88 THE BOOK OF HERBS 



delighted him so much " that he desired the same to be 

 brought unto him everye yeare out of Germanic." Evelyn 

 found them "hot and moist . . . exceedingly whole- 

 some, nourishing and delicate . . . and so valued by the 

 Emperor Tiberius that he accepted them for tribute " — 

 a point that Gerarde's statement hardly brought out. 

 " This excellent root is seldom eaten raw, but being 

 boil'd, stew'd, roasted under the Embers, bak'd in Pies 

 whole, slic'd or in Pulp, is very acceptable to all Palates. 

 'Tis reported they were heretofore something bitter, 

 see what culture and education effects." On the top of 

 these congratulations, perhaps it is unkind to say the 

 reported bitterness has a very mythical sound, for long 

 before Evelyn's time, the Dutch name for skirret was 

 Suycker wortelen (sugar root), and that Marcgrave 

 has extracted " fine white sugar, little inferior to that of 

 the cane" from it. But from Turner's account there 

 seems to have been formerly some confusion as to the 

 identity of the plant, and one claimant to the title 

 was somewhat bitter, so perhaps this was the cause of 

 the remarks in Acetaria. In Scotland, Skirrets were 

 called Crummock. Though few people seem to have 

 appreciated them so much as did our ancestors, they 

 were till lately sometimes boiled and sent to the table, 

 but are now hardly ever seen. 



Smallage {A-pium gra-ueolens\ 



Smallage is merely wild celery, and all that is 

 interesting about it is Parkinson's description of his first 

 making acquaintance with sweet smallage — our celery, 

 which has been already quoted. He merely says of 

 ordinary smallage that it is " somewhat like Parsley, but 

 greater, greener and more bitter." It grows wild in 

 moist grounds, but is also planted in gardens, and 

 although "his evil taste and savour, doth cause it 



