132 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
sprang from the moisture. The real meaning of this fable may point to the labour 
and toil required to bring the plant into cultivation. The Romans were in the habit 
of eating the Cabbage either boiled or raw with vinegar. Pliny relates that in Italy 
Cabbages of such a size were grown that the table of a poor man would scarcely support 
one. He adds that as an article of diet they were going out of favour, owing to the 
quantity of oil necessary to render them palatable, from which we may conclude that 
they were eaten as a salad. The early sprouts were much esteemed, but, according to 
Pliny, were rejected by the epicure Apicius and by Drusus, who was reprimanded by 
his father Tiberius for his fastidious taste. Pliny mentions several kinds of Cabbages, 
one of which—most probably the Wild Cabbage—was frequently put into casks which 
had recently contained oil, closely corked, and then sent to a distance, or used on long 
voyages as a vegetable food. The Cabbage—which name comes from the old French 
word cab, a head—was first grown in Britain by the Saxons, with whom it was a 
favourite, and perhaps the only garden vegetable they cultivated. It appears that a 
controversy arose a short time ago regarding the introduction of the Cabbage, some 
writers contending that it was unknown until the sixteenth century, while others give 
it a much earlier date. Sir Anthony Ashley, of Wiburg St. Giles, Dorsetshire, has 
sculptured on his tombstone a Cabbage, to commemorate the circumstance of his having 
been the first to plant and cultivate this vegetable in England ; but this was the Round- 
headed or Summer Cabbage, and not the old Colewort, which was known long before 
this time, and mentioned in several monastic records. Gerarde knew several varieties 
of Cabbage, and in an edition of his “ Historie of Plantes,” dated 1636, he describes 
very accurately the different kinds of Cabbages and Cauliflowers, all of which have their 
origin in the common Cabbage. In 1619 Cauliflowers fetched in the London market 
the high price of ls. 6d. or 2s. each. Gerarde says: “The swollen Colewort I received 
of a worshipful merchant of London, Master Nicholas Lete, who brought the seed 
thereof out of France.” It was a favourite saying of Dr. Johnson, that of all flowers 
in the garden there was “none to compare to the Cauliflower.” In Scotland the 
introduction of the Cabbage is commonly attributed to the soldiers of Cromwell’s 
army; but in Mr. Johnson’s “ Useful Plants of Great Britain,” a very valuable and 
reliable book, the notion is contradicted, and an observation made that long before 
Cromwell's time Kail is mentioned in the old songs and traditions of the country. 
Kail yards were to be found round Scottish houses long before the Commonwealth ; 
and there was 
“ Cauld Kail in Aberdeen, 
An’ castocks in Stra’bogie,” 
centuries before the Roundheads crossed the Border. The varieties of the Cabbage are 
very numerous, and the modes of cultivation equally various. The Cauliflower is 
simply a Cabbage with its flowering portion more largely developed than in the ordi- 
nary plant. It sometimes attains an enormous size, and may perhaps be the specimen 
spoken of by Pliny for its great dimensions. The Red Cabbage used for pickling seems 
to have been known to the Romans. The vegetable known in Germany by the name 
of Kohl-rabi is a variety of Cabbage, the stem of which is alone eaten cut into thin 
strips and boiled. In the form of Sauer Kraut the Germans consume large quantities 
of Cabbage : it is prepared by laying the vegetable in layers in a tub with salt and a 
little oil between each; fermentation takes place, and the mass is not considered in 
perfection until it is entirely decomposed, giving out to English noses a most unpleasant 
odour; it is then served up with vinegar, and highly relished by the true German 
palate. There is but little nutritive matter in Cabbages, as might be imagined, but, in 
common with most other vegetable food, they form a very important addition to a 
