The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-02-05
Where England Found Her Vege-
tables


said that there were no materials in Eng
land of which to make it. According to
Northwick, this was in 1000. If SO, it
must have been within a few months of
the royal marriage, with the young
king, 20 crafty the wish of his bride,
forthwith sent over to Holland for gar
deners to come and cultivate what was
requisite for the purpose. Our native
stock, as in the case of fruits, appears
to have been remarkably scanty, and,
such as they We're, have been for the
most part altogether superseded by for
eign importations. We have, for in
stance, native species of cabbage still
found here and there in England grow
ing wild; but of the 1877 distinct samples
mentioned in the Royal Horticultural
Society's Journal for July as having
been under culture and examination at
Chiswick, probably no one will own to
any relationship with the scrubby little
Indigenous cabbage or colewort.
There is species Of carrot, again, in
dlgenous to this country, and it would
seem, indeed, to almost every other
country where light soil is found. In
it's wild state, however, it is scarcely ed
ible, being strong and unpleasant in
flavor, and dry and tough in substance.
1t has been said that the seed of the
wild carrot, sown for two or three years
in rich as well as in light soil, will yield
excellent roots. Those who have tried
the experiment, however, emphatically
deny the truth of this, and it is probable
that all our present varieties came from
abroad. Some have maintained that the
cultivated carrot came originally from
Flanders, and that it was first known at
Sandwich, in Kent, in the time of Eliz-
abeth Gerard calls the plant the Can
da carrot, and seems to assume that the
best sort came to us from Gambia.
Very mnch the same history may be
given of the parsnip. This also is in
digenous, but in it's wild state is worth
less, aAd our present edible sorts are
from cover the sea-
Nobody knows precisely where the
potato came from originally. 1t has
been found apparently indigenous IN
many parts of the world. Mr. Darwin,
for instance, found it wild in the Cho
nos Archipelago Sir w. 'J. Hooker
saws that it is common at Valparaiso.
where it grows abundantly on the sandy
hills near the sea In Peru and other
parts of South America it appears to be
at home, and it is a noteworthy fact that
Mr. Darwin should have noted it both
in the humid forests of the Choncs Ar
chipelago and among the central Chill
can mountains, where sometimes rain
1t was to the colonists whom Sir w.
Raleigh sent out, in Elizabeth's reign,
that we are indebted for our potatoes.
Herriot, who went out with the colon
lists, and who wrote an account of his
travels, makes what may be regarded, us
the earliest mention of this vegetable.
Under the headin. OF "roots" he men
tions what he calls the "openawk. !"
These roots,"' he says, "aie round,
some as large as a walnut, others mucn
larger; they grow on the damp soils,
many hanging together, as if fixed on
ropes; they are good food, either boiled
or roasted. AT the beginning OF the
seventeenth century, Phillips says that
this root was planted, as curious ex-
otto, in the gardens Of the nobility, but
it was long ere it came into general use.
Many held them to be poisonous, and it
would seem not altogether unreasonably
so, either The potato Is closely re-
lated to the deadly nightshade and the
mandrake, and from its stems and
leaves may be extracted a very powerful
narcotic. In Burgundy the adoption
of the potato as food was for a time for
hidden by law, being deemed "a poison
Gus and mschievous root In England
prejudice against it was for long time
very strong, more especially among the
poor 1t was believed to occasion dys-
EMERY and leprosy.
Rhubarb we obtained indirectly from
China. Modern Europe first became
acquainted with it in 1885. Our gar
den peas are said to have come to US
from France, and were first known as
"Eulham pease, because the grounds
about Fulham neere London, doe bring
them forward soonest" The introduc-
ton was probably in the reign of Henry
VIII, whose honeymoon indulgence of
his brides desire for salads seems to
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