142 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



seasoning in preserves and pickles. It strikes 

 the American palate as a blend of fennel and mint. 

 The seeds and sometimes the thread-like leaves 

 of the tall, wild parsnip-like plant are used. The 

 umbrella cluster of flowers and seeds assign the 

 dill to the same family as the fennel. In gardens 

 it grows easily, even if in a colder climate than its 

 native range, southern Europe, if given a warm 

 situation, and well-drained soil. 



THE WILD CABBAGE AND ITS CHILDREN 



Outside of the pretty coast villages that look 

 out on the English Channel, beyond the thrifty 

 fields and market gardens, lie stretches of land so 

 rocky and uneven that it is unfit for cultivation. 

 Tufts of weedy growth soften the bleakness of 

 these desert places. Among the native plants 

 that get a living from the scant soil is the wild 

 cabbage, a lusty weed that attracted the atten- 

 tion of our savage forefathers, thousands of years 

 ago, because its leaves were (and are to-day) 

 succulent and pungent to the taste. So the leaves 

 are in the big mustard family, to which all cab- 

 bages and their kindred plants belong. 



All the way from the British Isles to Siberia 

 the wild cabbage may be seen on untilled land, 



