THE VEGETABLE WORLD. 299 



the most accurate geographical investigations are wrecked, 

 when no definite historical records have been preserved 

 to us. 



What has been said of the Corn-plants, that the origin 

 of their Culture lies far back beyond historical time, holds 

 good also for most of our kitchen Vegetables and Fruits. 

 Nay, it may even be asserted that, with the smallest 

 possible exception, all the important cultivated plants have 

 been known to Man from time immemorial, and that, with 

 the exception of the Potato, no plant subsequently re- 

 claimed from the wild condition plays an important part in 

 our economy. 



Of all the influences of mankind upon the vegetable 

 world, one of the most beneficial is, without doubt, the con- 

 version which he has effected of the wild and often almost 

 inedible plants into the delicious ornaments of our table. 

 Even if the Apple, Pear and Cherry trees were originally 

 peculiar species, and have not been produced by gradual 

 improvement from the Crab and the wild Pear and Cherry, 

 there are still enough plants remaining to prove what great 

 power the art of Man has here exercised over Nature. 

 What resemblance has the Cauliflower, the Savoy, or the 

 Kohl-rabi, to the dry and nauseous, bitter-flavoured 

 Cole-wort, which is undoubtedly the parent of our de- 

 licious vegetables, since we can readily convert these again 

 into it by allowing them to run wild. Who, from the 

 comparison of the saccharine, delicate, orange-coloured 

 Carrot, with the woody spindle of the root of the wild 

 Carrot, would believe that they belong to one and the 

 same species? and still it is the case. In short, Man 

 can here essentially interfere to alter, in the development of 

 individual natural bodies, and as he can obtain from the 

 sanguinary beast of prey, from the Wild dog, the playful 



