HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



193 



HISTOEY OF OUE CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



No. IV.— THE CABBAGE {Bmssica). 

 ( Continued?) 



T is recorded that 

 cabbages were 

 first introduced 

 into the North 

 of Scotland by 

 the soldiers of 

 Cromwell, who 

 is stated, in 

 Loudon's "Encyc. Gard.," 

 to have been a great pro- 

 moter of agriculture, and the 

 useful branches of gardening, 

 and encouraged his soldiers 

 to introduce all the best im- 

 provements wherever they 

 went; but in Johnson's 

 "Useful Plants of Great 

 Britain" the notion is con- 

 tradicted, and an observation 

 made that kale-yards were 

 to be found round the 

 Scottish houses centuries before the Boundheads 

 crossed the Border. The colonies of German 

 fishermen from Cuxhaven and the adjacent places, 

 which peopled the coast of the central parts of 

 East Scotland, are supposed' to have brought with 

 them their national love] of ^^brassica, and to have 

 introduced some species'of those plants, at a very 

 early period, into this part ^of Scotland, which is 

 more peculiarly "the land of kale." There the 

 cabbage and open colewort are in equal favour, 

 giving the name of kale to a soup of which they 

 form the principal ingredients, the outside leaves 

 and the stalks of the plants falling to the share of 

 the cattle. 



Many allusions in the old Scotch songs point to 

 the fact of the country aboutJAberdeen abounding 

 with this vegetable. In recommending the good 

 fare of the country, the poet says,— 



" There's cauld kail in Abe/deen, 

 An' castocks in Stra'bogie." 



No. 117. 



Cabbage-stems having the fibrous part peeled ofl', 

 and the remainder softened by water, were called 

 castock. Before the introduction of turnips into 

 Scotland, this medullary substance of the stalks of 

 brassica was very commonly eaten by the peasantry. 

 The " Kale-brose o' auld Scotland " is celebrated to 

 the same tune as the " Roast beef of old England," 

 and though, with many other ancient peculiarities 

 of the people, it has fallen into disuse, it is still 

 considered a national dish. 



A variety called cow-cabbage" {B. olemcea, var. 

 arborescens) was introduced some years ago from La 

 Vendee by Comte de Puysage. The proximity of 

 this department to the ancient province of Anjou, 

 and the description of the plant, leaves no doubt of 

 its identity with the Anjou cabbage, a very large 

 variety described in Mill's " Husbandry," vol. iii. 

 In 1827 thirty-six seeds were divided among six 

 agriculturists for the purpose of raising this useful 

 vegetable in England ; some of the seeds produced 

 plants of luxuriant growth. But it is in Jersey they 

 are cultivated most successfully, and where they 

 partake of a tree-like character, a peculiarity partly 

 owing to the custom of the peasantry removing the 

 lower leaves almost daily to feed their cows. Thus 

 the cabbage-gardens in Jersey have somewhat the 

 appearance of a little grove of palms. The average 

 height of these plants is about six feet ; but when 

 grown in the shade are much taller. They are used 

 for a variety of purposes : the stout ones are em- 

 ployed as cross-spars for the roofs and thatch of 

 small farm-buUdings, cottages, &c., and, if kept 

 dry, are said to last many years. The smaller stocks 

 are converted into' walking-sticks (Jersey canes), 

 look very nicely when varnished, and are largely 

 purchased by tourists to the island during the sum- 

 mer months. Some of these walking-sticks are to 

 be seen in the Museum of Economic Botany at 

 Kew. 



The cauliflower {B. oleracea, var, botrytis) is the 

 most delicate variety of the Brassica genus. This 



K 



