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otJiuary Jinncr of good gentry ami townsfolk consisted of two kinds of meat, 

 one of which might have been salted and boiled, surrounded with five or six 

 mounds of Cabbages, Carrots, Turnips, and other herbs or roots, with melted 

 butter poured over them, bread being hardly tasted with the meat. Then came 

 jocund "pudding time," to an Englishman the happiest time in the world, but 

 ending rather ingloriously with a bit of cheese, for fruit fonned no part of 

 dessert. Such is the account given to the world by a foreigner who well knew 

 the England of that day. 



Amongst the chief classes of our native plants from which food is 

 obtainable the Crvclfera, consisting chiefly of the various kinds of Cresses, have 

 pungent juices, but become mild by ciiltivation and form useful salad and 

 pot-herbs. They are rich in nitrogen and their tendency to form masses of 

 succulent foliage as in the Cabbage, enlarged inflorescence as in the Caulifiorwer 

 and fleshy roots as in the Turnip and Kadi^, renders them valuable as food. 

 The Romcce produce the most wholesome and delicious fruits. The Umbellifera: 

 are generally poisonous when wild, but some behave like the Cruciferfe under 

 cultivation producing the garden Carrot and Parsnip. The Compositic have 

 usually milky juices which are bitter, aromatic, and medicinal, but many, like 

 the Dandelion, are good salad or pot-herbs. The Campanulacecv, with bitter 

 milky juices also, are scarcely used. Many seasonings, such as Mint, Thyme, and 

 Marjoram, come from the Labiate plants, but the native grasses produce us 

 nothing like Wheat, Oats, and Barley, the great sources, next to animal food, 

 of solid sustenance for man in temperate climates. 



It is clear, then, that in treating of the food-producing plants of Britain, 

 we must look upon them only as accessory to a more substantial diet. Let it 

 be \inderstood, therefore, that when a plant is herein said to be wholesome or 

 agreeable, it will generally be found more wholesome or more agreeable in com- 

 pany with a piece of bacon boiled or fried, and that the improvement will be 

 reciprocal. Though all, except Cherries and a few others, are to be taken cum 

 (jvano salis, what is here said about them may be taken in that or any other way 

 uutU fairly tested ; and if any poor sinner is inclined to curse the daily 

 iteration of potatoe and cabbage, he may find here a few hints which will at once 

 improve his dinner and his morals. 



It seems convenient to divide our edible plants into the three classes 

 following : — 



1. Fruits. 



2. Salad-herbs. 



3. Pot-herbs. 



OF FRUITS. 



The Wood Strawberry (Frarjaria vcsca) excels most others in respect of 

 ■wholesomeness and flavour. Comparing it with the large species and varieties 

 we observe that it obeys the general law with plants. The proportion 



