Part 15

Horse-radish is also in considerable repute as a medicine, and is a powerful stimulant, whether externally or internally applied. Notwithstanding this, we are informed by Dr. Withering, that an infusion of horseradish in cold milk is one of the best and safest cosmetics that are known.

SILIQUOSA.

186. _COMMON MUSTARD is made from the powdered seeds of a plant_ (Sinapis nigra), _which grows wild in corn-fields and by road sides, in most parts of England, and is known by its yellow cruciform flowers, with expanding calyx, and its pods being smooth, square, and close to the stem._

In light and otherwise barren lands mustard is cultivated to great advantage. That which is produced in the county of Durham has much celebrity; though the powdered seeds of charlock have, in many instances, been substituted, and sold in place of it. Mustard is in daily use at our tables, and the _seeds_, whole or bruised, are employed in pickles, and for numerous other culinary purposes. These seeds yield, on pressure, a considerable quantity of oil, which is soft and insipid to the taste, and partakes but little of the acrimony of the plant.

Different preparations of mustard are sometimes used in medicine. The seeds, taken internally, are serviceable in asthma, rheumatism, and palsy. Cataplasms of mustard are employed, on account of its stimulating properties, on benumbed or paralytic limbs. An infusion of the powdered seeds, taken in considerable quantity, operates as an emetic, and, in smaller quantity, is an useful aperient and diuretic.

187. _RAPE and COLE SEED_ (Brassica napus) _are different varieties of a plant with yellow cruciform flowers and, spindle-shaped root, which grows wild upon ditch banks, and amongst corn._

_This plant is distinguished from others of the same tribe by its roots being a regular continuation of the stem._

In several parts of England rape and cole seed are sown intermixed, the plants being distinguishable in their growth by the cole exceeding the rape in height, being more soft and tender, and less branched and bushy. When sown separately the cole is usually, though not always, consumed as food for sheep and cattle; and the rape is allowed to stand for seed. For the cultivation of rape the soil ought to be rich and deep.

The harvest commences about the month of August; and as the seed, when in a state of maturity, is easily shed, it is customary, in some places, to thresh the plants on a large cloth in the field. Rape-cloths are sometimes so large as to measure twenty yards square, and to weigh more than half a ton. The threshing is almost always considered a sort of festival, at which a great portion of the neighbours attend, in order to expedite the work; and they are repaid by the good cheer of their brother farmer. In other places the rape is carried on a cloth, in a low kind of waggon, to be threshed out of the field.

_Oil_ is obtained from rape-seed by pressure. This is used, in large quantities, by clothiers and others. It is also used in medicine; and for making the soap called green soap. It is likewise useful for various purposes in domestic life, and particularly for burning in lamps; but it is apt to become rancid, though there are means of purifying it. After the oil has been extracted, the refuse is called _oil-cake_, and is employed for the fattening of oxen; and, in Norfolk, is sometimes broken to pieces, and strewed upon the land as manure. The _roots_ of rape plants may be eaten like turnips, but they have a stronger taste. The _stalks_, or haulm, if strong, may be advantageously employed in the formation of the enclosing fences of farm-yards. They are, however, generally burnt; and in some parts of the country, the ashes, which are equal in quality to the best pot-ashes, are collected together and sold.

188. _The TURNIP_ (Brassica rapa) _is a well-known edible root, which is cultivated to great extent in almost every part of England._

To the farmer turnips are, in various particulars, a most valuable crop. They afford a profitable intervening crop with corn. Both the _tops_ and _roots_ are eaten by sheep. Horses and cattle may be advantageously fed upon the roots during winter; but the milk of cows receives an unpleasant flavour from them. This flavour is also communicated to the butter; but it may be taken off by dissolving a little nitre in spring water, and putting a small tea-cupful of it into about eight gallons of milk, when warm from the cow. Turnips also serve as food for mankind, either boiled or roasted. In the years 1629, 1636, and 1693, during the pressure of a severe famine, bread is stated to have been made of turnips in several parts of England, particularly in the county of Essex. The process was to put the turnips into a kettle over a slow fire, till they became soft; they were then taken out, squeezed as dry as possible, mixed with an equal quantity of flour, and, after having been kneaded with yeast, salt, and a little warm water, were made into loaves and baked. In bread thus made the peculiar taste of the turnip is said to be scarcely perceptible.

These roots have been much recommended as sea store, from the possibility, with care, of preserving them for a great length of time uninjured, and from their furnishing an agreeable and wholesome food for sailors, on long voyages. The young and tender _tops_ of turnips, when boiled, afford an agreeable substitute for greens.

For the cultivation of turnips a light soil, particularly such as consists of a mixture of sand and loam, is found preferable to rich and heavy land. Turnips are raised from seed, which it has long been the established custom to sow in the month of June. As soon as the young plants have attained a tolerable size, they are hoed, for the purpose of thinning them. In their growth they suffer much by the attacks of slugs, caterpillars, and insects of different kinds, particularly of a small, dark beetle with two longitudinal yellowish stripes (_Chrysomela nemorum_), which is called by farmers the _turnip-fly_. For the destruction of this insect many plans have, at different times, been devised.

Turnips are either eaten on the land by cattle, or are drawn out and stacked, or preserved under ground for winter use; and, in this state, they may be kept sound till April.

There are several kinds of turnips; but of these the _common white_, or _Norfolk turnips_, and the _Ruta-baga_, or _Swedish turnips_, are the principal. The latter, which indeed constitute a distinct species, are generally of a yellowish colour, and are so hardy as to suffer no injury even from the most intense cold; but their substance is so compact as sometimes to break the teeth of sheep which feed upon them.

189. _The COMMON CABBAGE_ (Brassica oleracea) _is a well-known plant, the original stock of which grows on cliffs by the seaside, in Kent, Cornwall, Yorkshire, and Wales._

_This wild plant is likewise the original of the various kinds of_ colewort, borecole, cauliflower, _and_ brocoli.

The effects of cultivation on the cabbage are very remarkable. In the wild plants the leaves are extended: but in the common garden cabbage they are set so close together as to lie upon each other, almost like the scales of a bulb, and, increasing in compactness as they increase in size: those in the interior being excluded from the effects of the light, do not assume a green, but are of yellow colour.

Other plants of this species form their stalks into a head, as the _cauliflower_ and _brocoli_; and others grow, in a natural way, without forming either their leaves or stalks into heads, as the _coleworts_, or _Dorsetshire kale_, the _borcoles_, _turnip-rooted cabbage_, and others.

In some parts of England, cabbages of different kinds are much cultivated as food for cattle, and they succeed well in rich and finely prepared land. The seed is sown in February or March. In April or May the young plants are taken out, and set in rows, at a little distance from each other; and, in the ensuing autumn and winter, the cabbages afford a valuable stock of food.

All the kinds of cabbage are useful for domestic purposes; and some of them afford a peculiarly sweet and delicate food. An agreeable pickle is made of them, and the Germans, and people of other northern countries of the Continent, prepare from them a favourite food called _sour-crout_. These plants were known to, and much used by, the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Cabbages are biennial plants, or are sown one year, produce seed in the ensuing year, and then die.

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CLASS XVI.--MONADELPHIA.

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TRIANDRIA.

190. _TAMARINDS are the pulp and needs produced by the pods of a large tree with winged leaves_ (Tamarindus Indica, Fig. 51), _which grows in the East and West Indies, America, and several parts of Asia._

_This tree is from thirty to forty feet in height; and its leaves consist usually of fourteen pairs of leaflets. The flowers are formed in clusters, from the sides of the branches, and have each three yellowish petals, beautifully marked with red veins._

_The fruit of the tamarind-tree is a roundish but somewhat compressed pod, four or five inches in length, the external part of which is very brittle. Each pod contains three or four hard seeds, enveloped in tough skins, surrounded by a dark-coloured, acid pulp, and connected together by numerous tough and woody fibres._

Previously to the exportation of tamarinds, the pulp, with the seeds and fibres, are freed from their shell: and those which we receive from the West Indies are usually preserved in syrup. In Jamaica the fruit is gathered about the month of July. When fully ripe, and after the pods are cleared away, the remainder is placed in layers, in small casks: and boiling syrup, just before it begins to granulate, is poured upon them until the casks are filled, after which the heads are put in and fastened up for exportation.

The East Indian tamarinds are generally packed without any admixture. They are more esteemed than the others; and, when in the pods, are easily distinguished from them by their being longer, and containing six or seven seeds; the pulp also is drier and of darker colour.

It is said that we are indebted to the Arabians for a knowledge of the use of tamarinds. In hot climates they are a most refreshing and delicious fruit; and, dissolved in water, are much used as a cooling and agreeable beverage, particularly by persons suffering under fever. They also give great relief in sore throats, and other complaints.

POLYANDRIA.

191. _The SOUR-GOURD, BOABAB, or AFRICAN CALABASH-TREE_ (Adansonia digitata) _is probably the largest of all vegetable productions. The trunk, although not usually more than twelve or fifteen feet high, is frequently from sixty to eighty feet in girth. The lowest branches extend almost horizontally; and, as they are sometimes near sixty feet in length, they bend, by their own weight, to the ground; and thus the whole tree forms an hemispherical mass of verdure, which measures from 120 to 130 feet in diameter._

_The fruit is oblong, about ten inches in length, pointed at both ends, and covered with a greenish down, under which there is a blackish and woody rind. Its interior consists of a whitish, spongy, and juicy substance, with several brown seeds._

_This tree is a native of Senegal and other parts of Africa._

The virtues and uses of the sour-gourd tree and its fruit are numerous and of great importance to the inhabitants of the countries in which it is found. The _bark_ and _leaves_ are dried, powdered, and preserved in bags, to be employed as a seasoning for food. Two or three pinches of this powder are put, by the negroes, into their messes, under an impression that it promotes perspiration and moderates the heat of the blood.

The pulp of the _fruit_ has an agreeably acid flavour. This is not only eaten when fresh, but is dried and powdered for medicinal uses; a kind of soap is also prepared from it.

In Senegal, when the trees are decayed, the _trunks_ are hollowed, by the negroes, into burying-places for their poets, musicians, and buffoons. These persons are much esteemed whilst they live, although they are supposed to derive their superior talents from sorcery or an alliance with demons. When dead, however, their bodies are regarded with horror, and are not allowed the usual burial, under a notion that the earth would, in such case, refuse to produce its accustomed fruits. The bodies inclosed in these trees are said to become perfectly dry without decaying, and thus to form a kind of mummies, without the process of embalming.

192. _COTTON is a soft vegetable down, which is contained in the seed vessels, and envelopes the seeds of the cotton-plant_ (Gosypium herbaceum, Fig. 52), _which is cultivated in the East and West Indies, and numerous other countries of hot climates._.

_This, though an annual plant, grows to a considerable heights It has leaves of bright green colour, marked with brownish veins, and each divided into five lobes. The flowers have only one petal, in five segments, with a short tube, and are of pale yellow colour, with five red spots at the bottom._

The cotton pods are of somewhat triangular shape, and have each three cells. These, when ripe, burst, and disclose their snow-white or yellowish contents, in the midst of which are contained small black seeds, in shape somewhat resembling those of grapes.

We are informed, by Mr. Edwards, that the plants are raised from seed, the land requiring no other preparation for them than to be cleared of its native incumbrances. The seeds are usually sown in rows six or eight feet asunder, and the holes in which they are put are about four feet apart. At the end of five months the plants begin to flower, and in two months more the pods are formed. After the cotton is gathered, it is freed from the seeds to which it is attached, by a very simple machine, consisting of two small rollers that are close and parallel to each other, and move in opposite directions. The cotton is next hand-picked, to free it from decayed leaves, broken seeds, and other impurities; after which it is packed, for sale, in bags of about two hundred pounds each.

Though the cotton plant flourishes best in tropical climates, it is capable of cultivation in such as are not so hot; and it is now an object of attention in several of the southern parts of Europe.

We receive great quantities of cotton from America, and the East and West Indies. The whole quantity imported into this country, in the year 1802, exceeded 60,000,000 pounds' weight; whilst the average annual importation, anterior to 1780, did not amount to one tenth part of this; so rapid has been the increase and prosperity of our cotton manufactories. Calicoes and muslins of all kinds are made of cotton; fustians, corderoys, and innumerable other articles. Nankeens, which are manufactured in India, are made of a kind of cotton which is naturally of a reddish buff colour.

After the cotton is imported into England, the first process which it goes through is that of _carding_. Some years ago, this was performed by the hand, upon the knee, with a single pair of cards; but it is now performed with cylindrical cards, worked by machinery. The next and most important improvements in the manufacture of cotton, were made at Cromford, in the county of Derby, by the late Sir Richard Arkwright; who, in 1768, first introduced the method of _spinning_ cotton by machinery. By this contrivance cotton was _carded_, _roved_, and _spun_, with the utmost expedition, correctness, and equality. Other machines have, at different subsequent periods, been invented by various mechanics and manufacturers, particularly that called a _jenny_, by which one person is able to spin a hundred hanks of cotton yarn a-day, containing, in the whole, near a million of yards. The concluding operation is that of weaving, which is performed with a machine called a loom, in the same manner as flax (97) and hemp (259).

Cotton is capable of being manufactured into paper, which is little inferior to that made from linen rags.

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CLASS XVII.--DIADELPHIA.

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DECANDRIA.

193. _The COMMON BROOM_ (Spartium scoparium) _is a shrub common on sandy pastures and heaths in nearly all the southern parts of England; and is distinguished by having large, yellow, butterfly-shaped flowers, leaves in threes, and single, and the branches angular._

Few of our wild plants are applicable to more numerous purposes of domestic utility than this. Its _twigs_ are tied in bundles, and formed into brooms. Some persons roast the _seeds_, and make them into a kind of coffee. The fibrous and elastic parts of the _bark_, after having been separated by soaking in water, may be manufactured into cordage, matting, and even into a coarse kind of cloth. The twigs and young branches have been successfully employed as a substitute for oak bark, in the tanning of leather. They may also be rendered serviceable as thatch for houses, and corn ricks; and some persons mix them with hops in brewing; but it is doubtful whether, in this respect, they are wholesome. The _flower buds_, when pickled, have occasionally been used as a substitute for capers.

The _wood_, where the dimensions are sufficient for the purpose, is employed by cabinet-makers for veneering; and it is stated by Dr. Mead, that a decoction of the green tops, in conjunction with mustard, has been found efficacious in the cure of dropsy.

194. _SPANISH BROOM, or SPART_ (Spartium junceum), _is a well-known ornamental flowering shrub in our gardens, which has opposite, round branches, that flower at the top, and spear-shaped leaves._

In the province of Valencia, and other parts of Spain, great attention is paid to this manufacture of various articles from the _twigs_ and _bark_ of this shrub. They are plaited into mats, carpets, coverings for plants, baskets, ropes, and even shoes. A great portion of these twigs was formerly exported to different French ports in the Mediterranean, particularly to Marseilles; but, in 1783, on account of the employment of which it deprived the Spanish people in working them, their exportation was prohibited by the government.

195. _FURZE, GORZE, or WHIN_ (Ulex Europæus), _is a well-known thorny shrub, which is common on heaths and waste ground in almost every part of England._

The chief use to which furze is applied, is for the heating of ovens; and, in this respect, it is valuable, from its burning rapidly, and emitting a great degree of heat. Its _ashes_ are used for a ley, which is of considerable service in the washing of linen.

In some parts of the country, furze is sown on banks, round fields, for the purpose of a fence; and it will flourish even close to the sea side, where the spray of the sea destroys almost every other shrub. But it will not bear severe cold, and it is often destroyed by intense frost. Furze does not often occur in the northern parts of our island.

Horses, sheep, and cattle may be fed on this shrub; and, in several places, the seeds of it are sown, either by themselves, or with barley, oats, or buck-wheat (126). The plants are mown a year afterwards. They will grow for several years, and produce from ten to fifteen tons per acre of food, which is equal, in quality and excellence, to the same quantity of hay. They are bruised before they are eaten, either in a machine, or by heavy mallets on blocks of wood. This operation is requisite, in order to break the prickles, and prevent these from being injurious to the mouths of the animals that eat them.

196. _COWHAGE, or COW-ITCH, is a sharp and barbed kind of down or hair, which thickly clothes the pods of a bean-like climbing plant_ (Dolichos pruriens, Fig. 53), _that grows in the West Indies, and other countries of warm climates._

_This is an herbaceous plant, which entwines round the adjacent trees or shrubs, and often rises to a considerable height. The leaves grow in threes upon long foot-stalks; and the flowers are large, butter-fly shaped, of purplish colour, and form long and pendant spikes, which have a very beautiful appearance._

It is the property of cowhage, when rubbed upon the skin, immediately to penetrate it, and to cause an intolerable itching. Hence it is sometimes wantonly employed for mischievous purposes; and hence also it is found very troublesome to cattle and domestic animals, in places where the plants grow. Notwithstanding this, it may be swallowed in safety, and, if taken into the stomach and intestines, is said to be an useful remedy for the destruction of worms. As a medicine, it is mixed with syrup or treacle into the form of an electuary.

197. _SOY is a dark-coloured sauce, which is prepared from the seeds of a Chinese plant_ (Dolichos soja), _that has an erect and hairy stem, erect branches of flowers, and pendulous bristly pods, each containing about two seeds._

There is a joke amongst seamen, that soy is made from beetles or cockroaches. This probably originates in the seeds of the plant from which the sauce is manufactured having some fancied resemblance, in shape and colour, to a beetle. These _seeds_ are used in China and Japan as food. They are made into a kind of jelly or curd, which is esteemed very nutritious, and which is rendered palatable by seasoning of different kinds.

The liquid which we know by the name of _soy_ is thus prepared:--After the seeds have been boiled until they become soft, they are mixed with an equal weight of wheat or barley meal, coarsely ground. This mixture is fermented; and a certain proportion of salt and water being added, the whole is allowed to stand for two or three months, care being taken to stir it every day; and, by the end of that time, it is ready for use.

Soy is chiefly prepared in China and Japan; but that imported from Japan is considered preferable to any other. The quantity annually vended at the East India Company's sales is from eight hundred to two thousand gallons, at an average price of sixteen or eighteen shillings per gallon.

198. _BEANS_ (Vicia faba) _are well-known seeds, originally introduced from Persia, of which there are several kinds or varieties; some of these are cultivated in fields, and others in gardens._

_Field_, or _horse-beans_, as they are frequently called, are small and somewhat round. The cultivation of them is pursued to a considerable extent. They are esteemed, in many respects, an advantageous crop to the farmer, and will thrive on any land where the soil is sufficiently stiff. They are usually sown in the month of February; sometimes in the autumn; but, in case of severe frost, all the plants that are not well and deeply covered with snow will perish. There is also much uncertainty in the crop, owing to the state of the weather in the spring and summer; and particularly to the ravages of small black insects, myriads of which are frequently seen to crowd the tender tops of the plants.

The bean-harvest is seldom completed till nearly the end of September, owing to the bulk and succulence of the plants; and the produce is from two and a half to five quarters per acre.

There are several varieties of field-beans; but the fine and very small ones usually bear the highest price. Bean flour is not only thought more nutritive, but is found to be more abundant than that of oats. Beans are chiefly applied to the feeding of horses, hogs, and other domestic animals; and it is supposed that meal-men often grind them amongst wheat, the flour of which is to be made into bread. By some persons they are roasted, and adopted as a substitute for coffee. With the Roman ladies bean-flour was in much repute as a cosmetic.

_Garden-beans_ are almost wholly confined to culinary uses. What are called _French-beans_, and _Kidney-beans_, belong to a different tribe from the present.