BRASSICA. DRABA. 35 



1750, and formerly cultivated in the district, by a few gentlemen- 

 farmers, for fodder ; but the crop was not found to answer, and its 

 cultivation has been relinquished. See Bailey and Cully's View, 

 p. 108 ; and Kerr's Berw. p. 284. — Numerous varieties are reared 

 in our gardens. 



2. Brassica campestris. The jautabaga or gturttSft Curntp.— 

 Cultivated to a large extent, and much esteemed as winter and spring 

 fodder for cattle. Its cultivation was not general until after the 

 commencement of the present century. Two varieties have more 

 recently been introduced, viz. the Green-top Swede, and Laing's Bor- 

 der-Swede. 



3. Brassica rapa, Decand. Syst. 590. C{)e Eunttp.— Introduced 

 into our district just a century ago ; and nowhere now is there a 

 greater breadth of Turnips annually sown, nor anywhere is the mode 

 of raising them better understood. The principal varieties are the 

 Common-Globe, the Green-top Globe, the Aberdeen- Yellow, and the 

 Imperial Border-yellow. 



4. Brassica napus. 9£lape. — Cultivated for fodder to sheep, but 

 not generally. As of other cultivated plants, the native country of 

 the Rape has not been discovered. Link has well said : " The ori- 

 ginal native country of many cultivated plants cannot now be deter- 

 mined by empirical proof, but only by rational investigation. Thus 

 Rape is no longer met with in its wild state, but when we adduce 

 proof from all extra- European countries that it is not indigenous to 

 them, we must conclude that it is of European origin, although its 

 wild state has disappeared through cultivation." Rep. on Botany 

 (Ray Soc. 1849), p. 319. 



43. SiNAPis ARVENSis. OTiltl iiHuiStarU. — Corn-fields, too com- 

 mon. June-July. — The seeds, under the name of ^l)ixti, are given 

 as a favourite food to the Linnet. J. Hardy. 



44. S. ALBA. White Mustard. — Corn-fields, common. June- 

 July. 



45. S. TENUiFOLiA = Diplotaxis tenuifolia. — On the walls of 

 Berwick, John Ray. It grows still on the Brass-mount. June- 

 Oct. 



46. Raphanus RAPHANiSTRUM. Ci^t JtluiTff). — A noisome wccd 

 in cultivated fields. In Berwickshire the swollen joints of the pods 

 are called tratopi^. The seeds and pods are eaten by the cushat. J. 

 Hardy. Bees are very fond of the flowers of this and of the wild 

 mustards. 



47. Draba verna. Earth-capped dikes and sandy banks ex- 

 posed to the sun and often bare of other vegetation. April. — A 

 favourite little flower, for it was my first essay in botany to determine 

 its name, and I well remember the difficulty of the task*. Thence 



* " On the old bridge at Eshing we were delighted to see a whole colony 

 of that lovely little flower, Draba verna. Although it was the first time I 

 had seen this beautiful forerunner of spring, it seemed, from the quantity 



D 2 



