OEIGIN AND HISTOKY OF OUR GARDEN VEGETABLES. 347 



Eadish. 



The Eadish was known to the Greeks as Raphanos, and to the 

 Eonians as Baplianus and Radicola, " httle root." The Kerb has been 

 cultivated from time immemoriah Perhaps tlie earhest allusion occurs 

 in Herodotus account of the building of the great pyramid of Egypt. 



Fig. 121. — Boots and Tubers of the Potato Plant, after Clusius. 

 {Gard. Chron.) 



He says : "On the pyramid is shown an inscription in Egyptian 

 3haracters stating how much w^as expended in radishes, onions, and 

 prlic for the workmen, which amounted to one thousand six hundred 

 lalents of silvier." 



PHny speaks of several varieties, but one, the " wild," clearly refers 

 0 the horseradish. " The Syrian is pretty nearly the mildest and the 



* Herodotus was born 484 B.C. 



