the desire to eat them again, are the three great matters which have been 
discussed by our Princes for four days past. Some ladies even after 
having supped at the Royal table, and well supped too, returning to their 
own homes, at the risk of suffering from indigestion, will again eat peas 
before going to bed. It is both a fashion and a madness.” 
Botanists consider that some of the round, smooth seeded field peas 
with colored seed coats most closely resemble the wild ancestral species. 
DeCandolle believes western Asia was probably the original home of the 
pea, as there is every reason to believe its cultivation in eastern and 
southern Asia is comparatively recent. The Swiss lake dwellers of the 
Bronze Age had a small variety of pea said to somewhat resemble the 
"wild” field pea of southern Europe, and this is probably the earliest 
record of the cultivation of peas we possess. The writer has a large 
collection of peas, including many wild species and varieties from western 
and central Asia. From a study of these it appears most likely that our 
cultivated varieties arose from several wild forms belonging to the same 
species. 
In contrast to the pea, cabbage, lettuce, and corn, cultivated asparagus 
is readily identified with its wild ancestor, a plant that to-day covers the 
waste steppes of south Russia by the billions, furnishing pasturage for 
thousands of horses and cattle. Although grown for over 2,000 years as 
a vegetable, there is very little distinction between the modern “most 
improved” varieties and those from these wild pasture lands. Why some 
plants such as this vary but little while others vary greatly is still one 
of the unsolved mysteries of heredity and variation. 
Often associated in the dinner courses with such nutritious vegetables 
as peas and potatoes, are greens and buttered beets, these latter serving 
as roughage or "bulk.” As for greens, they seem to have been in vogue 
from time immemorial and to have consisted of innumerable early spring 
plants that are tender, non-poisonous and at all eatable. Burdock, dande- 
lion, lamb’s quarter, wild mustard, and spinach are examples of the best 
known. The chards are beets with slender roots and large leaves, often 
with thick midribs. Together with the common red beet and the sugar 
beet, they trace their ancestry back to the common wild beet of Europe 
and Asia, although some authorities believe the chard to have come from 
a separate species, Beta Cicla L. This is often regarded as a form of 
B. vulgaris. Chard is of ancient cultivation, but the beet root was in all 
probability not eaten by the Greeks and Romans. In fact, beet roots as 
vegetables were little known in England as late as 1597. Lobel, writing 
in 1576, describes the turnip-rooted beet as "within and without wholly 
red, suffused with bloody gore, sweeter to the taste.” Gerarde in his 
"Ilerball” (1597) writes: “What might be made of the red and beautifull 
roote (which is to be preferred before the leaves, as well in beautie as 
in goodnesse), I referre vnto the curious and cunning cooke, who no 
doubt, when he hath had the view thereof, and is assured that it is both 
good and holesome, will make thereof many and divers dishes both faire 
and good.” The wfild beet is a perennial, while the cultivated forms are 
biennials. The broad, flat-ribbed form of chard is of modern origin, 
