young, this sort is tolerably good ; but if the 
roots are left to grow large, they become 
stringy, rank, and unfit for use. 
Turnep-roots are reputed to relax the 
bowels, and to sweeten the blood ; to be 
hurtful to pregnant and hysterical women, 
and to all who are subject to flatulencies. 
The juice well fermented, affords by distilla- 
tion an ardent spirit. The rind is acrimo- 
nious. The tender tops boiled are frequently 
eaten in the spring as greens with meat. 
8. The cabbage, as it is found in its wild 
state on the sea-shores of Britain, has the 
stem-leaves very much waved, and variously 
indented ; the colour sea-green, frequently 
with a mixture of purple ; the lower ones 
somewhat ovate and sessile; the upper al- 
most linear. The flowers are large; the 
leaflets of the calyx ovate, broad, and yel- 
low; the siliques short and swelling. 
Early in the spring the sea-cabbage is pre- 
ferable" to the cultivated sorts; but when it 
is gathered on the coast, it must be boiled in 
two waters, to take away the saltness. When 
old it is said to occasion giddiness. The roots 
may also be eaten, but they are not so ten- 
der as those of the turnep and navew. All 
the different varieties of garden cabbage ori- 
ginate from this. 
These varieties may, it should seem, be 
reduced to three general divisions : the first 
comprehending those which grow in the na- 
tural way, without forming the leaves or 
stalks into a head. This section or division, 
besides the sea cabbage or wild colewort, 
would comprehend the green colewort, the 
borecoles, and turnep cabbage. Secondly, 
those which form the leaves into a head, as 
the white cabbage, the red, the savoy, &c. 
Thirdly, those which form their stalks into a 
head, as the cauliflower, and the different 
varieties of broccoli. The first section might 
be subdivided into the wild, with broad leaves, 
and an even stem; the turnep cabbage, with 
broad leaves, and a protuberant stem ; and 
the borecoles, with fine-cut leaves, and an 
even stem. The second section contains the 
cabbages commonly so called: as the red; 
the numerous varieties of the white, such as 
the sugar-loaf, the early, the foreign musk, 
the small Russia, the large-sided, the fiat- 
topped, the Yorkshire, Scotch, American, 
&c. &c. ; and those with wrinkled leaves, as 
the common savoy, the green savoy, &c. Of 
the borecoles in tiie first, and the broccoli in 
the third section, there are also variations in 
colour, the purple and the w hite. 
The common colewort, or Dorsetshire 
kale, is now almost lost near London, where 
the markets are usually supplied with cab- 
bage-plants instead of them; these being 
more tender and delicate. The common 
colewort, indeed, is better able to resist the 
cold in severe winters ; but it is not good till 
it lias been pinched by frost; and our winters 
being generally temperate, cabbage-plants 
are now constantly brought to market ; 
which, if they are of the sugar-loaf kind, are 
the sw eetest greens from December to April 
yet known, the variegated kale excepted. 
The curled coleworts or borecoles are 
more generally esteemed than the common 
one, being like that so hardy as never to be 
injured by cold, and at the same time much 
more tender and delicate: these, however, 
are always sweeter in severe winters than in 
mild seasons. 
BRASSICA. 
Of the heading cabbages, the red is chiefly 
cultivated for pickling; the common white, 
Hat, long-sided, and savoy, for winter use. 
The musk cabbage is almost lost, though for 
eating it is one of the best we have. 
The early York and sugar-loaf cabbages 
are generally sown for summer use, and are 
commonly called Michaelmas cabbages. The 
Russian cabbage was formerly in much great- 
er esteem than at present, it being now only 
to be found in particular gentlemen’s gar- 
dens, and rarely brought to market. The 
other heading cabbages, together with many 
others, for it would be endless to enumerate 
all the varieties which are perpetually rising 
into fame, and falling into oblivion, are culti- 
vated chiefly for feeding cattle; for which 
they are certainly well adapted on strong 
lands ; but they are undoubtedly a very ex- 
hausting crop. 
The cauliflower w ; as first brought to Eng- 
land from the island of Cyprus, where it is in 
great perfection at present; but it is supposed 
it was originally brought thither from some 
other country: most of the old writers men- 
tion it to have been brought from that island 
to the different parts of Europe. Although 
this plant was cultivated in a few English gar- 
dens long since, yet it was not brought to 
any degree of perfection till about the year 
1080, at least not to be sold in the markets. 
Since the year 1700, the cauliflower has been 
so much improved in England, tliat such 
plants as before would have been greatly ad- 
mired, are at present little regarded. It has 
indeed been much more improved in Eng- 
land than in any other parts of Europe. In 
France they rarely have cauliflowers till near 
Michaelmas ; and Holland is generally sup- 
plied with them from England. In many 
parts of Germany they were not cultivated 
till within a few years past; and most parts 
of Europe are supplied with seeds from 
hence. 
Purple and white broccoli are only varie- 
ties of the cauliflower; for although with 
care they may be kept distinct, yet if they 
were to stand near each other for seed, they 
would probably intermix. When, however, 
these are cultivated with care, they may be 
kept distinct. The variations are not occa- 
sioned by soil, but by the mixture of the fa- 
rina of the anthers in the flowers ; those per- 
sons, therefore, who are curious to preserve 
them distinct, never suffer the different sorts 
to stand near each other for seed. 
9. Leaves oblong or oval, very like those 
of hound’s-tongue, blunt but smooth ; stem- 
leaves embracing, oblong, quite entire ; flow- 
ers, as in the common cabbage, yellow ; ca- 
lyx longer than the claws of the petals, 
w hence it gapes and is prominent betw een 
them; stamens longer; siliques a little com- 
pressed. Native of China. 
10. This is an annual plant, which, if sown 
in April, will flower in July, and perfect the 
seeds in October. It never closes the leaves 
to form a head, but growls open and loose, 
more like the w ild navew. This aort came 
from China, where it is cultivated as an escu- 
lent plant. There are two or three varieties 
of it, and it is as changeable as our common 
cabbage. 
1 1 . This species is a native of Siberia, and 
is an annual plant. The root is thin and 
fibrose. The stems numerous, growing 
oblique, tw’o feet or more in lengtlt, smooth, 
m 
and branching upwards; the leaves are ♦>'* 
dissimilar forms, but in general aie linear- 
lanceolate, thick, and alternate ; those outlie 
stalk generally dentated ; the denticles near- 
ly subulate. The shoots are leafy, proceed- 
ing from the axillas of the branches, so as to 
cause a kind of clustering appearance ; the 
flowers are pale-yellow. It is a plant which 
varies extremely in the appearance of its 
leaves. 
12. Root annual, fusiform; stems many, 
from a foot to eighteen inches high and 
more, round, smooth, sometimes having a, 
few hairs and small red dots, bright or glau- 
cous green; branches alternate ; flowers in a 
long, loose, terminating raceme ; peduncles 
alternate, round, smooth, one-flowered ; co- 
rollas yellow/with dark -yellow and green veins; 
siliques spreading, obtusely quadrangular. 
Native of the southern countries of Europe, 
in sandy fields, by way-sides, and on walls ; 
flowering from June to August. 
13. Root annual: stem angular, upright, 
branching, two feet high and more; leaves 
smooth, pulpy, with a leafy nerve, and three 
or four pair of pinnas, larger as they approach 
the nerve, confluent, oblong, acute, toothed ; 
the outer largest, ovate, or rhomboidal, often 
semibilid and semitrifid; calyx erect, livid, 
with the leaflets, especially two of them, gib- 
bous ; claw of the petals erect, long ; border 
broad, roundish, lemon-colour, with black 
veins, sometimes white ; siliques on short pe- 
duncles ; seeds round on one side and flat on 
the other. Native of Switzerland, Austria, 
and Piedmont. It was formerly much culti- 
vated in the gardens as a salad herb, but at 
present is little known, having been long re- 
jected on account of its strong ungrateful 
smell. It also stood in the list of medicinal 
plants, but is now seldom used, though it is 
reckoned a strong diuretic. 
14. Root annual, spindle-shaped; leaves 
lanceolate, pinnatilid-toothed, smooth above; 
stem hairy, branching ; racemes erect, ter- 
minating; corollas yellow, with darker veins; 
calyx cylindrical; but in the fruit it becomes 
inflated and permanent. It diflers from (he 
foregoing, in having a calyx under the fruit, 
inflated like a bladder ; leaves not lyrate but 
lanceolate; siliques hispid backward, not 
smooth ; calyxes permanent till the fruit is 
ripe, not deciduous. Native of Spain and 
Aleppo. 
15. Root perennial, somewhat woody, pe- 
netrating deep into walls ; stem a foot and a 
half high, branched, round, at bottom some- 
what woody and perennial ; leaves pinnatifid 
and jagged, smooth, spreading, having a dis- 
agreeable smell; petals rather large, twice 
the length of the calyx, yellow; the two 
glands on the outside of the lilaments are un- 
usually long, externally bent in at the top ; 
the other two shorter and roundish ; silique 
an inch and a half long, round, marked ou 
each side with a prominent line. 
It grows on old buildings and walls in many 
parts of England, as Yarmouth, Chester, &c. 
16. Root woody, perennial; root-leaves 
elliptic, obtuse, obscurely sinuate-angular ; 
petiole channelled, the length of the leaves ; 
stem round, striated, holLow, a cubit and <t 
half high, simple or a little branched ; stem- 
leaves few, distant, like the others, but oa 
shorter petioles, and scarcely angular ; flow- 
ers in umbels ; petals ovate, yellow, scarcely 
emarginate ; veins darker ; siliques tortuose. 
