KITCHEN GARDENING UNDER JAMES I. 123 



the sisarum or siser " of the ancients," as it agreed with the 

 description given by Dioscorides, " who saith it is ' pleasant to 

 the pallate,' and he sheweth plainely that it hath a nerve or 

 string in the roote which is to be taken away after boyling, 

 that the rest may be eaten with the more pleasure, and such 

 hath this skirret and no other roote that either then was or 

 now is edible." Some of Parkinson's contemporaries disagreed, 

 and thought the parsnip was the true siser, and the matter is 

 still undecided. The native place of the plant is also doubtful, 

 though probably China. Another theory is that it came from 

 Siberia, and through Germany became known to the ancients. 

 It was grown in England in Tudor times, and does not appear 

 to have been of recent introduction. The word " Skirret " 

 means the same as the Danish name of the plant sokeret, or 

 sugar root. 1 



Both the ordinary artichoke (Cynara Scolymus) and the 

 cardoon {Cynara Cardunculus) were grown, but the latter were 

 never as popular in England as they were abroad, probably 

 because " we cannot yet find the true manner of dressing them, 

 that our country may take delight therein." 2 The artichokes 

 grown in England were considered the best, and plants were 

 exported to Italy, France, and the Low Countries. 



Greater attention was paid to the culture of melons. All 

 gardening books give instructions for growing them, apparently 

 without great success, for Parkinson is honest enough to say : 

 " Muske melons have been begun to be nursed up, but of late 

 dayes in this Land, wherin although many have tried and en- 

 deavoured to bring them to perfection, yet few have attained 

 unto it." The seeds were planted in April, in a hotbed, and 

 carefully covered with straw ; when they had sprung up they 

 were given an hour's sun in the morning, and re-covered, then, 

 when they had " gotten four leaves," are planted on a well- 

 manured sloping bank in a sunny sheltered place, and covered 

 with a pot, or some shelter, until they were well grown. Sir 

 Hugh Piatt writes : " When your mellons are as big as Tennis 

 balls, then if you nip off at a joynt, all the shoots that are 



1 De Candolle, Origin of Cultivated Plants. 



2 Parkinson. "1 oz.'of Cardone " seed in 1761 cost is. (MSS. 

 Household Accounts, Stonor). 



