188 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



in the habit of searching for and gathering the tender 

 shoots which show themselves in the spring through 

 the sand and gravel, and which, thus naturally 

 blanched, are, when boiled, a delicate vegetable. It 

 is also stated that the radical leaves, which have some 

 resemblance to those of the smooth broad-leaved- cole- 

 wort, were likewise eaten like greens by the inhabitants 

 of those places in which the plant grew wild. 



Wild plants to be employed as salads and season- 

 ings, when they are used as such in rude states of 

 society, can scarcely be said to form a necessary article 

 of food. They are approaches to the luxuries and 

 artificial wants of a civilized condition. In every 

 state, however, man is desirous to impart some relish 

 to his food. A refined people do so habitually a 

 barbarous people when accident places the cool or 

 stimulating vegetable within their reach. 



Great Cat's-Tail Typha 



THE GREAT CAT'S-TAIL is a perennial reed, grow- 

 ing in marshy places. It is a native of Britain, but is 



