The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1888-02-25
POPUIjAI, VEGETABLES.
Their Origin, History, Cultivation
and characteristics.

Egyptians, but their priests regarded it as
suncleau. u The Old Testament mentions the
bean twice and it is certain that the Hebrews
knew of it's existence at least 1000 years
| 8. G.. The ancient inhabitants Of SWitzer-
! land and Of Italy, in the age Of bronze,
cultivated small fruited variety OF this
plant. 1t was also known to the ancient
Greeks and to the ancient Latins, and 1t
g4:e,v wild in Northern Africa IN the days
ol Pliny. The first cultivation OF the Sean
is prehistoric. 1t was probably introduced
INTO Europe. says De. Candolle, bJ the
Western Aryans (Celts and Slavs) at the
| times Of their ear!iest migratlons. A cent
ury before the Christian era it went into
China, and still later into Japan, AID only
recently into India. There were probably
two places where it grew wild before Gull
| tivation-sonth Of the Caspian Sea. and the
North Of Africa. The bean would long ago
have become extinct had not man culti~
yated it
The lcnti is no Ion ger to be fouifd in any
wild state 1t has been cultivated in the
Easa, in the Mediterranean basin and even
In Switzerland from prehistoric time. 1t
N1a5 used in ancient times by the Greeks
and Eeyptians, and the Old Testament men
| lions it three lir1es. 81. .o..
! The Lima bean has been SO called for
hundred years and, sis its aan1e indicates,
! seems to have first been known i'll South
America. The common kidney beau seems
; 10 have been first known to- the ancient
Peruvians,
Cabbage was probably of European origin
and was cultivated carrier than the Aryan
invasions. Since the days Of the ancient
Greeks, almost countless varietie3 have
been made BY cultivation in Europe This
! plant is found Wild or the rocks by the scar
shore, in the Isle CT I4slarld in Denmark, the
isand Of Eeligoand, the South Of England
and ireland and in the Channel Isles, and
Oil the norts, coast of the Mediterranean
near Nice, Genoa and Lucca
For al least three thousand years the Gu
! :unber has been cultivated in India. De
| Cando1le prcphesied in 1856 that it would be
found growing wild in the northwest OF
india and sure enough it was SO found, be-
ing the fist wild variety known. The
ancient Greeks and Latins cultivated Che
cucumber, but no trace has been found OF
it's presence in ancient Egypt
1'hc earliest peoples Of Europe aud West
era Asia cultivated garli; FROM Tartary to
Spain, and it has long been cultivated III
China The ancient Egyptians madc great
use Of it, The only place where it has been
found in wild state, with the certainty OF
it's being so, is ia the desert Of the Kirghis
Of Snngari.
Tho Sauscrit and Hebrew names Of the
onion arc Of great antiquity. In early
times it occupied 81 vast area, from Pales-
tine to India. The ancient Greeks and Ro-
mans knew several varieties, and one
variety cultivated in Egypt was held to he
50 excellent that it received divine honcrs,
~ mt Of tha En7ncnc
The onion is commonly cultivated i'll India,
Chn;. and even in Japan. Butss was only
after the separation CT the Ind,-European
nations that it's cultivation began, the wild
plants being every where at hand for the
msrncse Wild onions are found in Be-
luchistal! ami some ether eastern countries.
Cultivated lettuce is 81 modification Of a
wild species found in temperate and souzh-
cr, Europe, in the Canary Isles, MADEIRA,
Algeria. Abyssinia, in the temperate re-
gious Of Eastern Asia and il the north Of
India. There has been o great increase in
Tic cultivated varieties within tho last two
| thousand years. Lettuce was cultivated by
!! tho ancient Greeks and Romans for salad,
and it may have been cultivated i'll the
| East at an earliec time, but, compared with
some other vegetables, it is not SO very
ancient 1t went eastward into China at
no. very ancient time.
Botanical Indications are in favor OF a
Mexica, OF Texan origin for the pumpkin,
but the historical data neither support ncr
gainsay this probability.
| Parsley is Wild in the south Of Europe,
from Spain to Turkey. 1t was known to
Pnny as a wild medicinal plant, out nothing
is known of It's cultivation until the time OF
Charlenagne. English gardeners had the
/ plant in 154S Cultivation has developed
/; two varieties distinct enough to be called
species.
The garden pea is not found wild, and is
supposed to have come from Western Asia.
It was cultivated by the Greeks in the time
of Theophrastus, by tho Latins, and even
by the lalzc-d,vellers in Switzerland end
Savoy, when it was smaller than it now is.
There is some ground for believing that it's
cultivation goes bach to the stone age in
Europe, OF before the Aryan invasion. 1t
was introduced into China from Western
Asi:a, where it existed in wild state. The
A,yans brought it With them into Europe.
! The foldness Of people Of the negro race
in America; for the watermelon would seem
to be inherited; for their ancestors found
this melon growing wild in tropical Africa.