Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-02-06
Origin Of Some Vegetables.

Virgin Vi some Vegetables.
When Queen Cstharine, on one
occasion, expressed . wish for o sal.
ad, il is said that there were no ma.
terisls in England of which to make
1t. According to Northwick, this
was in 1909. II &C, it must have
been within q few months OF the
royal marriage, and the young King
10 crafty the wish Of his bride,
forthwith sent over to Holland for
gardeners to come and cultivate what
was requisite for the purpose. Our
native stock, SIS in the case OF fruits,
appears TO have been remarkably
scanty, and. such as they were, have
been for the most part altogether
superseded by foreign iuportations.
We have, for instance, q native spe.
cies of cabbage still found here and
in England growing wild; but Of the
l8y distinct samples mentioned in
the Royal Horticultural Society's Jour
nal for last July as having been un-
der culture and examination at CHS.
wick, probably no one would own to
any relationship with one scrubby
little indigenous cabbage or cole
wort.
There is q species of carrot, again,
indigenous to this country, and it
would seem, indeed, to almost every
other country where light soil is
found. In its wild state, however,
it is scarcely edible, 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 tNo or three years 10 rich
as wall as light soil, will yield excel.
lent roots. Those who have tried
this experiment, however emphati-
cally deny the truth of this, and it is
probable that all our present varie-
ties came from abroad. Some have
maintained that the cultivated carrot
came originally from Flanders, and
that it was first grown at Sandwich,
in Kent. in the time of Elizabeth,
Gerard calls the plant the camilla.
Very much the same history may be
given. OF the parsnip. This, also, is
Indigenous. but in its wild state is
lwosthlsss saa 8 sexI gscs1H :
Nobody knows precisely where the
potato came from originally. It has
bsen found apparently Indigenous in
many parts of the world. Mr.. OAR
win, for instance, found it in the
Chonos .Archigelago. Sir w. J.
Hooker says that it is common at
Valparaiso, where it grows abund-
antly on the sandy hills near the
sea. In Peru and other parts of
South America it appears to be at
home, and it is noteworthy fact
that Mr.. Darwin should have noted
it both in the humid forests of the
Chonos Archipelago and among the
central Chilean mountains, where
sometimes rain does not fall for six
months at stretch. It was to the
colonists whom Sir Walter Raleigh
sent out, in Elizabeth's reign, that
we are indebted for our potatoes.
Herriott, who went out with these
colonists, and who wrote On account
of his travels, makes what may per.
haps, be regarded as the earliest
mention Of this vegetable. Under
the heading Of of +" Roots" he me n
tions what he calls the " oppenawk."
"These roots" he says, are round.
some large as q walnut, others much
larger; they grow on damp soils.
many hanging together as If fixed on
ropes; they are good for food either
boiled or roasted" At tho begin.
ming Of the seventeenth century,
Phillips says this root was planted,
as o curious exotic, in the gardens
of the nobility, but it was long ere
il came into general use. Many
held them to be poisonous, and it
would seem not altogether unreason-
ably SO, either. The potato is close.
~ related to the deadly nightshade
and the mandrake. and from its
stems and leaves may be extracted .
very powerful narcotic. In Bur-
gundo the adoption Of the potato
for food was for . time forbidden
BY law, being deemed "a poisonous
and mischievops root" In England
prejudice against it was for . long
time very strong, more especially
among the poor. It was believed to
occasion dysentery and leprosy.
Rbubarb WAS obtained directly
from China. Modern Europe first
became acquainted with it in 1885.
Our garden peas Are said to have
ccme to 10 from France, and were
first known . " Fulham peass, be.
cause the grounds about London,
nesre Fulham. doc bring them soon
est" The introduction wss probably
in the reign Of Henry VIII, whose
honeymoon indulgence OF hin brids's
desire for salads seems TO have ex-
srted Q wonderful influence on Eng.
I.ud hork;rrlt,,rA In tha roiRn OF