ORIGIX AND IIISTOKY OF GABDEN' PLANTS. 467 



is made from the roots. Marmalade, made with j.areneps and a small 

 quantity of Bugar, is said to excite appetite, and to \>u a ver/ go<xI focKJ t'.-i 

 convalescents. 



Parsleij was cultivated, as it is now in pardenfl, in the time of Pfiny, and 

 ai)pears to liavc been highly esteemed as a (reasoning of food. ^ 



liadixhes were so highly esteemed by tiie Greeks, that they made them 

 of gold to offer at the shrine of Apollo. If these were made of the ni/.e that 

 radishes are represented as growing in those days, we ccrfainly should pretVr 

 the counterfeits to the real ; fur it is stated that tliev ''rew t« the wci-dit of 

 forty or fifty poimds. Probably they were an entirely diti'erent article from 

 our radishes, and perhaps were a cidinary vegetable. 



^t'C^s were made for the same purpose of silver, which shows the com- 

 parative estimation in which they were held. "With us it is .juite tiic 

 reverse. 



Turnips, too, do not seem to have been highly esteemed, since A|«oIl'i 

 only got wooden turnips, while ho got gold radishes and silver beets. Tlii> 

 was somewhat owing to climate, undoubtedly, for wc have observe<l that 

 turnips are not esteemed in the cotton States, except for \jic tops to bo used 

 iis greens. 



Thyme was planted in Greece, and thence imported into the Itoman 

 Stater, on account of its value as pasture fir the honey-bees. 



Water-cress was esteemed as a stimulating article of diet, as well in olden 

 time as at present, and was often eaten with salad to counteract ita etl'ects, 

 which were thought to be chilly. An old writer says : 



" Water-cress is one of the most wholesome of our salad-herbs, and one of 

 the oldest in use. Its qualities arc warm and stinndating, the reverse of 

 nearly all other raw vegetables. Xeiiophon recommended it to tlie I'ersinns, 

 and the Romans gave it to those whose minds were derangetl. llenco tin- 

 Gruck proverb: 'Eat cres.s, and have more wit.' It .is an excellent anti 

 scorbutic ; and a salad so easily jiroiluced, ami so im])Ortant to the iiealth of 

 townspeople, can not be too highly recommended. Tlie daily supply at 

 Covent (iarden, London, is aliout (i.OdO buncbos, but it is said if twice u 

 many more bunches were brought in they would be all sold." 



Cahhueje appears to have been used for food from a very early period, 

 and few vegetables have undergone greater improvements, fi-om the original 

 sea-kale to the large drum-head cabbage, some of which have iiea«U «liiio>t 

 as solid as turnips, and of twenty i>0Hnds weiglit. Gcnuanv, of uU other 

 countries, grows c.ibbage for food m^st abundantly. It is eonsiden««l n 

 ncitessity for every family to have a barrel or ipore of gour-ltiiut, which i« 

 made by cutting the cabbagcdieada into small shreds, with sharp knives or « 

 iiipchine, which is j.acked in barrels with a little salt, anil H.nu-time* a flavor 

 of spice, and in this way it keeps (we can not sny sweet) in an ealnbii.' c«m- 

 ditiou all winter, and isuaunlly etewed and eaten with vinegar, in plHco of 

 other vegetables, with meat. . • ti 



AxpariKjus is another sea-plant, very much improved by cidlivttion. Tlio 



