114 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



appetite, although they give but little nou- 

 rishment. 



Capers appear to have been eaten in 

 greater abundance in the time of Queen 

 Elizabeth than at present. Gerard says, 

 " They are eaten boiled, (the salt first 

 washed off,) with oile and vinegar, as other 

 sallads be, and somtimes are boiled with 

 meate." This author adds, " In these our 

 daies diuers vse to cherish the caper, and to 

 set it in dry and stony places : myselfe, at 

 the impression heereof, planted some seedes 

 in the brick wals of my garden, which as 

 yet (1597) doe spring and growe greene ; 

 the successe I expect." 



In the garden of Camden House, at Ken- 

 sington, there was a remarkable fine caper 

 tree, which had endured the open air of this 

 climate for the greater part of a century, 

 and, though not within the reach of any ar- 

 tificial heat, produced flowers and fruit every 

 year. This has been termed a real curiosity, 

 and should induce the inhabitants of the 

 warmer parts of Devonshire, Sussex, and 

 Kent, to cultivate the caper bush, where they 

 have chalk-pits, cliffs, or old walls. 



As the caper sauce is more familiar to us 

 at our tables, than the plant is in our gar- 



