HOW PLANTS HAVE BEEN IMPROVED BY MAN 157 



not enough. (4) Insect pests, which sometimes hurt 

 the trees of the wood, were kept off. (5) The tree 

 was regularly pruned, (6) Eoot-food was added to 

 the soil when required. 



4. In a similar way have our vegetables teen im- 

 proved. What a step, for example, from the wild 

 cabbage of the coasts of England to the many kinds 

 of cabbage and cauliflower that grow in our gardens ! 



5. How the parsnip of to-day was raised. The 



seed .of the wild parsnip of Eng- 

 land was sown in 1847 in an 

 English garden. The soil was 

 loose and rich ; and only the very 

 best of the seeds were saved from 

 the very best of the plants. Thi^ 

 choice of plant and seed was re- 

 peated, year after year, until the 

 spindly, tough, strong-flavoured 

 wild root became large and 

 sweet. Then the seed of this 

 Parsnip. garden-parsnip was sold all over 



the world by seedsmen. It is in this way also, that 

 we have improved the turnip, carrot, radish and 

 other vegetables. 



6. As knowledge grows, some of our natiye plants 

 may become garden vegetables. Our native spinach, 

 sometimes called New Zealand spinach, is already 

 used in this way.* Captain Cook made his men take 

 this vegetable twice a day. You must not think, how- 

 ever, that we can take any wild plant and grow it in 



*The Native Bower Spinach — a trailing plant very common on the 

 Victorian coast, is also eatable, but is not so good a variety as the New 

 Zealand Spinach, which is a native of New South Wales and Queensland. 



