SECT. XIV. OF ESCULENTS. 1S 



SECTION XV. 



OF ESCULENTS. 



-LHE USEFULNESS of esculent plants, as serving 

 for the food, health, and pleasure of man, is pretty 

 generally acknowledged ; and that they may not fail 

 to answer these ends in the best way, let them have 

 every attention; and that, not only in their cultivation, 

 but in their preparation for the table : Let there be 

 no slight put upon the bounty of PROVIDENCE in or- 

 daining them to our use, by an unnecessary prefer- 

 ence to other foods. " There was a time, (says an 

 old physician) when bread and herbs (with a little 

 fruit) were the only dainties wherewith the tables of 

 the greatest voluptuaries were spread." 



u Vegetables and fruits were our innocent, primi- 

 tive, and natural food ; but men's depraved appetites 

 have substituted the shambles ; yet, after all, the in- 

 ventions of the most luxurious and voluptuous epi- 

 cure, the most Casarian tables would want of their 

 magnificence, noble gust, and grateful relish, with- 

 out fruit and the productions of the garden, which 

 gives the true condiment, and most agreeable closure 

 to all the rest." 



" Their use is, all our life long, of that universal 

 importance and concern, that we can neither live nor 

 subsist in any plenty, with decency or convenience, 

 or be said to live at all without them : whatsoever 

 contributes to delight or refresh us, are supplied and 

 brought forth out of this plentiful and delightful 

 store of the garden" Reflect on this ! 



It should be a rule to gather vegetables of all 

 kinds (designed for the table) in the morning, before 



