Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1895-11-02
ENGLISH VEGETABLES.
Plentiful Now, hut Scarce In Eiissbsths
Days.

Plentiful Now, hut Scarce In EiissbethaD
Days
Before wide intercourse with for
eign countries had led to the introduce
ton OF vegetable food, our home
resources were scanty to q degree that
Il difficult to realize. We had, 1t Is
true, very scrubby little cabbage or
solewort indigenous here, and 1t was
credited with all sorts Of medicinal and
other virtues II was the subject OF
many learned dissertations and was
cultivated Us carefully rs the horticul-
tural knowledge Of medieval times
permitted, but II would certainly have
cut sorry figure beside the poorest OF
the cabbagcs shown to-day ut CHS
wick. The probability Is that none OF
tho ite-hearted monsters Of to-day's
exhibition can claim indigenous con-
nection with the soil of England. Ger
ard tells us that Master Nicolas Lete,
~ worshipful merchant Of London"
imported seeds of new kinds from Italy,
Spain and Germany, and these no doubt
superseded our own coleworts, just rs
In their turn they have been distanced
BY later importations and by scientific
propagation and cultivation.
The potato, OF course, 1t Is well
known, il not native. Nobody can
day exactly where It came from origiI
nally, but It was to Sir Walter Raleigh
that we owe its introduction. In the
gardens Of some Of the wealthy 1t be-
gan to be cultivated rs q curiosity
early in the seventeenth century, but
long after this the poorer classes would
have nothing to do with 1t, even where
they could get the potato as an article
Of food. II was commonly believed to
produce dysentery and leprosy. and 1t
was only very gradually that the roOt
came into general use. A prejudice
equally strong was for long time en-
tertained against the kidney bean,
which, apparently, we owe to the gar
deners which Henry VIII. fetched
from Holland when he was doting
young husband.
The dwarf kidney bean came from
the Netherlands about 1900, but the
people got II into their heads that tho
color of its blossom was due to its be-
ing MANFRED with blood. and for a.
long time would not eat the bean. The
taller kind, the scarlet runner, did not
reach this country for more than q
hundred years later. We got 1t from
South America in 1888. Both varieties
were first grown in this country for
the sake OF their flowers only, and 1t
was not till the eighteenth century
that the young seed pods began to be
generally eaten. No doubt they were
introduced as an edible vegetable, but
so strong was the popular prejudice
that 1t took two centuries to wear 1t
out, aud thus add another item to our
stock OF vegetables.
Carrots such as may, no doubt, be
seen to-day have very poor relation,
native of this country. But 1t Is as
tough as hemp rope, and hot and I'M
pleasant in taste, and though attempts
have been made to cultivate it into
something more creditable to our soil,
they have signally failed. 1t does not
seem quite clear where our cultivated
carrot comes from, though, as 1t was
orig finally known as the Gambia carrot,
1t seems probable that that island was
where we found it. But carrots are
very common in most parts of the
world where soil is sandy, and 1t Is
likely that we are indebted to several
foreign countries for better varieties
than our own. Rhubarb Is said to be-
long to China, and only became an
article OF. diet in this country very
slowly. II was not known at all in
Europe till 1885. Asparagus is a native
Briton, and so IRE turnips Gerard
highly commeuds the small turnips
that ''arc grown by village near Lon.
don, called Hackney" He says they
are raised on 'sandie" ground, ''and
brought 10 the Cross in Cheapside by
the women of that village to DO Sold"
They are the best, he says, that he
ever tasted. London News.
-"Did the captain Of the football
49,. i...x III, l,oadoD s.yae. HE haad