Jane  23,  1904. 
jniniXAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
533 
WaysMe  Salad. 
During  the  .spring  and  early  summer,  our  British  ancp.stors 
ei  centuries  ago  were  busily  engaged  in  gathering  wild  plants 
tor  salads,  soups,  or  even  for  puddings,  that  might  be  useful  as 
food  and  medicine  too.  AVild  flowers  are  yet  plentiful  in  some 
places,  though  scarce  in  others  from  various  causes;  but  when 
so  great  a  part  of  Britain  was  woodland  or  open  country,  such 
plants  must  have  grown  in  profusion.  Hence,  folks  got  on 
fairly  well  without  the  vegetables  now  abundant,  that 
are  raised  in  gardens.  Tliere  cannot  be  a  doubt  many  of  our 
native  plants  have  useful  qualities,  indeed  they  have  not  quite 
lost  their  old  repute,  and  villagers  may  still  be  seen  intent  upon 
gathering  herbs,  to  be  cooked  or  eaten  raw  as  a  spring  iihysic. 
Sometimes  we  think  that  sundi’y  mistakes  must  have  now  and 
then  occurred  when  plants  were  brmight  in  by  persons  who  had 
no  botanical  knowledge,  especially  if  children  were  sent  out  to 
gather,  and  unsuitable  species  got  mixed  with  those  really 
wanted.  Again,  popular  belief  in  their  excellence  led  our 
ancestors  to  eat  several  .species,  to  which  we  should  take  excep¬ 
tion  on  the  ground  of  their  disagreeable  taste,  or  because  it 
was  likely  they  might  prove  injurious. 
The  first  salad  of  the  year,  one  that  could  be  obtained  with- 
seen  poor  women  carrying  Pennyroyal  or  “Pudding-grass,  ' 
which  they  had  picked  off  the  marshes  about  Alile  End,  to  sell 
them  in  the  market  at  Cheapside. 
If  the  statement  is  con-ect,  people  have  been  daring  in  the 
pa.st.  They  .sometimes  boiled  for  the  table  the  leaves  of  the 
Celery-leaved  Crowfoot,  a  plant  deadly  poi.sonous.  Probably 
this  operation  rendered  it  comparatively  harmle.ss,  as  drying 
doe.s  other  acrid  Crowfoots ;  thus,  Buttercups,  wliich  cattle 
avoid  while  growing,  are  eaten  without  hurt  when  turned  into 
hay.  I’he  unopened  buds  of  a  kindred  plant,  the  Marsh  Mari¬ 
gold,'  one  of  the  pioneers  of  spring,  the  “  Mary-bud  ”  of 
Shakespeare,  were  pickled  in  vinegar,  which  les.sened  their 
acrid  properties. 
Amongst  the  plants  of  spring,  two  species  are  particularly 
notable,  as  being  abundant  everyAvhere,  and  once  largely  used 
for  salads.  First  of  these. is  the  Dandelion,  which  had  also 
another  popular  name,  intimating  the  fact  that  its  diuretic 
powers  were  known.  But  the  other  name,  which  is  equivalent 
to  “  lion’s  tooth,’’  Air.  Friend  believes  was  not  given  becau.se 
of  any  re.semblance  tlie  leaf  had  to  the  tooth  of  the  quadruped ; 
he  thinks  its  value  medicinally  was  compared  to  ^at  of  the 
lion’s  tooth.  The  point  must  remain  doubtful.  Certainly,  the 
young  leaves  were  largely  eaten  raw,  and  the  French  people 
also  ate  the  smaller  roots  with  bread  and  butter.  If  blanched, 
A  collection  of  Cacti  shown  by  Messrs.  Cannell  at  the  Royal  Botanic  Society’s  Exhibition. 
out  ail}'  trouble  in  .some  places,  even  during  the  winter  months, 
was  the  common  AVatercress.  We  read  of  its  being  picked 
freely  from  the  suburban  ditclies  of  London,  'such  as  tho,se  about 
Tothill  Fields,  AA'estminster.  Our  ance.stors  ate  the  plant,  un¬ 
troubled  with  those  feai’s  of  any  disease  germs  lurking  upon  the 
leaves  which  cairse  apjarehension  to  us  moderns.  But  Water-' 
cress,  though  obtainable  at  all  .seasons,  was  chiefly  .sought  in 
the  spring,  to  be  eaten  as  a  remedy  against  “  humours,”  so 
called.  The  plant  was  sometimes  cooked,  not  a  practice  usual 
now.  It  does  not  .seem  to  have  been  cultivated  till  1808. 
Cress,  as  a  name,  was  given  to  a  variety  of  plants  beside  the 
true  Cres.ses ;  it  would  seem  the  duckweed  was  l  eckoned 
among.st,  a  plant  which,  like  the  AA’atercress,  might  be  gathered 
all  the  year  round  on  sheltered,  moi.st  places.  This  was  boiled 
for  the  table  as  greens,  and  also  macerated  in  oil  to  make  a 
medicament,  applied  to  relieve  pains  or  stiffness. 
Not  unfrequently,  those  who  were  gathering  AA'atercre.sses 
in  a  streamlet  came  ui50n  the  Brooklime  (Veronica  beccabunga). 
The  shoots  and  young  tops  were  eaten  for  salad,  they  are  rather 
succtdent  and  in  flavour  bitterish.  That  it  has  virtues  as  a 
blood  purifier  I  can  quite  Ijelieve,  but  its  pungency,  on  experi¬ 
ment,  I  found  disagreeable.  Not  .so  long  ago  the  sprigs  were 
sold  with  bunches  of  AVatercre.ss  in  some  parts  of  Scotland, 
being  called  “  AA’ater-purples.” 
Another  plant  that  our  ancestors  cooked,  and  we  presume 
relished,  in  spite  of  its  strong  taste,  was  the  Pennyroyal, 
smallest  of  our  Alints,  with  downy  leaves  and  purple  whorls  of 
flowers.  Our  ancestors  believed  it  to  be  a  herb  that  was  health¬ 
ful  and  strengthening  for  all,  and  in  .spite  of  its  very  strong 
flavour,  thej'  put  it  into  puddings.  Gerard  mentions  having 
the  Dandelion  was  supposed  to  resemble  Endive,  and  Loudon 
advi.ses  its  cultivation  in  gardens,  giving  it  a  red  soil,  removing 
the  flower  .stalks,  and  tying  it  up  so  as  to  blanch  it  effectually. 
The  villagers  formerly  dug  up  the  roots  and  stored  them  in 
barrels,  to  be  added  during  the  winter  months  to  their  stews. 
I  have  remarked  in  this  Journal  that  for  some  years  past  the 
Dandelion  has  occurred  in  greater  profusion  than  nsual  about 
the  fields  of  North  Kent. 
The  .second  spring  favourite  was  the  well-known  Stinging 
Nettle,  which  was  highly  esteemed  as  an  addition  to  stews.  It 
was  also  boiled  to  be  eaten  like  Spinach.  In  February  or  Alarch 
people  frequently  cut  the  young  tops,  and,  indeed,  they  are 
still  gathered  by  some  villagers,  who  take  them,  or  a  tea  made 
from  them,  to  ptirify  the  blood  at  that  season.  Soyer,  the  great 
cook,  commended  the  flavour  of  Nettle  leaves.  Going  bj’  the 
doctrine  of  like  curing  like,  it  was  formerly  supposed  that  a 
plant  able  to  irritate  the  skin  would,  if  infirsed,  cure  rashes  and 
sores.  Old  books  give  directions  for  growing  the  Nettle,  forcing 
it  to  get  Nettle  Kale  and  Nettle  Spinach  during  .Tanuary ;  they 
put  tlie  plant  in  a  hotbed,  sometimes  they  also  blanched  it  by 
covering  it  with  flower  pots.  The  Dead  or  Blind  Nettle  may 
have  been  now  and  then  plucked  instead  of  the  stinging  species 
for  table  u.se,  owing  to  the  re.semblance  of  the  leaves,  though 
the  flowers  are  markedly  different.  In  Sweden  the  Dead 
Netties  are  occasionalh'  cooked,  and  the  red  .species  (Lamium 
purpureum)  was  an  old-fashioned  remedy  in  England  for 
stopping  a  flow  of  blood. 
The  Treacle  Alustard,  Hedge  Garlic,  also  called  Jack-bj’-the- 
Hedge,  has  names  expressive  of  its  pungency  and  odour.  It  is 
a  showy  plant,  conspicuous  by  its  large  leave?  and  sh.owv  wljite 
