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Show 324. CULINARY I>LANT . CIIAP. [::\. do they differ, being a little longer and narrower than usual. I mado a collection of tho Reeds of twenty-eight different kinds, and most of them woro undistinguislutblo; when thoro was any d ifforonce it was oxcessi voly slight; thus, tho Reeds of various broccolis and cauliflowers, when seen in maRs, arc a little redder; those of the early green Ulm savoy arc rather smaller; and those of tho Breda Jmil slightly larger than uRual, lmt not larger than tho seeds of tho wild cabbage f1·om tho coast of Wales. What a contrast in the amount of difference is presented if, on tho ono hand, we compare tho leaves and stems of tho various kinds of cabhago with tl10ir flow rs, pods, and Roods, and on tho other hand tho concsponding parts in tho varieties of maize and wheat! Tho explanation is obvious; tho seeds alone arc valued in our cereals, and their variations have been selected; whereas tho cads, seed-pods, and flowers havo been utterly neglected in tho cabbage, whilst many useful variations in their leaves and stems have boon noticed and preserved from an extremely remote period, for cabbages were cultivated by tho old Colts.64 It would bo usolc. s to give a classified description 65 of tho numerous races, sub-races, and varieties of tho cabbage; but it may be mentioned tbat Dr. Lindley has lately proposed 66 a system founded on tho state of development of tho terminal and lateral leaf-buds, and of tho flower-buds. 'l'hus, I . All tho leaf-buds activo and open, as in tho wild-cabbage, kail, &c. ll All the leaf-buds activo, but forming heads, as in Brussel-sprouts, &c. III. Terminal leaf-bud alone activo, forming a head as in common cabbages, savoys, &c. IV. Terminal leaf-bud alone active and open, with most of tho flowers abortive and succulent, as in tho cauliflower and broccoli. V. All tho loaf-buds activo and open, with most of the flowers abortive and succulent, as in the sprouting-broccoli. This latter variety is a now one, and bears tho same relation to common broccoli, as Brussol-sprouts do to common cabbages; it suddenly appeared in a bod of common lJroccoli, and was found faithfully to transmit its newly-acquired and remarkable characters. Tho principal kinds of cabbage existed at least as early as tho sixteenth conturyp so that numerous modifications of structure have been inherited for a long period. This fact is the more remarkable as great care must be taken to prevent tho crossing of tho different kinds. To give one proof of this: I raised 233 seedlings from cabbages of different kinds, which bad purposely been planted ncar each other, and of the seedlings no less thanl55 were plainly deteriorated and mongrelized; nor were the remaining 78 all perfectly true. It may be doubted whether many permanent varieties have been formed by intentional or accidental crosses; for such crossed plants arc found to be very inconstant. One kind, however, called" Cottager's Kale," bas lately been produced by crossing common kale and Brusselsprouts, recrossed with purple broccoli,«B and is said to be true, but plants 64 Regnier, 'Do l'i<~conoruie l'ubliquo des Ccltes,' 1818, p. <1::18. 6" See il10 elder 1>l' C:mdollc, in 'Tmnsact. of' 1 [ort. 1-iuc.,' vul. v.; and Melzg r 'Koltlartcu,' &e. 66 'Gardener'~ Clnonido,' 1 Sfi(), p. ()()2. 1i7 Alph. Ue Cundollc, 'Gcograph. Hoi.,' pp. 84.2 ami !) D. r.s 'Gardener's Citron.,' l~cu. 1858, p. 128. CllAl'. IX. CABBAGES. 325 raised by roo wore not nearly so constant in character as any common cabbage. Although most of the kinds keep true if carefully preserved from crossing, yet tho seed-beds must be yearly examined, and a few seedlings are generally found false; but even in this case tho force of inheritance is shown, for, as Metzger has remarked 60 when speaking of Brussel-sprouts, tho variations generally keep to their " untor art," or main mea. But in order that any kind may be truly propagated there must uo no groat chango in tho conditions of life; thus cabbages will not form heads in hot countries, and tho same thing has been obsenod with an English variety grown during an oxtromoly warm and damp autumn near Paris.70 l.!:xtromoly poor soil also affects tho characters of certain varieties. Most authors boliovo that all the races arc descended from tho wild cabbage f01md on the western shores of Europe; but Alph. Do Cando lie 71 forcibly argues on historical and other grounds that it is more probable that two or throe closely allied forms, generally ranked as distinct species, still living in tho Mediterranean region, are the parents, now all commingled together, of tho varions cultivated kinds. In the same manner as wo have often seen with domesticatcu animals, tho supposed multiple origin of tho cabbage throws no light on tho characteristic differences between the cultivated forms. If our cabbages arc tho descendants of three or four distinct species, every trace of any sterility which may originally have existed between thoro is now lost, for none of the varieties can be kept distinct without scrupulous care to prevent intercrossing. Tho other cult.ivatod forms of tho genus Brassica arc doscondod, according to tho view adopted by Godron and Motzger,72 from two species, B. napus and rapa; but according to other botanists from throe species · whilst others again strongly suspect that all those forms, both wild and cultivated, ought to be ranked as a single species. Bmssica nazJits has given rise to two largo groups, namely, Swedish turnips (by some believed to be of hybrid origin) 73 ancl Colzas, the seeds of which yield oil. Brassica mpct (of Koch) has also given rise to two races, namely, common turnips and the oil-giving mpo. The evidence is unusually clear that these latter plants, though so different in extomal appearance, belong to tho same species; for the turnip has boon olJservod by Koch and Godmn to lose its thick roots in uncultivated soil, and when rape and turnips arc sown together they cross to such a degree that scarcely a single plant ~omos truo.74 Metzger by culture converted the biennial or winter rape mto tho annual or summer rapo,-variotios which have been thought by some authors to be specifically distinct.75 In tho production of large, fleshy, turnip-like stems, we have a case 60 'Koblartcn,' s. 22. 10 Godron, 'Do l'Espece,' tom. ii. p. 52; Metzger, 'Kohlartcn,' s. 22. 71 ' Gcogrupb, llot.,' p. 840. i~ Uodron, 'Do l'F.spece,' tom. ii. p. 54; Metzger, • Kohlaricn,' s. 10. i 3 'Gardener's Chron. and Agricult. Gttzoiie,' 1856, p. 729. 7·1 'Oardouer's Chron. and Agriculi. Gar.ettc,' 1855, p. 780. 7G Metzger, 'Ko!Jladeu,' ::;. 51. |