1 88 ROUND THE YEAR 



to a patch of ground near his cave. The refuse which 

 lies around, unwholesome as it is to men and animals, 

 encourages the cabbages to more vigorous growth. 

 Years, perhaps centuries later, another great advance 

 is accomplished, and men begin to raise the cabbage 

 from seed. Gardens and fences follow. It is no 

 longer necessary to spend whole days seeking food, 

 and the man's hands are set free to make himself 

 shoes, and a coat, and a house. 



We have perhaps given to the cabbage some share 

 of the credit which rightfully belongs to barley or 

 some other nutritious plant, but there is no doubt 

 that the cabbage played a considerable part in the 

 early civilisation of Western Europe. Cultivated 

 plants and domestic animals are the very foundation 

 of primitive society. As the plants grow more juicy, 

 and the animals more docile, Man too rises to some- 

 thing higher than he was. He becomes able to lead 

 the life which pleases him, and not that which is 

 imposed by climate and the wild productions of the 

 soil. He learns by slow degrees to shape his own 

 circumstances and habits. But his intellectual gifts 

 and his social aptitudes cannot be developed without 

 certain simple natural resources. Of these the chief 

 are plants worth cultivation and animals worth 

 domestication. 



We have no distinct record of the time when 

 cabbages and turnips were not cultivated in Western 

 Europe. But until modern times they were cultivated 

 in gardens, by the spade, and on a small scale. No 

 doubt the first cultivation of vegetables in gardens, 

 could we get to know all about it, was the important 



