OUR LOCAL FLORA: ITS ECONOMIC ASPECT. 147 
frequently met with wild in the hop districts of Kent and Sussex ; 
and, probably, it can be as well cultivated in South Devon, since 
here cold north-east winds prevail less than in Kent, where the 
more exposed hop plantations have often to be protected on their 
north-east side by stouter poles, and colegates, the hardiest variety 
of hop. The excessive humidity here may be a worse obstacle ; but 
then how are the two facts accounted for, that the hop is naturalized 
here, and that when cultivated it was successfully cultivated ? On 
France farm, in the parish of Stokenham, near Kingsbridge, hops 
were profitably grown from 1818 till his death, sometime after 
1830, by Mr. Case, who came from Sussex, and was afterwards 
agent to a relative of Sir Lydston Newman \ old residents in the 
neighbourhood remembering the fact well. In a wild state the 
hop flourishes well about Kingsbridge, as in the South Hams. 
Having cited the case of the hop as wild and common with us, 
yet absent from cultivation, it will be interesting by way of anti- 
thesis to refer to the case of the Cabbage, of which we have no 
wild species in our Flora, but under cultivation no plant more in 
profusion. Brassica oleracea, wild cabbage, is indeed in Great 
Britain extinct, except on sea-cliffs on some parts of the south 
coast. Yet there are plenty of escapes from cultivation, and it is 
the parent of all the varieties of cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels 
sprouts, red cabbage, Savoy cabbage, and the like. Our ancestors, 
the Saxons, grew it ; and a thousand years ago less land was culti- 
vated than now. Was it in the olden times more common in its 
wild state, or has it never really become naturalized 1 Most likely 
the latter, hardy and easy of growth as it is in our fields and 
kitchen-gardens. Its grossness makes its unable to subsist on 
hungry uncultivated land. On sea-cliffs it would be fed by the 
salts of potash which enter into the composition of maritime 
plants, all very succulent, as we see in the case of the sea-weeds, 
the samphire, sea-rockets, &c, the sea being, as Professor Huxley 
has contended, of greater richness, acre for acre, than the land. 
It has been found that the red cabbage of neglected gardens of the 
seaside passes back again in a few generations to the condition of 
the wild cabbage, and eventually dies out. In this case, therefore, 
we have an illustration of Mr. Darwin's remark, " We may safely 
conclude that very many of the most strongly-marked domestic 
varieties could not possibly live in a wild state." 
The seeds of the black and white Mustard (Sinapis nigra and 
l 2 
