300 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



them to be similar in shape with the joiut- 

 flowering water-parsnip (sium nodiflorum), a 

 plant which very generally grows mixed with 

 the cresses, and has poisonous qualities. The 

 leaves of the cress are how^ever more smooth and 

 shining, and are entire at their edges, while those 

 of the parsnip are serrated. When the flower- 

 ing stems are up, the plants are easily distin- 

 guished. The water-parsnip bears its flowers in 

 umbels close upon the joints of the stems, while 

 the flowers of the cress are cruciform, and rise 

 into a spike. The four petals in the flower of 

 the water-cress, and five in the parsnip, are also 

 an obvious distinction. If they are in seed the 

 parsnip has capsules, the water-cress pods. 



In Europe the cress appears to have been first 

 cultivated at Erfurth, about the middle of the 

 sixteenth century, and in England in 1808, by 

 Bradbury. It now has become an object of re- 

 gular cultivation; and the demand of the me- 

 tropolis, and of other large towns, for this fa- 

 vourite vegetable, will probably render the natu- 

 ral products of our brooks less and less in request. 

 Few wild plants are the same under cultivation ; 

 but even when their qualities are not changed 

 by the care of man, the cultivated sort soon su- 

 persedes the uncultivated. The cost of rearing 

 them at will is less than that of searching for 

 them under the difiiculties which attend all spon- 

 taneous produce. 



In a pretty valley called Springhead, situated 

 in Kent, at a short distance from Gravesend, 

 water-cresses are grown on a very extensive scale. 

 The plants, neatly trimmed, growing in regular 

 rows, and appearing under a limpid stream of 

 purest water, give the idea of careful cultiva- 

 tion, and present themselves under a more pleas- 

 ing form to be plucked for the table, than when 

 found the inhabitants of ditches. For the pur- 

 pose of this culture a clayey soil is selected, in 

 ■which shallow beds, scarcely a foot deep, are 

 made, having a slight inclination from one end 

 to the other, and into which a small stream of 

 water is introduced. At the bottom of these 

 beds the cress is planted in rows, at about half 

 a foot apart. Dams of six inches high are made 

 at intervals across each bed, their number and 

 frequency being regulated by the length of the 

 bed and its degree of inclination, in such sort, 

 that when these dams are full, the water may 

 rise at least three inches over all the plants of 

 each compartment. The water will thus circu- 

 late throughout, and the plants, if not allowed 

 to flower, will furnish an abundant succession of 

 young tops throughout the spring, summer, and 

 autumn. A stream of water no larger than 

 what will fill a pipe of one inch bore, will, if not 

 absorbed by the soil, suflice to irrigate in this 

 way an eighth of an acre. The water-cress, ac- 

 cording to Mr Main, is cultivated in Hindoostan 

 under theds erected for the purpose. 



Winter Cress (harharea vulgaris). This is 

 a well known perennial plant, common in moist 

 shady situations. The lower leaves are lyre- 

 shaped, and the upper obovate and indented. 

 The flower-stalk rises about a foot high, and 

 produces yellow flowers from April to August. 

 The whole plant is bitter and somewhat aroma- 

 tic. A double variety is well known in the yel- 

 low rocket. The winter cress is used as a win- 

 ter salad. 



American Cress (barharea proecox). This is 

 a native of Britain, similar to the winter cress, 

 only it is an annual; the leaves, too, are smaller. 

 It is called, also, French cress. Used the same 

 as the others. 



Scurvy Grass (cochlearia officinalis), a Bri- 

 tish plant, common on the sea shores. The 

 root-leaves are round, those of the stem sinuated. 

 The whole plant is low and spreading, seldom 

 rising above a foot. The flowers are white, and 

 appear in April or May. It is used as a salad, and 

 also, as the name implies, for the cure of scurvy. 



The Radish (raphanus saiivus), an annual 

 plant, said to be a native of China ; but whether 

 it was introduced from that country directly to 

 Britain has not been ascertained. BuUein, who 

 wTOte in 1562, says, " Of radish roots there be 

 no small store growing about the famous city of 

 London ; they be more plentiful! than profyt- 

 able, and more noysome than nourishinge to 

 manne's nature." Yet notwithstanding this, 

 they were used, thirty years before, at the table 

 of Henry VIII. Gerarde thus describes the 

 plant In 1684, " The leaves are rough, lyrate, or 

 divided transversely into segments, of which the 

 inferior less ones are more remote. The root is 

 fleshy and fusiform in some varieties, in others 

 sub-globular; white within, but black, purple, 

 and yellow, or white on the outside ; the flowers 

 pale violet, with large dark veins; pods long, 

 with a sharp beak." The tender leaves are used 

 as a salad in early spring, and the succulent 

 roots are now much esteemed. They soon, how- 

 ever, by age become hard and stringy, so that 

 frequent sowings at intervals are necessary to 

 ensure a succession of young and tender plants. 

 There are several varieties : the spring, or early, 

 are the long purple and long white ; the white 

 tuniip and pink ; the yellow turnip and round 

 brown, being autumn sorts ; and the white 

 Spanish, oblong brown, and black Spanish, win- 

 ter sorts. All the varieties are easily raised on 

 light mellow soils. 



Horse Radish (cochlearia armoracia). This 

 is a perennial plant, growing wild in marshy 

 places, and by the sides of ditches, in some parts 

 of England. The radical leaves are large, ob- 

 long, crenate ; the stalk-leaves long, lanceolated, 

 and toothed, or cut ; the root is large and fleshy ; 

 the pods elliptical. This plant has' been long 

 cultivated in g;irdons for the sake of its root, 



