HAllDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



193 



HISTORY OF OUE CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



No. XL— THE BEET. 



HE Beet is men- 

 tioned both by 

 the Arabic and 

 ancient Greek 

 authors as one 

 of their dietetic 

 plants. The 

 this root in great 

 esteem, for it was their custom 

 to offer it on silver to Apollo, 

 in his temple at Delphos. It 

 was only the leaves of this 

 plant that were eaten by the 

 ancients. The Greeks dis- 

 tinguished two kinds, accord- 

 ing to their colour, the white 

 and black beet, the last, ac- 

 cording to Fee, would answer 

 to one of the purple kinds. 

 It was Theophrastus's opinion that the white is 

 more juicy than the black, and it produces less seed. 

 It was generally known as the Sicilian Beet, where 

 it grew in grea" abundance, and in those days 

 formed a considerable portion of the diet of the 

 inhabitants of that island. Beta stands at the head 

 of one of Martial's epigrams. He describes it as 

 food only Gt for the artisan, as it required pepper 

 and wine to make it palatable to a refined taste. 



" Insipid beet may bid a tradesman dine, 

 But asks of thee abundant spice and wine." 



Pliny gives an accurate description of this vege- 

 table. He says, "Our people distinguish two 

 varieties, the spring and autumn kinds, so called 

 from the period of sowing; but some consider the 

 best time to be when the pomegranate is in flower. 

 The young plants, when they had thrown out five 

 leaves, used to be transplanted, and they thrive all 

 the better if, like the lettuce, the roots are well 

 covered with manure in a moist soil." This author 

 informs us that this vegetable was mostly eaten 

 with lentils, beans, and mustard to relieve its in- 

 sipidity. Beet is a vegetable with a twofold cha- 

 No. 129. 



racteristic, partaking of the nature of the cabbage 

 in its leaves, and resembling a bulb in the root. It 

 was a custom with the Romans to put a light weight 

 upon the plants the moment they began to assume 

 the proper colour, in order that they might cabbage, 

 and the larger the heads the more highly they were 

 esteemed. Those grown in the territory of Circeii 

 sometimes produced heads two feet in breadth. 

 Pliny states that there was also a medicinal differ- 

 ence between the two varieties, the white being 

 remarkable for its purgative qualities, and the black 

 being astringent. "When wine in the vat," says 

 the same author, " has been deteriorated by as- 

 suming a flavour of cabbage, it may be restored to 

 its original taste by plunging beet-leaves into it." 



Beet is said to have been first cultivated in 

 England in 1548, at the period when many cf ou 

 culinary vegetables were introduced or improved. 

 Our old friend Gerard observes, " that Red Beet 

 boild eaten with vinegar and pepper is a most 

 delicate and excellent sallad, but what might be 

 made of the red and beautiful root I refer unto the 

 curious and cuning cook, who no doubt when be 

 has had the view thereof, and is assured that it is 

 both good and wholesome, will make therefrom 

 many divers dishes both fair and good." This Red 

 Beet was cultivated by Tradescant at Lambeth, in 

 1656. The white variety appears to have been 

 introduced from Portugal, and Evelyn, in his 

 " Aretaria ; or, a Discourse on Sallets " (published 

 in 1699), states that the coster or midrib of the 

 leaves of this variety, when boiled, melts and eats 

 like marrow. In 1747 the celebrated Prussian 

 chemist Margraff discovered the existence of a 

 certain portion of sugar in beet-root. This dis- 

 covery was communicated to the Scientific Society 

 of Berlin, but no attempt was made to carry tin- 

 principle of the investigation into practice. 



Eorty years after this, Arhard, another Prussian 

 chemist, resumed the experiments which Margrafi" 

 had commenced, and he was so enraptured by the 

 prospect which his labours opened to him, that he 

 announced the beet-root as one of the most boun- 



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