September 14, 1871. ] 



JOUBNAIi OF HOETIODLTOEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



201 



in hedges and thickets, and in some districts is very abnndaut, 

 BO that the country people often collect the young shoots for 

 use as a green vegetable. Hop tops, as they are called, are by 

 no means an uncommon dish in some rural districts ; indeed 

 the young shoots, which are frequently removed from the culti- 

 vated plants to enable the remaining ones to grow stronger, are 

 often collected as food ; they have been said to form a good 

 anbstitate for Asparagus; our "own experience, however, teaches 

 as that the latter is many times preferable, though Hop tops, 

 when blanched by covering them with earth, and when properly 

 cooked, make a really good dish. A much better vegetable, 

 iowever, is afforded by the young shoots of Ornithogalum 

 pyrenaicum, a plant belonging to the same natural family as 

 the true Asparagus — namely, the Liliacefe, and growing in 

 woods and copses in Somerset, Wilts, Gloucester, Bedford, and 

 Sussex. In the neighbourhood of Bath these young shoots are 

 regularly collected in spring, tied in bundles, and taken into 

 the markets, where they are sold under the name of French 

 Asparagus; they are almost -equal in flavour to Asparagus 

 proper, and are somewhat equal in appearance, with the excep- 

 tion that the individual shoots are much more slender, seldom 

 or never exceeding the thickness of a cedar pencil ; this is, no 

 doubt, the principal drawback to their more genera! use, but 

 nnder a system of cultivation the flavour might be improved 

 and the size enlarged. The bulbs of another species, 0. um- 

 bellatum, the Star of Bethlehem, are, when boiled, very nutri- 

 tious and wholesome, and are eaten as food in Palestine. The 

 Onion (Allium Oepa) is another well-known representative of 

 ■the same family to which the above belong, but the Chives 

 '(A. Sehoenopraaum) is a comparatively rare plant in England, 

 and is consequently but little known ; the leaves, however, 

 form an excellent addition to salads, and are used in France 

 for flavouring soups. The Black Bryony (Tamus communis), 

 the only British representative of the Dioscoreaceaj, the family 

 to which the edible Yams of the tropica belong, baa tubers 

 similar to the Yam, but they are too acrid for use as food. The 

 young shoots, however, after soaking in hot water, and Iheu 

 boiling them for some time, are said to taste like Asparagus, 

 and are used in Greece as a vegetable. One of the most neg- 

 lected, and certainly one' of-tbe most common of our British 

 plants, is the Stinging Nettle (Urtiea dioica) ; three species are 

 known in thia country, but the one mentioned ia perhaps the 

 most common. Many country people believe in Nettle-tea as 

 a useful spring medicine, and not a few boil and eat them as a 

 green vegetable ; they were, in former times, grown in Scotland 

 as a potherb, and if forced and blanched by earthing-up in a 

 similar manner to Asparagus and S«a-kale, the young tops 

 ■make a very good dish. In Belgium, Germany, and other parts 

 of Continental Europe, Nettles are much more generally used 

 as food than they are with us. 



The Sea Beet (Beta maritima) is a plant growing on many 

 parts of oar coast. It belongs to the same natural family as 

 the Spinach — namely, the Chenopodiaceae, and is probably the 

 original form of the cultivated Beet and Mangold Wurzel. The 

 leaves are large, and when boiled resemble Spinach in flavour ; 

 the plant grows naturally on chalk, but is much improved by 

 being grown in garden ground ; and, if planted in rich soil, 

 the leaves are finer, and the flavour ia scarcely distinguishable 

 from that of Spinach. A regular supply can also be obtained 

 until late in the season, by gathering the leaves in succession 

 as they grow. In many parts of Ireland they are collected by 

 the poor and eaten as food. Now that the cultivated Beet is 

 being grown in this country to some extent for sugar-making, 

 it ia well worth consideration whether the leaves might not be 

 •made a really useful and marketable green vegetable. Many other 

 useful plants belonging to the Cbenopodiacefe, and growing 

 wild in Britain, have been used at diiJerent times for food. The 

 Good King Henry (Chenopodium Bonus-Henricas), for instance, 

 was at one time very generally cultivated in gardens as a pot- 

 herb, and ia still, we believe, grown for this purpose in Lincoln- 

 shire under the name of " iUtercury." It forma a wholesome 

 green vegetable of the character of Spinach, and the young 

 shoots are said to make an excellent addition to soups, stews, cfcc. 



While writing, my attention has been drawn to a note in a 

 contemporary on the value of the Charlock (Sinapis arvensi?) 

 as a green vegetable. One correspondent saya that he partook 

 -of it with roast veal, and that it came to table aa a fine-coloured 

 and moat tender green, and he feels certain that numbers would 

 prefer it from its appearance and flavour, and consider it a 

 ■delicate vegetable, if they were not aware of its origin. It is a 

 most common plant, and if cultivated in gardens, there is no 

 doubt it would be greatly improved. 



The plants mentioned in this article are only a few out of 

 the many British species that might be made available for 

 culinary purposes — some as really marketable articles, and 

 others for use in times of scarcity. Space will not admit of 

 our referring in detail to any more than we have done ; but we 

 will conclude by simply mentioning the names of a few belong- 

 ing to different natural families as indications that there is a 

 wide field for experiments, and that our subject is far from 

 being exhausted — viz., leaves of Borage (Borago officinalis), 

 young shoots of Eampion (Campanula Eapunculus), young 

 shoots of Cow Parsnip (Heracleum Sphondylium), Dead Nettle 

 (Lamium album). 



The natural order CompositEe, to which the Jerusalem Arti- 

 choke (Heliauthua tuberosua), the common Artichoke (Cynara 

 Soolymus), and the Cardoon (C. Cardunculus) belong, includes 

 many other plants which ought to be used ; for instance, tha 

 peeled stalks of the Burdock (Arctium Lappa), leaves of Chicory 

 (Cichoriumlntybus), blanched leaves of Dandelion (Taraxacum 

 officinale), young stalks of Salsaty (Tragopogonporrifolius), &c. 

 — John E. Jackson, A.LS. — {Food Journal ) 



BICTON.— No. I. 

 The Besidence op Bakoness Eolle. 



" Btjketon, now Bickton, was by Kinge Henry I. given unto 

 John Janitor, soe called by his office, which was to keepe the 

 goole, or prison, for malefactors within the county of Devon." 

 We cannot follow all the changes of proprietorship, but at the 

 close of the reign of Eichard II., Bioton passed into the pos- 

 session of Sir Eobert Dennys " whoe newe bnilded the same, 

 makinge it his principall place of his abode, and made a parke 

 for deere, and addinge divers commodities and pleasures there- 

 unto." His grand-daughter married to " Sir Henry Eolle the 

 younger, who had issue by her Dennys Eolle, Eaqnier, the nowe 

 possessor thereof." This was written about the year 1630 by Sir 

 William Pole, and ho adds, " the tenure of Bioton to keepe the 

 gool of the county, which belongeth hereditaryly unto the same 

 place," continued until 1787, when it was exonerated, and 

 very wisely, for we never visited any estate in the British Isles 

 less appropriate for the imprisonment of malefactors — anyone 

 sure of being confined within the park-circuit of Bictou would 

 have an irresistible temptation to commit a felony. 



This noble domain became famous for its gardens and arbo- 

 retum more than forty years since, entirely in consequence of 

 Lady KoUe's taste and liberality. It ia situated to the north o£ 

 the road between Sidmouth and Exmouth, and we were ad- 

 mitted through the eastern entrance. The road here passes 

 up the somewhat too-much extolled avenue of Araucaria im- 

 brioata. There are fifty of this Conifer, twenty-five on each 

 side, and very fine specimens, but they are not avenue trees. 

 An avenue should aSoxA shade and shelter, and arching over- 

 head be as a graceful, noble gallery leading to the mansion. 

 The Araucaria ia too formal, is all straight lines, and only 

 looks well when flanked by densely, lighter-tinted trees. This 

 avenue was planted on level ground by the late Mr. James 

 Veitoh more than thirty years since, and was for some time after- 

 wards under his siiperiutendence, as well as thePinetnm. Had 

 the Arauoariaa been allowed to remain on the level ground 

 their appearance would not only have been more natural, but 

 they would also be in a much healthier state. Conifers are 

 better not planted on mounds, and digging or forking amongst 

 their roots, as was formerly the practice in this Araucaria 

 avenue, cannot be condemned too much. Its continuance would 

 have checked the growth of the trees, and it will even now 

 require many top-dressings and mulchings to restore them to a 

 healthy state. Mulching in summer insures the soil being 

 kept in a moist and healthy condition, so as to encourage the 

 formation and growth of fibrous surface roots. Nothing can 

 be more suitable for mulching than short grass, such as the 

 sweepings of a well-kept lawn, laid on about 2 inches thick, 

 and repeated as often as it may be required. 



Passing first to the Pinetum, we were prepared from the cata- 

 logue entitled " Hortus Lignosua Bictonensis," to find it one of 

 the most extensive and best-arranged private collections in 

 this country, or, perhaps, -in Europe, and we were not dis- 

 appointed. It was originally designed and furnished by Lady 

 Eolle most munificently, the arrangement, we believe, having 

 been under the superintendence ol the late Mr. Loudon, the 

 working plans he furnished being very skilfully carried out by 

 the late Mr. Glendinning, who was at that time head gardener 

 at Bicton. The formation of the lake adjoining was also carried 

 out by him under Lady EoUe's directions, at a cost of many 



