nan-king. Gunpowder tea is
made of tender green leaves, which yet have attained
a considerable size. This kind is sometimes rolled
into balls by hand, and is very highly esteemed ; it
sells for fifteen per cent more than hyson. It is
a commonly received opinion, that the distinctive
colour of green tea is imparted to it by sheets of
copper, upon which it is dried. For this belief there
is not, however, the smallest foundation in fact,
since copper is never used for the purpose. Re-
peated experiments have been made to discover, by

380 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

an unerring test, whether the leaves of green tea
contain any impregnation of copper, but in no case
has any trace of this metal been detected.

The succulent tea-leaves are sometimes twisted
into thin rolls or cords, about an inch and a half or
two inches long, and several of these are tied toge-
ther by their ends, with coloured silk threads. This
is done with both green and black tea.

The Chinese do not use their tea until it is about a
year old, considering that it is too actively narcotic
when new. Tea is yet older when it is brought into
consumption in England, as, in addition to the length
of time occupied in its collection, and transport to this
country, the East-India Company are obliged by
their charter to have always a supply sufficient for
one year's consumption in their London warehouses ;
and this regulation, which enhances the price to the
jonsumer, is said to have been made by way of
guarding, in some measure, against the inconvenience
that would attend any interruption to a trade entirely
dependent upon the caprice of an arbitrary govern-
ment.

The people of China partake of tea at all their
meals, and frequently at other times of the day.
They drink the infusion prepared in the same man-
ner as we employ, but they do not mix with it either
sugar or milk. The working classes in that country
are obliged to content themselves with a very weak
infusion. Mr Anderson, in his narrative of Lord
Macartney's embassy, relates that the natives in at-
tendance never failed to beg the tea-leaves remaining
after the Europeans had breakfasted, and with these,
after submitting them again to boiling water, they
made a beverage which they acknowledged was better
than they could ordinarily obtain.

The tea-plant is found in our conservatories, and
in such situations has occasionally put forth blossoms

SUGAR. 381

in this country. It is not qualified to bear a full
exposure to the cold of our winter ; and if even this
difficulty could be surmounted, there is but little
reason for wishing that it should be naturalized among
us, as the amount of labour required for its culture,
and for the preparation of the leaves, would, at the
lowest rate paid in England, raise the produce to a
price out of all proportion greater than we now pay
for the tea of China, burthened as it is with the ex-
penses of a lengthened voyage, and with a government
duty which doubles the selling price. Attempts have
been made to cultivate the plant in Brazil, where no
obstacle is offered by the climate ; but the compara-
tive dsarness of labour in that quarter offers a serious
barrier against the successful prosecution of the
gcheme,

SUGAR.

SUGAR must be considered as one of the most va-
luable vegetable substances with which civilized man
has become acquainted. So varied and extensive are
its uses, and so greatly does it minister to the social
gratifications of mankind, that we are justified in
ranking it as inferior only in the vegetable economy to
the cereal grains described in the first division of the
present volume.

Sugar, speaking chemically, is included in, or
forms a constituent part of, a very numerous range
of plants, being either contained ready formed, or
capable of being developed in all that will yield al-
cohol after fermentation and distillation. Among
these vegetable bodies there are several from which,
at various times and in different countries, sugar has
been drawn as an alimentary substance ; but of these
it is quite impossible for us here to offer any satis-
factory description. We must limit ourselves to a

382 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

very short notice of that one among the sugar-
producing plants, which furnishes our own tables with
this indispensable article of daily consumption ; and
to a few particulars relating to the manufacture of
sugar, in France, from the White Beet.

Sugar-canes.

THE SUGAR-CANE — Saccharum, officinarum — must
be considered as a native of China, since it has been
pretty accurately shown that its cultivation was pro-

SUGAR. 383

secuted in that empire for two thousand years before
sugar was even known in Europe, and for a very
long period before other eastern nations became ac-
quainted with its use. For some time after this sub-
stance, in its crystalline form, had found its way to
the westward, through India and Arabia, a singular
degree of ignorance prevailed in regard to its nature,
and the mode of its production ; and there is reason
for believing that the Chinese, who have always
evinced an unconquerable repugnance to foreign in-
tercourse, purposely threw a veil of mystery over the
subject. Persons have not been wanting, even in
modern times, who have approved of this anti-social
spirit, as being the perfection of political wisdom ; —
but is it not a complete answer to their opinion, that
every nation which has cultivated commercial rela-
tions has been steadily advancing in civilization, and
adding most importantly to the sum of its comforts
and conveniences ; while the inhabitants of China,
although possessed of the greatest natural advan-
tages, arising from variety of soil and climate, and
whereby they had so long ago placed themselves in
advance of other people, have remained altogether
stationary ? The case of this extraordinary people
forms altogether, and in many^ ways, a standing
enigma in the history of our species, the solving of
Avhich could not fail to prove highly instructive and
interesting.

A knowledge of the origin of cane sugar was cor-
rectly revealed in the middle of the thirteenth cen-
tury, by the celebrated traveller Marco Polo ; though
it was partially known much earlier. The plant
was soon conveyed to Arabia, Nubia, Egypt, and
Ethiopia, where it became extensively cultivated.
Early in the fifteenth century the sugar-cane first
appeared in Europe. Sicily took the lead in its
cultivation ; thence it passed to Spain, Madeira, and

384 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

the Canary Islands ; and shortly after the discovery
of the New World by Columbus, (his plant was con-
veyed to Hayti and Brazil, from which latter country
it gradually spread through the islands of the West
Indies.

The canes have knotty stalks, and at each joint or
knot a leaf is produced. The number of joints varies
in different specimens, some having as many as
eighty, and others not half that number. There are
now several varieties cultivated in the American
colonies, which were conveyed to that quarter, about
the end of the last century, from the islands of
Bourbon, Java, and Otaheite. These are so far
superior to the old plant, that its cultivation has
nearly ceased. The new varieties are larger in dia-
meter, have a much greater distance between the
joints, and come sooner to maturity than the old
Brazil cane. This occupies, from the time of its
being planted until it is fit for being cut, a period of
from twelve to twenty months ; while the larger
varieties, by which it has been superseded, are fully
ripe in ten months.

The sugar-cane varies exceedingly in its growth,
depending upon the nature of the soil. In new and
moist land it sometimes attains the height of twenty
feet ; while in ground that is arid and calcareous, its
length does not exceed from six to ten feet. It is
always propagated from cuttings. WThen sown in
the colonies of America, the seeds have never been
known to vegetate ; and although there must, doubt-
less, be some country where the course of nature
could be followed in this respect, we are not ac-
quainted with any place in which the cultivators re-
sort to the sawing of seed, in order to the propaga-
tion of the plant. The top joints are always taken
for planting, because they are less rich in saccharine
juice than the lower parts of the cane, while their

SUGAR. 385

power of vegetation is equally strong. The cane-
plant is possessed of the power of tillering, in a man-
ner similar to that shown by wheat, although not to
an equal extent.

In preparing a field for planting with the cuttings
of cane, the ground is marked out in rows three or
four feet apart, and in these lines holes are dug from
eight te twelve inches deep, and with an interval of
two feet between the holes. Where the ground is
level, larger spaces are left at certain intervals, for
the facility of carting ; but there are many situations
at the sides of steep hills where no cart can be taken,
and in such cases these spaces are not required.
The ripe canes are then conveyed to the mill in bun-
dles on the backs of mules, or are passed down to
the bottom of the hill through wooden spouts.

The hoeing of a cane-field is a most laborious
operation when performed, as it must be, under the
rays of a tropical sun. Formerly this task was al-
ways effected by hand labour, but, of late years,
where the nature of the ground will admit of the em-
ployment of a plough, that instrument has been sub-
stituted, to the mutual advantage of the planter and
his labourers. The planting of canes does not re-
quire to be renewed annually ; in such a case the
utmost number of labourers now employed on a
sugar plantation would be wholly inadequate to its
performance. The most general plan is for a cer-
tain portion of the land in cultivation to be planted
annually and in succession, the roots and stoles
of the canes of the former year being left through
the remaining parts of the plantation. From these,
fresh canes, which are called rattoons, spring
up, and are nearly as large the first year as plant
canes. Rattoon canes have a tendency to deteriorate
— at least in size — every year they are continued, for

VOL. xv. - 33

386 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

which reason the progressive renewal of the plants
is adopted. This plan may, however, be continued
with very good effect for several years, provided the
roots are furnished every year with a liberal supply
of manure, that the ground about them is well
loosened, and that all weeds are carefully removed.
In this way it is said the same roots have been made
to send up canes during twenty years. In some few
cases, the planters adopt a different course, and
never wholly renew any individual field of canes, but
content themselves with supplying new cuttings in
such particular spots as from time to time appear to
be thin.

The mode of cultivation varies in some particulars
in different countries. In India, where the price paid
for daily labour is exceedingly small, great pains are
taken in preparing the ground for the reception of
the plants, which are carefully weeded and watered,
and freed from insects, at all periods of their growth,
when such operations are called for. Unfortunately
for the Indian sugar-cultivator, something more than
mere labour is required for the proper manufacture
of his produce — an acquaintance with chemical
science, and the possession of adequate apparatus —
in both which particulars he is lamentably deficient.
The Indian agriculturist would suffer martyrdom
rather than be guilty of the crime of innovation ; the
discoveries of scientific men are to him as though
they never had been made, and in conducting pro-
cesses he is contented with apparatus, the total cost
of which does not exceed many shillings, where ma-
nufacturers of other countries think it necessary to
expend many hundred pounds. If their inveterate
prejudices could be overcome, and the Indian sugar-
planters were furnished with adequate utensils, there
is every reason to believe that the markets of Europe

SUGAR. 387

could be supplied thence with sugar of a quality quite
equal to that of West-India manufacture, and at a
considerably lower cost.

The manufacture of sugar is a somewhat complica-
ted process, requiring for its successful performance
not only some degree of chemical knowledge, but
likewise a considerable amount of practical experience.
We must content ourselves here with giving the
merest outline of the operations, referring the reader
who is curious in such matters to books wherein the
whole details are given.

When the canes are fully ripe they are cut close to
the stole, and being then divided into convenient
lengths, are tied up in bundles, and conveyed to the
mill. This always consists of three iron cylinders,
sometimes standing perpendicularly in. a line with
each other, and at other times placed horizontally,
and disposed in the form of a triangle, and so ad-
justed that the canes, on being passed twice between
the cylinders of either kind of mill, shall have all their
juice expressed. This is collected in a cistern, and
must be immedrately placed under process by heat
to prevent its becoming acid, an effect which has
sometimes commenced as early as twenty minutes
from the time of its being expressed. A certain quan-
tity of lime in powder, or of lime-water, is added at
this time to promote the separation of the feculent
matters contained in the juice ; and these being as far
as possible removed at a heat just sufficient to cause
the impurities to collect together on the surface, the
cane liquor is then subjected to a very rapid boiling,
in order to evaporate the watery particles, and bring
the syrup to such a consistency that it will granulate
on cooling. The quantity of sugar obtainable from
a given measure of cane-juice varies according to
the season, the soil, the period of the year, and the
quality of the canes ; but it may be calculated, that,

388 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

taking one state of circumstances with another in
these respects, every five gallons, imperial measure,
of cane-juice, will yield six pounds of crystallized
sugar, and will be obtained from about one hundred
and ten well-grown canes.

The fuel used for thus concentrating the juice is
furnished by the cane itself, which, after the express-
ing of that juice, is dried for the purpose by exposure
to the sun.

When the sugar is sufficiently cooled in shallow
trays, it is put into the hogsheads wherein it is ship-
ped to Europe. These casks have their bottoms
pierced with holes, and are placed upright over a
large cistern into which the molasses — which is the
portion of saccharine matter that will not crystallize
— drains away, leaving the raw sugar in the state
wherein we see it in our grocers' shops : the casks
are then filled up, headed down, and shipped.

With the planters in our own colonies, the process
of sugar-making mostly ends with the draining away
of the molasses in the manner just mentioned ; but in
the French, Spanish, and Portugueze settlements it
is usual to submit this raw sugar to the farther pro-
cess of claying. For this purpose the sugar, as soon
as it is cool, is placed in forms or moulds, similar to
those used in the sugar refineries in England, but
much larger ; and these being placed with their small
ends downwards, the top of the sugar is covered with
clay moistened to the consistence of thin paste, the
water contained in which gradually soaks through
the sugar and washes out a farther quantity of mo-
lasses, with which it escapes through a hole pur-
posely made at the point of the earthen mould. It
is then called clayed-sugar: the loaves when removed
from the forms are frequently divided into three por-
tions, which, being of different colours and qualities,
arising from the greater effect of the water in cleans-

BEET-ROOT SUGAR. 389

ing the upper portion, are pulverised and packed
separately for exportation.

The molasses which have drained from the sugar,
together with all the scummings of the coppers, are
collected, and, being first fermented, are distilled for
the production of rum. The proportionate quantity
of this spirit, as compared with the weight of sugar
produced, varies considerably with the seasons and
management. In favourable years, when the canes
are fully ripened, and the quality of the sugar is good,
the proportion of molasses and scummings is com-
paratively small, and the manufacture of rum is con-
sequently lessened : the proportion usually made is
reckoned to be from five to six gallons of proof spirit
for every hundred-weight of sugar.

BEET-ROOT SUGAR.

SUGAR may be properly reckoned a necessary of
life. It is of almost universal use throughout the
world. The scattered tribes of North American In-
dians spend the months of spring in their rude en-
campments, manufacturing sugar out of the juice of
the maple ; — the five-and-twenty million inhabitants
of the United Kingdom employ, throughout the year,
two hundred thousand tons of shipping to export
five hundred million pounds of sugar from their
colonies. This enormous supply affords, upon an
average, 201bs of sugar to each individual of our
twenty-five millions of population. Through the
natural operation of our commercial power this im-
portant article of comfort is placed within the reach of
the humblest in the land, although the revenue re-
ceived by the state from the consumers amounts to
5,000,OOOZ annually. In France, on the contrary,
where the government has chosen to force the manu-
facture of sugar at home, the article is consumed only

VOL. xv. 33*

390 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

by the wealthy in large towns, and is quite beyond the
reach of the labouring population, although it is
entirely freed from all duty. The history of Beet-
root Sugar forms one of the most instructive chapters
in the history of the evils resulting to a nation from
what is called ' the protection ' of particular interests
by a government.

The celebrated Prussian chemist MargrafF, about
the year 1747, discovered the existence of a certain
portion of sugar in the beet. This discovery was
communicated to the Scientific Society of Berlin ;
but no attempt was made to carry the principle of
the discovery into practice. Forty years after this,
AchaH, another Prussian chemist, resumed the ex-
periments which Margraff had commenced. This
man was somewhat of a visionary ; and he was so
enraptured by the prospects which his labours opened
to him, that he announced the beet-root as ' one of
the most bountiful gifts which the Divine munificence
has awarded to man upon the earth ;' affirming that
not only sugar could be produced from beet-root, but
also tobacco, molasses, coffee, rum, arrack, vinegar,
and beer. Here, then, was clearly nothing for
.Europe to do but to apply itself to the cultivation of
beet, and leave the West Indies to be covered once
more with jungle. The Institute of Paris, however,
did not sympathise with the enthusiasm of Achard ;
for in 1800 a committee of that body, having gone
through a series of the most careful experiments,
reported that the results were so unsatisfactory that it
would be unwise to establish any manufacture of sugar
from beet.

Here, probably, the matter would have rested, and
Europe would have continued wholly to receive its
sugar from countries adapted to the growth of the
sugar-cane, had not the decrees of Bonaparte, in
1809, excluded France from purchasing the produce

BEET-ROOT SUGAR. 391

of the West Indies. To a large number of the
French, sugar was an article of the first necessity;
and the public dissatisfaction at the Milan decrees
was therefore excessive. The Emperor directed his
active mind to the best method of obviating the in-
convenience which his political schemes had imposed
upon his people. Manufactories of syrups from rai-
sins and honey were established; but sugar, or a
chrystallized saccharine substance, could not be pro-
cured. M. Deyeux, a member of the Committee
appointed by Napoleon to consider how the wants
of the people could be supplied without foreign com-
merce, once more turned his attention to the beet-
root. His experiments were more satisfactory than
those of the Committee of 1800; probably because
the necessity of producing sugar at home was more
pressing. An imperial manufactory of sugar was forth-
with established at Rambouillet; imperial schools
were instituted for instructing pupils in the process;
premiums were given for the best samples of sugar;
and thus, by 1812, the manufacture of beet-root
sugar might be considered prosperously set on foot.
The profits of the manufacturers were so large, that
in one year they were reckoned sufficient to cover all
the expenses of the original establishment. There
was no competition. Of course these enormous
profits were paid by the consumer. The French
obtained some sugar, but they paid an extravagant
price for the luxury. In 1814 Europe was at peace;
the ports of France were again open to the produce
of the West Indies; and in a moment the foreign
sugar swept the beet-root manufacture entirely away.
The consumers once more had cheap sugar; and the
government had not then made the discovery that it
would be a good thing to compel them to eat dear
sugar, that the manufacturers of beet-root sugar might
be kept in activity.

392 VEGETABJ,E SUBSTANCES.

This cheapness was a natural and healthy state of
things, which would be sure to provoke the meddling
propensities of that class of rulers who can never
believe that the interests of trade can take care of
themselves. Immediately after the peace, sugar
from the French, English, and American colonies
was permitted to enter France at the same rate of
duty. In a few months, however, it was found that
the sugars from the English colonies were driving
the sugars of Martinique, Guadaloupe, and Bourbon
out of the market. The Colonies must be protected;
so a protecting duty of twenty francs the 100 kilo-
grammes* was imposed upon all sugars of foreign
origin. In 1816 the duty on foreign raw sugar was
increased to forty-five francs; in 1820 to seventy- five
francs, and in 1822 to ninety-five francs, the 100 kilo-
grammes. The law of 1816 was the first bounty to
the beet-root sugar manufacturers, and they accord-
ingly once more began to be active. But when the
duty of 1822 upon foreign sugar amounted to a pro-
hibition, their prosperity was certain. They were
enabled to tax the consumer to the amount of the
prohibition. The beet-root sugar pays no duty what-
ever. In 1829 there were 101 manufactories of this
sugar in employment, which produced five million kilo-
grammes in the year, or about one-sixteenth part of
the whole consumption of sugar in France. That
the people of France are the sufferers by this miser-
able policy is sufficiently evident, from the fact that
their average yearly consumption does not exceed four
pounds of sugar per head: in the United Kingdom it
is twenty pounds per head.

Upon the national advantage of that commercial
policy which has given rise to the manufacture of
beet-root sugar in France, and which may probably

* A kilogramme is equivalent to 21bs, 2 oz. 4 dr. 16 gr.
English avoirdupois.

BEET-ROOT SUGAR. 393

extend the system to Germany and Russia, we have
much pleasure in extracting the following sensible
observations from a valuable periodical work: —

' The history of this manufacture in France is an
illustration, we apprehend, not of the natural pro-
gress of industry and of the arts, but of the effects of
a system which counteracts the natural progress of
both. Whatever may be the ultimate state of this
singular manufacture, in consequence of mechanical
and chemical improvements yet unknown to us, it is
now only supported by a system of commercial and
financial policy, which it is for the interest of all
countries to see proscribed in Europe. The people
of France were the first to be taught by their own
philosophers those principles of mutual intercourse
which form the basis of trade. Nearly a hundred
years have elapsed since Quesnay and his followers
taught his countrymen, that freedom of intercourse is
the soul of commerce. But his countrymen have yet
to learn that liberty is as necessary to the health of
commerce as to the well-being of the citizen; that
trade is but an interchange of things produced, and
that if France will not take the productions of other
countries, other countries will not and cannot take
the productions of France. The cultivation of the
beet is but one ramification of that system of repul-
sion and exclusion which has been adopted in France,
to the oppression of her domestic industry, the ruin
of her foreign commerce, and the maintenance of false
principles in the commercial policy of surrounding
countries.'*

In the course of this volume we have endeavoured
to show, incidentally, and without embarrassing the
subject with minute details which belong to another
branch of inquiry, that at every successive step which

* Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. xii. Edinburgh, 1831.

394 VEGETABLE SUBsTAKICES.

man makes in the knowledge of right principles of ex-
change with his fellow men, he multiplies his power
of procuring a constant and equal supply of what con-
duces to (he support and comfort of life, at the least
expenditure of labour — that is, at the cheapest cost.
In the infancy of societies, when there is little exchange,
and when that little is conducted upon principles
which allow scarcely any freedom of industry, famine
invariably indicates the want of that civilization which
would produce plenty. The fluctuating production of
the seasons is not counteracted by the natural balance
of an open market; the people, without refinement,
and therefore without any luxuries, living habitually
upon the lowest food, have no stores to fall back
upon when they are compelled to retrench their
consumption; and, above all, the want of intercourse
with other great bodies of mankind confines that
consumption to the limited produce of their own dis-
trict or country. It is a beautiful arrangement of
Providence, and one which will probably lead to the
ultimate civilization of the entire world, that one
country has the means, in its climate, or soil, or other
natural sources of riches, of directing the labour of its
inhabitants into channels of production which cannot
be so profitably followed, if they can be followed at
all, by the people of another country. When man-
kind are more advanced in knowledge than they are
now, the territorial division of labour will be held in
as great esteem as the personal division of labour.
When this happens, France will see that her real
interests are to cultivate her vines, and leave to the
West Indies to cultivate their sugar-canes. The im-
perfect exchanges of nations resulting from prohib-
itory laws, existing by the force of popular preju-
dices, produce the same effects, though perhaps not
so fatal in degree, as the imperfect exchanges between
districts of the same country. There are legitimate

BEET-ROOT SUGAR. 395

objects for the industry of a country to be employed
upon, and there are objects which are not legitimate.
Attempts to force the labour of a country into chan-
nels for which it is unfitted by nature interfere with
the otherwise certain progress of mankind in civili-
zation, which is diffused over all the earth by peace-
ful intercourse. That it is the policy of a nation to be
independent of foreign supplies is false in principle
and ruinous in practice. All attempts to enforce this
delusive doctrine have no other tendency than to keep
the mass of consumers wretched, that a few mistaken
persons may thrive by a monopoly, who would even
thrive much more themselves if their capital were
employed in proper enterprises. Before a country
has roads and bridges, the inhabitants of one valley
separated from another valley by a mountain or a
river, must raise everything for themselves. The
roads are made and the bridges are built, and then
one raises corn and another cattle, for one valley is
fitted for tillage and the other for pasture. As civili-
zation advances, and roads are carried through a
country, and rivers are made navigable, the benefits
of exchange are not confined to a few districts, but
are diffused amongst many. Then, one raises corn,
and another manufactures cloth. Foreign commerce
then begins to give a new direction to the general
industry, and the cloth is manufactured for some dis-
tant nation, that will exchange commodities that none
of these districts can profitably raise for themselves.
Is there any limit to this beautiful principle of one
district and one country supplying by exchange the
wants of another district and another country ? There
is no limit, but what is raised by the prejudices, which,
in a ruder state of society, shut up a miserable popu-
lation amidst some apparently impassable barriers, to
be starved upon their own produce when they might
have had plenty by exchange. A writer in the

396 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES.

1 Quarterly Review ' has recently observed with great
truth, that l the cost of conveying flour from Quebec
to Liverpool or Manchester, is scarcely more now
than that of its land-carriage, a century back, from a
distance of fifty miles.' The inference from this
statement is undeniable. If the manufacturers of
Lancashire cannot receive corn from countries that
have corn to spare in exchange for cottons, because
it is thought essential that the sandy and gravelly
wastes of England shall be under the plough, the
progress of civilization, which is the progress of
man in wealth and comfort, is just as effectually
impeded as if the legislators of a century back had
ordained that Lancashire should grow its own corn
alone, and have no communication with the corn-
growing counties of Norfolk and Essex. The only
semblance of reasoning by which the principle of
excluding foreign produce can be maintained, is, that
a country may be deprived by war of its foreign
supplies. In the fear of war, then, a system is set
up which perpetuates war. More wars have been
engendered by the commercial system of exclusion
than by all the other follies and passions of subjects
and rulers. The true way to keep mankind in peace
is to let them prove how dependent every nation is
upon the other for the profitable employment of its
people, and for the general comforts of its people, re-
sulting from that profitable employment.

THE END.

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