16 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



beareth a great round knop like a Turnep, the which groweth right under 

 the leaves, even hard upon the ground, and is white within, like a Turnep, 

 and is even so drest and prepared to be eaten." This, presumably, was 

 in Holland, about 1570. 



Matthiolus, in his " Commentary on Dioscorides " (1574), has a good 

 figure of Kohl-rabi under the name Brassica gongylodes. He says it is 

 cultivated in the gardens of Italy, and observes that the stem becomes 

 tuberous, like that of the rape (" cujus caulis rapi in morem extuberat "). 



A very poor specimen is figured in the " Historia Plantarum," generally 

 attributed to Dalechamp, printed at Lyon (Lugdunum). If anything can 

 be inferred from it, it would seem not to have been much cultivated in 

 France in 1586, for other and later figures are improvements. 



Gerard separates this kind from the Colewoortes or Cabbage tribe as 

 "Rape Cole," Caulorapum rotundum, and reproduces Matthiolus' figure, 

 adding a second, in which a few leafy shoots proceed from the axils of the 

 leaf -scars on the tuberous stem. This being oblong instead of globular, 

 he calls it C. longum, or Long Rape Cole. 



He gives as the countries of cultivation Italy, Spain, and some places 

 in Germany, omitting France. " They are accounted for daintie meate." 



There is another kind of cabbage with a peculiarly formed swollen 

 stem, being tapered at both ends, and called Chou Moellier blanc, or 

 the " white Marrow Cabbage." * 



"The Chou Moellier," Mr. Sutton tells me, "is used in France for 

 cattle food, and both leaves and stems are employed for this purpose, the 

 latter being chopped up. This is a favourite crop with some French 

 farmers." 



The stem swells to about four times the diameter at the base, then 

 tapers again at the summit. The foliage is that of the wild plant. 

 Pliny's description of the Pompeian cabbage seems to tally with this 

 as to the stem. 



The fact that the cabbage plant has a conspicuous and thick stem is 

 the reason why caulis (Latin for a " stem ") supplied the later name. 

 Thus Turner observes (1547) that the English name was Cole or Keele, 

 the Dutch Kol, the French Chatdes, and that the apothecaries of his day 

 actually called the plant Caulis. 



In a glossary of the fourteenth century called " Sinonoma Bartho- 

 lomei " it is said that Brassica was the name before transplanting ; after- 

 wards, as a garden vegetable, it was called Caulis. This was the official 

 name, corrupted into the English forms cole, coule, rede-coule, coole, and 

 reed-worte, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 



The Foliage. — The most important writer on the Cabbage among the 

 ancients is Pliny. He commences his chapter on the varieties as follows : — 

 u Cabbage and Coleworts, which at the present day are the most highly 

 esteemed of all the garden vegetables, were held in little repute among 

 the Greeks." But Cato, on the other hand, sings the wondrous praises 

 of the cabbage. He distinguishes three varieties : the first, a plant with 

 leaves wide open and a large stalk [the early Savoy Cabbage ?] ; a second, 

 with crisped leaves, to which he gives the name of apiaca [curled cole- 

 wort ?] ; and a third, with a thin stalk and a smooth, tender leaf, which 

 * Illustrations are given in present-day French catalogues. 



