The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1880-01-03
Where England Found Her Vegetables.

When Queen Catherine on one occasion
expressed Il wish tor salad, it is said that
there We're no materials in England of which
TO make it. According to Northwicl1, this
was in 1000. If so, it must have been within
q few months of The Royal marriage, and
the ycung King, TO crafty the wish OF his
bride, forthwith sent over to Holland for
gardeners 10 come and cultivate what was
requisite for the purpose. oar native stock,
rs i'll the Gaze OF fruits, appears to have been
remarkably scanty, and, such AS they were,
have been Ton the most part altugrth her SUI
prrSe'trtl by fore III importa;ionS. We have,
for instance, Il n:1ir. species of cabbage still
found here and there III England growing
wild; but of the 1871 distinct samples men
toned in the" Royal Horticultural Socety's
Journal y for last July as having been I'M
der culture and examination ut thSwCk,
probably no Que would own 10 any relation
ship with tie scrub!y little indigenous cab
hage OF ColtwOrt
There is a species of carrot, again, indigen-
Gus to this country, and ii would seem, in-
deed, to almost every other country where
a light soil is found. In its wild state how
ever it is scarcely edible, heing strong and
unpleasant III flavor, and dry and tough in
substance. II has been said that the seed OF
the wild carrot, sown for two or three years
i'll rich as well as light SOIL will yield excel
lent roots. Those who have tried the expert
ment, however. emphatically deny the truth
of this, and it is probable that all our pres
rnt varieties came from abroad. Some have
maint aimed that the cultivated carrot came
originally from Flanders, aud that it was
first grown ut Sandwich, in Kent, in the
time OF Elizabeth. Gerard calls the plant
the Gambia carrot. and seems to assume that
the best sort came to us from Caudia. Very
much the same history may he given of the
parsnip. This also is Indigenous, but i'll its
wild state is worthless, and our present edi-
Bile sorts are from ''over the sea.
Nobody knows precisely where the potato
came from originally. 1t has been found
apparently indigenous, i'll many pans OF the
world Mr. Darwin. for instance, found it
wild in the Chonos Archipelago. Sir w. j.
Hooker says that it is common ut Val
paraiSo. where it grows ahundantly OH 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 Gillian mountains,
where sometimes rain does hot fall for six
months ut :: stretch. 1t was 10 the colonistS
whom Sir Walter Raleigh SEM out, in Eliza
brth's reign. that We are indebted for our
potatoes. Herriot, who went out with these
/ culonistS. and who wrote an account of his
travels makes what may, perhaps, be re-
garaea is the earliest :ncntion of this vege-
table. Under the heading of roots he
! mentions what he calls the "openaWil.
( These roots" he says, - are round, some
/ large as II walnut, others much larger: they
/ grow on damp soils, many hanging together,
rs il fixed on ropes; they are good food.
! either boiled or roasted" At the beginning
7 of the seventeenth century Phillips says
that this root was planted Is n curious
exotic, in the gardens of the nobility, but
/ it WAS long ere it came into general use.
/ Many held them to be poisonous, and il
would seem not altogether unreasOnahly 50.
! either. The potato is closely related to the
/ deadly nightshade and the mandrake, and
from its stems and leaves may be extract oil
very powerful nlrcDtic In Burgundy the
/ adoption of the potato rs food waS for Il
( time forbidden by law, heing deemed - a
/ poisonous and miscellaneous root In Eng
( land prejudice against it was for Il long
time very strong, more especially among
/ the poor. 1t was believed TO occasion dyS-
/ entery and leproSy.
/ RhTbarh we obtained iGdirectiy from
/ China. Modern Europe first became ac-
+ uu;.nted with it in l5:;j. Our garden pe;lI
are said to have come to rs from France,
and We're first known rs Fulham peaSr,
because the grounds about Fulhan neere
London, doc bring them forward soonest. -
The introduction was probably in the reign
of Henry VIII, whose honeymoon indul-
genre of his brides desire for salad seems g
have cxerted a wonderful influence on Eng
fish horticulture. In the reign Of Elizabeth
however, they were still not grown to any
great extent, though they seem TO have bee II
imported from Holland. Fuller says "the Y
were dalnties for ladies', they came so far
and cost so dear" Gerard says that there
Is one kind OF pea indigenous 10 Fngland,
Beans we appear 10 have imported from
+ Morocco, and the authority last quoted
states that there is no differences between the
garden bean and the field bean, except such
as is to be attributed to cultivation and good
soil The kidney bean is also not a native
of England. This, We are assured, was first
introduced into this country from the Meth
eri,nts in 1.j09-another Importation, there
fore, III all probability due to Henry horti-
culLnsal enthusiasm ut the time when he
= ~Ypuug spouse. 1t is Il curious
a1roiuctiou of the scar
On, -~lcet will. &c little
~ ear III, - that the