PLANTS. 305 



potatoes, when it should appear on- the royal table. But 

 no art availed to make Potato Apples palatable. Great 

 odium fell on Sir Francis Drake for the deception he had 

 practiced, and orders were given for the worthless plants 

 to be plucked up by the roots and thrown away. The 

 gardener thought best to burn them as rubbish, and did 

 so ; but as they were burning he was attracted by the 

 savory odor from the pile. Taking up one of the tubers 

 he found himself constrained to taste it. Eureka ! The 

 treasure was found, and from that time it gradually came 

 into use. Although at present the potato constitutes a 

 large portion of the food of civilized man, it was, for the 

 first two hundred years after Elizabeth's reign culti- 

 vated only for feeding swine ; for great prejudice ex- 

 isted against the plant being used as food for man. This, 

 however, was gradually removed ; the potato is now in 

 general use everywhere, and a favorite article of diet; is 

 prepared in various ways as farina, sago, etc. ; also dis- 

 tilled into brandy in Russia. O- 



The Egg Plant (Solanum insanum), sometimes called 

 Mad Apple, is a prickly shrub ; leaves woolly and oval ; 

 flowers pendulous, bluish-red; fruit oval, egg-shaped, 

 purple or white ; sometimes very large. The white 

 never larger than a hen's egg, and cultivated for orna- 

 ment only. The purple egg-plant is used as an 

 esculent, and much esteemed. Native of Asia and Af- 

 rica. Q. 



Red or Cayenne Pepper (Capsicum annuum), Tourne. 

 Stem herbaceous, angular, branching above ; leaves ovate, 

 acuminate, and on long petioles or foot-stalks. Flowers 

 stand single ; fruit or berries red, pendulous. Native of 

 India and South America ; cultivated in gardens both in 

 southern Europe and United States. There are at least 



