Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1897-09-22
EDIBLE WEEDS.
The D tment OF Agriculture Tells OF
my That May Be Eaten.

lions tG our dietary. FREDERICK V.
Coville, botanist of the department,
has spent considerable effort to exam
inc many of the plants now classed as
"weeds" which are capable of sustain
ing vitality in man. He takes the po-
sition that "wider use of green vege-
tables in the d1etaries of most people,
particularly those with healthy diges-
tions, would be marked benefit. F"
Chemistry has demonstrated largely
the substances which the human sys-
tenn needs, and Botanist Coville finds
the essentials present in great many
plants, some of which are nowhere
considered as effective food for man,
and some of which have only local
use as human food.
Mr.. Coville points out that wild
herbivorous animals feed on the fats
and carbohydrates stored up in plant
seeds in the fall. They fatten on this
diet and gather in bodily fuel for the
winter. Having exhausted their sup
ply of fat by spring, they make green
her5age their principal food. This
renews their muscular yigor and Vi
tality. This dietary system prevails
among savage peoples, and is largely y
followed by the Indians of the West
ern States. Mans food has grown
more artificial with the advance OF
civilization, until, as Botanist Coville
says, floods are now selected more by
custom than by instinct. The Euro
pean races are more given to eating
salads and boiled green vegetables
than the people of the United States
are. The greater part of the plant
food consumed by Americans is made
UP of seeds, roots, and tubers. 1t IS
because of this that the people of this
country are bilious.
The first weed which Botanist Co.
Vile would have US eat is charlock.
This plant grows as weed from New
England to the Pacific coast. and is
considered troublesome weed in the
wheat districts of Wisconsin, Mime
sofa and North Dakota. 1t is closely
related to black mustard, another ia
miliar weed. Charlock is known in
New York State as "wild mustard, "
and is considered poisonous. Char
lock was common pot herb in north
ern Europe centuries ago, but it has
not been recognized as food for man
in the new world.
The leaves of the chiccory plant are
also good to eat, and in some neigh
borhoods are thus utilized. 1t occurs
as weed in the Atlantic and Pacific
States, and here and there in the in
terror. It's leaves grow in form Of a
rosette, after the fashion of the dan
delicn. Yellow rocket is weed COM
mon throughout the Eastern States
which man might eat. 1t is closely
allied to the winter cress, "hich is
used as o winter salad and pot herb in
Washington and Baltimore.
The dnndeliou is weed which has
already gained considerable favor as
food in the United States, thoug b it Is
not grown for market. 1t is very
common throughout the United States,
except in the extreme South and west
of the great plains, though it has
rooted itself in certain parts of Wash
ington and California, The truckers
around Paris have been cultivating
the dandelion for many years with
good results and have developed
several horticultural varieties. There
it is used largely as salad, the plants
being eaten green or blanched.
The Department of Agriculture
calls especial attention to the dock,
two species of which, the broad-leafed
and the curled, occur as common
weeds in meadows, pastures and cul,
tivated fields. Several species Of
dock are used widely as pot herb in
Europe. Dock was used extensively
by two tribes of American indians, the
Pimas and the Maricopas. Dock
grows in the arid regions of Arizona,
New Mexico, and Texas, where sue
culent vegetationis rare.
Lambs-quarters, or pig-weed OF
coose-foot is. weed which belongs to
the same plant family as the beet and
spinach, and ought to be used as O
table vegetable. 1t is cultivated IN
Europe, and is very common through,
out the United States.
Marsh marigold, or "cowslip," is
native plant of North America. Il
grows in swamp land ell over the
northern part of the United States
and British America. 1t has loca
use as pot herb, but its value in this
respect is not generallp appreciated
Pig weed occurs in many fields al
over this country, but the average
American does not know its value as
food plant. 1t is eaten by the In,
dians of the Southwest and by the
people of Mexico. In some parts oi
California it is cultivated by the
Chinese.
Pokeweed is used locally in some
parts of the South, but its more gen
eral use would be gratifying to the
economic botanists of the Department
of Agriculture. The French people
have introduced this plant into their
country, and esteem it highly.
The department thinks it probable
that common nettle, milkweed, ane
round-loafed mallow will come to be
regarded as good food.
The suggestions made by the de
partment may be offensive to some
people, but then it wasn't so very
long ago when the tomato, or Glove
apple" was thought to be poisonous
when the cucumber was looked upor
as fatal dose, and when people O
the North were prejudiced against the
banana. Washington Times.
Invention.