46 ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF OUR GARDEN VEGETABLES. . 



as Apium dulce, the upright Celery, and A. rapacium, the Oeleriac 

 or turnip-rooted Celery. It should be remembered that the wild and 

 green plant is unwholesome, if not actually poisonous, but when 

 blanched all suspicious qualities are prevented from arising. In Malta 

 to-day the green tops are alone used, boiled, as the Maltese do not 

 blanch the leaf-stalks. 



There is not much nutriment in Celery, as there is over 93 per 

 cent, of water. The chief constituents are sugar 2 per cent. , and starch 

 with mucilage 1*6, the mineral matters being 0'8 per cent. The 

 nutrient ratio is 1 :4*5, and the nutrient value less than 5. 



CHARD. 



We have seen under BEET that in ancient times and up to the 

 sixteenth century only the leaves were eaten, and that it was not till 



FIG. 20. Swiss CHARD OR SPINACH BEET (BURPEE). 



the close of the sixteenth century that the root became an article of .diet. 

 With regard to Chard, I extract the following succinct account from 

 Mr. Booth's article in the " Treasury of Botany." " The large white 

 or Swiss chard Beet (B. cicla var.) is a very distinct variety, remarkable 

 for the thick midribs and stalks of its large upright leaves. It is the 

 Poir6e a Garde of the French, with whom it is a favourite vegetable 

 served as asparagus." 



.The illustration (fig. 20) is a peculiarly .interesting form of Swiss 

 Chard or ''Spinach Beet" sent out by Mr. W. A. Burpee, Phila- 

 delphia. He calls it Lucullus, and describes the leaves as follows: 

 " The leaves are sharply pointed, the texture is heavily crumpled or 

 ' savoyed . . . the leafy portion of the foliage is served as spinach, 

 the stalks being served separately." 



