CHAPTER XI. 



Succulent Roots. 



THE vegetables which belong to the class of escu- 

 lents to be hereafter described are mostly auxiliary 

 substances, which are not in themselves sufficiently 

 nutritive to form the whole food of human beings in a 

 state of health and activity; but which require the 

 addition of something more substantial, even by those 

 who eat merely to satisfy the wants of nature, rather 

 than to stimulate an artificial appetite. 



The substances which have been already treated 

 of may be considered as stores of matter laid up by 

 nature for the growth of vegetables. The auxiliary 

 substances are mostly vegetables in a growing or 

 active state. 



The TURNIP Brasslca rapa. A species of turnip 

 is to be occasionally found growing in a wild state in 

 some parts of Britain ; but the root of this plant is of 

 no value, and experiments have proved that cultivation 

 cannot, under an English sky at least, convert this 

 wild variety into that of which the root is used as an 

 edible substance. 



The turnip was well known to the Romans, and all 

 that can be gathered on this subject from the writings 

 of the ancients renders it probable that it occupied 

 nearly the same place in Roman culture as it does in 

 British husbandry in the present day. Columella* 

 recommended that the growth of turnips should be 



* De Re Rustica, lib. ii, cap. 10. 



