CEUCIFEROUS TRIBE 63 



deemed meet offerings to Venus. The monks, too, cultivated a plant called 

 Sisymhium, but as the water-cress and radish were formerly included in this 

 genus, it was probably one of those plants. The highly-prized virtues, 

 however, both of this species and another of the genus, the flixweed, render 

 it not unlikely that it found a place in the monastery garden. An ancient 

 plan of the monastery of St. Gall, near the Lake of Constance, an institution 

 celebrated throughout Europe for its learned men and complete library, 

 enables us to form an idea of the plants Avhich were, in the ninth century, 

 considered of most importance in the continental monasteries ; and they 

 were, doubtless, very similar to those valued in our country at the same 

 period. Several vegetables yet in common use are included in this plan 

 of the kitchen garden, for the monks had a great taste for horticulture, and 

 were not slow to admit new plants, as, in some cases, people of later days 

 have been — the potato was rejected with scorn, till Louis XV. of 

 France recommended it in that country, by wearing amidst his courtiers a 

 bouquet of its flowers ; and till some Englishmen, spite of popular clamour, 

 persevered in its culture here. In the thirteenth century, the religious order 

 of the Cistercians were pre-eminent for their horticultural skill, and Neckam, 

 an abbot, describes the chief esculents of those days as lettuce, rocket, 

 mustard, water-cress, and hop. Some of these were cultivated at St. Gall. 

 The plan referred to describes the physic-garden as consisting of sixteen 

 beds, each of which has the name of some herb inscribed upon it, in the 

 following order : — peppermint, rosemary, white lily, sage, rue, comfrey, 

 penny-royal, fenugreek, rose, water-cress, or radish, or mustard {Sisymbrium)^ 

 cummin, lovage, fennel, tansy, kidney-bean, savory. The beds of the 

 kitchen garden were also marked out, and Avere thus arranged : — onions, 

 garlick, leeks, shallots, celery, parsley, coriander, chervil, dill, lettuce, poppy, 

 savory, radish, parsnip, carrots, cabbage, beet, corn cockle. 



2. London Rocket {S. irio). — Leaves deeply lobed, with the points 

 turned backward, toothed, and, as well as the stem, smooth ; pods erect. 

 Plant annual. This Rocket, which was formerly common about our metro- 

 polis, first appeared there after the Great Fire of London. In the spring 

 succeeding that calamity, the young plants were seen everywhere rising up 

 among the ruins, and in the summer the crop was so luxuriant, that it was 

 supposed the whole of Europe did not contain so many specimens of the 

 Rocket as were then crowded over the surface of London. It was at that 

 time a great marvel to observing men ; and after all that has been written 

 on the subject of the sudden appearance of plants in particular spots, it is a 

 marvel still. The fact is well known, but not accounted for, that a layer 

 of quicklime thrown over a soil will produce white clover plants in 

 abundance, when they had not before grown on the spot ; and so, too, the 

 l)urning of rubbish leaves ashes favourable to the growth of the Rocket. 

 Baxter, in his " British Flowering Plants," mentions a circumstance analogous 

 to that which succeeded the fire of London, as having occurred near Oxford 

 Botanic Garden. "During the time," says this writer, "that the alterations 

 were going on in the garden, last year, 1834, the rubbish was removed to a 

 piece of ground on the outside of the walls. This rubbish as it accumulated 

 was set fire to from time to time, and was frequently burning for two or 



