ROOTS. 593 
of the grey mullet is costly, having a faint honey-like scent, 
because of the beeswax used in preserving it. 
ROOTS. 
Like the grain of cereals, roots are to be regarded as storehouses 
of nutriment for the support of the young plant when produced 
in its first growth. The reserve nutriment thus laid up in the 
roots, and tubers, is chiefly starch, so that it must be remembered 
that they supply only one of the needful elements for human 
and animal sustenance, and development. But roots are by no 
means altogether destitute of mineral ingredients, chiefly as salts 
of potash. The water, sparingly used, in which roots are cooked, 
and which therefore gets to contain much of the soluble salts, 
should be utilized, or the roots should be cooked by steam. 
Already the Beet, the Carrot, the Onion, the Parsnip, the Horse 
Radish, and the Potato, have been told of in these pages ; 
besides which the common Radish, and the Turnip, remain to 
be considered. 
The common Garden Radish (Raphanus sativus) is a cultivated 
variety of the horse radish ; it was not grown in England before 
1548, though highly commended by Dioscorides and Pliny in 
ancient days. John Evelyn (Acetaria) gave it as his opinion 
“that this root is hard of digestion, inimicous to the stomach, 
causing nauseous eructations, and sometimes vomiting, though 
otherwise diuretic, and thought to repel the vapours of wine 
when the wits were at their genial club.” ‘“‘ The Radish,” says 
Gerarde, “ provoketh urine, and dissolveth cluttered sand. Its 
edible root consists of a watery, fibrous pulp, which is compara- 
tively bland, and of an e skin furnished wi en’ 
volatile, aromatic oil, which acts as a condiment to the phlegmatic 
a 
pulp. Radishes are to be eaten with salt alone, as carrying 
their pepper in them.” The oil contained in the root, (and 
likewise in the seeds), is sulphuretted, and apt to disagree with 
persons of weak digestion. A young Radish which has been 
quickly grown, and is tender, will suit most stomachs, especially 
if some of the tender green leaves are masticated together with 
the root; but a Radish which is tough, strong, and hollow, 
fait priser & Pile @ Elbe ; il revient.” 
“The juice of the roots,” wrote Culpeper, “ made into a syrup 
doth purge by the urine exceedingly. I know not what planets 
38 
