



F;j-«. -VF/.— Old Font in Beddington Church. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



GARDEN VEGETALS. 



" Mala copia quando 

 yEgrum solicitat stomachum ; cum rapula plenus 

 Atque acidas mavult inultas." — Horace, Satira ii. 



WITHOUT fresh vegetals the human body cannot be preserved 

 in health ; and in long sea-voyages, for the want of lime- 

 juice, lemon-juice, or fresh vegetals, scurvy was formerly more terrible 

 than battle : as many sailors perished then from disease from want of 

 fresh vegetals, as are now lost by sending rotten vessels to sea to 

 obtain the money for which they are insured. 



SALAD PLANTS. 



A salad of some kind should be grown for every day in the year, 

 and this requires attention and care, as the summer's fiery blast or 

 the wintry chills may destroy the hopes of the gardener. 



Of all salading plants the Water-cress {Nasturtium officinale) is 

 the most valuable. It is in use all the year round ; it can be eaten 

 with every meal, its flavour is unexceptionable, its digestibility satis- 

 factory, it is warm and grateful to the stomach, and there are very 

 few persons to whom it is distasteful. It requires, however, special 

 care for its successful culture. It prefers the solid gravel bottom of 

 a stream, with pure spring water from the depths of the earth to run 

 over it. It may be planted at any time of the year by taking a" 



