280 



GARDE!\ERS' CHRONICLE 



The History of Our 



(The following notes on the history of our more com- 

 mon vegetables are compiled from the interesting catalog 

 of the Stokes Seed Farms Co. and pKblished with permis- 

 sion of that company. — EditorJ 



ASPARAGUS (Asparagus otficiimlis ). — A native of Europe, 

 having grown in its wild state in Great Britain, Russia and 

 Poland. Tlie Britons, Gauls and Germans used it merely as a 

 medicine. Gerard states that it takes its name after the Latin, 

 in that it signifies the first spring or sprout. The Romans in- 

 troduced it as an edible food. Cato the Elder, 200 B. C, treated 

 the subject with great care. Pliny distinguished a fine difference 

 in the character of Asparagus grown near Ravenna and certain 

 other outlying points from Rome. Its cultivation and use as a 

 vegetable was made known to the people of the North by the 

 invading Roman armies. It is spoken of as a cultivated English 

 vegetable in the early sixteenth century ; and in 1683, we have 

 record of it in the London markets. 



LHIA BEANS {Phaseolus luimtus). — Apparently the pole 

 lima bean was known in America long before the discovery. It 

 is a native of Tropical America, probably Peru or Brazil. Al- 

 though quite different in general form and appearance from the 

 ordinary string bean, PJiascolus Z'uli^ans. it is, nevertheless, 

 closely related. The lima bean was met with by the Spaniards 

 on their first contact with the Indians of Florida, Mexico and 

 Peru. Wild forms of the lima bean are known in the Upper 

 Amazon River Valley and its seeds together with certain other 

 vegetable seeds have been found in ancient Peruvian tombs at 

 Ancon. The Indians of both North and South America were 

 well acquainted with the species. The traditions of the cliff 

 dwellers in our southwestern desert country have it that they 

 were first gathered from the nearby canons, thousands of years 

 previous. 



BEANS, GREEN-PODDED (Phaseolus rulgans).— This 

 genus which includes such species as the Kidney Beans is un- 

 doubtedly of South American origin, inasmuch as until the dis- 

 covery of .\merica none of the beans of this family were culti- 

 vated in Europe. M. de Candolle, author of the "Nativity of 

 the Bean" and considered an authority on the subject, produced 

 strong data to prove that Tropical America was its original habi- 

 tat. Among other points mentioned, is the fact that several 

 kinds of this species have been found in Peruvian tombs at 

 Ancon. Furthermore, shortly after 1500. the Kidney Bean began 

 to be grown extensively in Europe where it has entirely supplanted 

 the common beans for garden purposes. The name "Kidney 

 Bean'' was given it because of its shape. The Indians were 

 growing certain types at the time of the discovery of America, 

 but they were not grown commercially here until a comparatively 

 recent time. 



BEET. — A native of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia. 

 It is named Beta because its seed pod resembles the shape of the 

 Greek letter of that name. It has also been suggested that it 

 came from the Celtic word Beta, meaning red. Beta vulgaris. 

 the parent of our garden varieties, is a native of Egypt, thus 

 identifying two or three so-called Egyptian beets handled by pres- 

 ent day seedsmen. The native parent grew wild along the south- 

 ern shores of the Mediterranean, and was found as far east 

 as the Caspian Sea and Persia. "Everything," acording to de 

 Candolle, "shows that its cultivation does not date from more 

 than two or three centuries before the Christian Era." It is 

 not known exactly when the beet root was first introduced into 

 cultivation. The ancients were well acquainted with the plant, 

 but we have no account from which we can have certain knowl- 

 edge that they cultivated it. 



CABB.\GE (Brassiea oleracca. Var. capitata). — L'ndoubiedly 

 the entire Bras.nca group can be traced to the wild Cabbage, 

 Brassiea oleraeea. which grows wild on the sea cliffs of the Eng- 

 lish Channel and the Western European Coast. The Roman 

 name Brassiea is supposed to have come from the word Praeseeo 

 because it was cut off from the stalk, the word Cabbage referring 

 to the firm head or ball which is formed by the leaves. The 

 Cabbage is one of the vegeta1>les which has been cultivated from 

 the earliest times. To quote Vilmorin, "The ancients were well 

 acquainted with it and certainly possessed several varieties of 

 the head-forming kind. The great antiquity of its culture may 

 be inferred from the immense number of varieties which are 

 now in existence." A more wonderful example of a genus pro- 

 ducing .so many distinct forms of vegetation for the use of man 

 is scarcely to be met with throughout the range of the vegetable 

 kingdom. The leaves of this plant were probably eaten by the 



Common Vegetables 



barbarous or half civilized tribes of Europe, and when history 

 begins the plant had been transferred to cultivated grounds and 

 produced heads. It appears to have been in general use before 

 the Aryan Migration, 1700 B. C, and in the time of Cato and 

 Pliny many distinct varieties were known in Rome. 



CAULIFLO\yER_ {Brassiea oleraeea.— L. Var. Bofrylis, 

 D. C.).—A native of Europe and West Asia, having been under 

 cultivation some time before the Christian Era. It apparently 

 was well known to the Greeks and Romans, at least in its cruder 

 form. It is not until more recent times that the vegetable has 

 been refined to its present condition. Pickering states that cauli- 

 flower was first mentioned in 540 B. C. Hehn, a German writer, 

 states that true cauliflower is of Eastern origin and came to 

 Europe via Venice and Antwerp. The Moors of Spain are said 

 lO have written about it in the twelfth century, having received 

 it about that time from Syria. 



CELERY (Apiuiii graveolens). — Of European origin. Ancient 

 writers give no definite information of this vegetable, and it 

 seeins doubtful whether celery was cultivated until some time 

 after the Middle Ages. Until long after the fall of Rome it was 

 not freely distinguished from parsley. Homer mentions Selinon 

 in the Odyssey, but this is thought to refer to a wild form of 

 celery. In 1629 A. D. Parkinson states that "sellery is a rarity 

 in England," and apparently celery as we know it was not a 

 common vegetable in Europe until after 1800. 



CORN (Zea Mays. Var. saceharata). — Probably a native of 

 Peru, Darwin having found heads of Maize embedded in the 

 Peruvian Coast 85 feet above the present sea level. Botanists 

 universally concede that corn originated in America and as its 

 close relation, teosiute is indigenous to Mexico, some have placed 

 it there rather than farther south. In 1914 Dr. F. H. Knowlton 

 came on a fossilized ear of corn in Kuzco, Peru, thus giving 

 us tangible evidence of the geologic existence of the species. 

 It is one of the first evidences of vegetables being transferred 

 from prehistoric to geological time, possibly taking it back a 

 hundred thousand years. The type of the fossil ear has many of 

 the characteristics essential to the domestic varieties still being 

 grown in Peru and Bolivia. The name corn was given it by the 

 North American Indians. The reference to corn amongst the 

 Egyptians of Biblical times was not corn as we know it, but some 

 other grain, possibly wheat. Indian corn, however, was found 

 under a comparatively high state of cultivation on the discovery 

 of the New World. The first variety of sweet corn, under cul- 

 tivation, was reported in the region of Plymouth, Mass., where 

 it had come from the Susquehanna Indians in 1779. 



CUCUMBER (Cueuwis saliz'us).—A native of the East. Vil- 

 morin crediting the East Indies, while de Candolle places North- 

 ern India as point of probable origin. Vilmorin, being a close 

 student of the subject, we are inclined to give preference to his 

 deductions. Cucumber is one of the oldest cultivated vegetables, 

 being under cultivation long before the Greek and Egyptian civil- 

 ization, although it was well known to both. Pliny writes at 

 length on the subject, and makes special reference to the cucum- 

 bers as supplied to the Emperor Tiberius, who wanted them 

 available every day in the year. The cucumbers of the Scriptures 

 were probably a wild form of melon (no doubt of Persian origin), 

 which was common in Egypt at that time. 



EXDI\'E (Cichorittm ediva). — Probably a native of the East 

 Indies, placed by some, however, as indigenous to Egypt. In the 

 latter place they are called the wild endive eieltorium. hence the 

 confusion between this and the chicory, or French endive The 

 vegetable is mentioned by Ovid, Columella, Horace and Pliny. 

 The latter states the plant was eaten both as a pot herb and a 

 salad by the Romans. It was supposed to have had strong 

 medicinal qualities, and was used with telling effect by the ancient 

 magicians. Endive was introduced into England apparently in 

 1548, during the reign of Edward the Sixth. Gerard speaks of 

 it and tells how it was preserved for Winter use in the time of 

 Queen Elizabeth. 



LETTL'CE (Laeluea saliva). — A native of .^sia. The exact 

 country of origin is not certain, neither the date when it was 

 introduced into Europe, but scientists agree that it has no doubt 

 been under cultivation from very remote times. The name lettuce 

 is no doubt a corruption of a Latin word Laetuea. on account of 

 the milky juice known to the vegetable. Herodotus tells us 

 that lettuce was served in its natural state at the royal tables of 

 the Persian King over five hundred years before the Christian 

 Era. According to Pliny, the Romans were not acquainted with 



