in 1167 into this country, where it was much esteemed before potatoes were brought into general adoption. It is of the same genus, and has the same appearance as the common sunflower, except that it attains to a greater height, often being ten or twelve feet high. Its name is derived from the similarity of flavour observable between these roots and the bottom of the artichoke. Its distinctive epithet is said to be a corruption of the Italian word for sunflower, girasole, from girare to turn, and sol the sun; and bears no reference, as many have imagined, to the city of Jerusalem.

The period of its flowering is autumn; but though the roots bear unhurt our severest winters, the plant rarely blooms in this country, and, even then, its seeds never come to maturity. The root is composed of many tubers growing in a cluster, and so prolific is this plant, that there are often from thirty to fifty of these tubers attached to one stem. No care is required in its culture. If, when digging up the roots, the smallest piece of a tuber be left, a plant will spring from it, thus propagating itself almost in the manner of a weed; so that after it has once found entrance in a garden, there is no little difficulty in extirpating it thence. This plant, however, repays cultivation, and much better roots are obtained from regular setting than from its spontaneous growth. Cuttings of the tubers are planted in the same manner as potatoes in any of the spring months; the crop can be used in September, and taken up in November for winter supply. This root seems to meet with undue neglect in our gardens; for it is an excellent winter vegetable, which may be grown abundantly at very little cost; it is wholesome, nutritious, and savoury; and, either boiled or stewed, affords a very agreeable variety for the table. These tubers resemble

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potatoes in being of one homogeneous substance; and are likewise eaten in their matured state.

Flower and Root of Scorzonera.

SCORZONERA Scorzonera hispanica-is indige nous to Spain; it was introduced into this country some years after the skirret, and, like it, was formerly more cultivated than it is at present. Its root has not, however, the peculiar sweetness of the latter, but is extremely delicate, and when properly prepared makes so pleasant an addition to the list of culinary vegetables, that it appears to be unjustly excluded from our gardens. It has shared the fate of those

vegetables which, according to Beckmann, have been banished by fashion; "for this tyrant which rules with universal sway commands the taste, as well as the smell, to consider as intolerable, articles to which our ancestors had a peculiar attachment."

Scorzonera was first known on account of its supposed medicinal properties, but was afterwards cultivated as food in consequence of its agreeable flavour. It was applied to this first purpose in the middle of the sixteenth century in Spain, where it was esteemed as an antidote to the poison of a snake, called there scurzo. A Moor, it is said, who had learnt in Africa that this plant possessed so valuable a property, availed himself of the knowledge in effecting many cures with the juices of the leaves and roots upon peasants who had while mowing been bitten by these venomous reptiles; but he carefully concealed the plant, that he might retain to himself all the honour and the profit attendant on the discovery. He was, however, clandestinely followed to the mountains, where he was observed to collect this plant, to which the name of scurzonera or scorzonera was then given, from the name of the snake, the venom of which it was believed to render innocuous. The knowledge was quickly disseminated. Petrus Cannizer transmitted the plant, together with a drawing of it, to John Oderick Melchion, physician to the queen of Bohemia; and he, in his turn, lost no time in sending it to Matthioli, who had not any previous knowledge of the plant*. Soon after this Nicholas Monardes published a tract, in which the particular virtue of these roots was panegyrized. It is probable that in Spain their adaptation as an edible substance was likewise first discovered; and thence, about the beginning of the seventeenth century, it was introduced into France. The author of Le Jardinier François,' who was a

* Matthioli Epistol. Medicinal.

practical as well as theoretical gardener, assigns to his own exertions its first cultivation in the French gardens *.

Scorzonera is at present much more used on the Continent than in this country; its medicinal virtues are now, however, but little regarded.

This plant is a hardy perennial, with a stem from two to three feet long, and having yellow flowers, which continue to bloom from June to August. The lower leaves, which are linear and pointed, are about eight or nine inches in length. The root is thin and spindleshaped, covered with a dark brown skin, but white within, and containing a milky juice.

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Though the plants are perennial, producing offsets from the crown of the root, it is better to propagate from seeds in the same manner in which carrots are cultivated, since the offsets degenerate from year year, both in size and quality. The roots, like those of parsnips, remain uninjured in the ground throughout the winter, and till they begin to put out fresh leaves in the spring. The whole plant is somewhat bitter. To divest the roots of that quality, they are scraped, and then steeped in water previously to their being made to undergo any culinary process.

"The first edition of his book, which greatly contributed to improve gardening in France, was printed in 1616."—Beckmann.

CHAPTER XII.

BRASSICA- -SPINACEOUS PLANTS ASPARAGINOUS

PLANTS,

BRASSICA.

SOME varieties of the cabbage have been cultivated from the very earliest times of which we have any record. But the migrations and changes of the best sorts have not been traced; neither is it at all probable that the varieties which the ancients enjoyed have descended to us unaltered. This particular genus of plants is peculiarly liable "to sport or run into varieties and monstrosities." They belong to the numerous family Cruciferæ. The cruciferous esculents form a much longer list than those bearing umbels; they are applied to a greater number of purposes, and afford an addition to food in a greater number of forms, ages, and parts of the plant. The roots, the leaves, the stems, the buds, are eaten raw, or dressed in various ways; and the seed of many species are valuable on account of the oil which they afford. None of the family are directly poisonous. In their recent state they either contain a portion of nitrogen ready formed, or have the power of detaching it from the atmosphere when they begin to undergo decomposition. This quality exists more, or at least displays itself sooner, in the leaves than in the roots; and to it is owing the very unpleasant odour of the water in which cabbages have been boiled. The Crucifere being found as weeds in almost every field, constant changes are produced, even in those plants under cultivation,