KITCHEN VEGETABLES.

353

duced as such into France , which, perhaps, afforded theanonymous author of a well-known work, intituled Le Jar-dinier Francois, an opportunity to observe that he was thefirst who had introduced those roots into French gardens.It should he noticed, that the author himself was a gardener,and practised that business in Paris , dealing in flowers,trees, plants, and seeds. See also Haller's Biblioth. Bot. i.p. 421, who describes its medicinal virtues; whilst Liider, inbCuchengarten-briefe Driller Theile , speaks of its esculentproperties.

The circulation of the above w'ork, the French Gardener,greatly contributed to improve the practice of gardening inthat country. At present, the roots of the scorzonera are tohe found in most gardens; they are also occasionally pre-scribed by physicians, in the case of a ptisan; but, perhaps,the other kind, the scorzonera humilis, is preferred; though,it is said, in the apothecaries’ shops, the Spanish , takenfrom the gardens, are used in its stead.

Among the species of the allium genus, shallots, in con-sequence of their milder taste, are preferred. A doubtcannot exist that this name, as w r ell as the French echalolte,is derived from Ascalonia; and that the last above namedspecies in the system, is called allium ascalonium, Kerner,tab. 307. Theophrastus , Hist. Plant, vii. 4. p. 761. ed.Heinsii, p. 138. Pliny, Columella, Apicius, Strabo , Ste-plianus, and a host of others, confirm this fact. St.ephanus,indeed, asserts that the bulbs were observed in that neigh-bourhood. These names, we understand, are found in theoldest catalogues of the German garden vegetables. CaroliM. Capitulate de Villis, §70, in Bruns Jieijtriigen zu denTeutschen Rechten. JJelmst. 1799, 8vo. p. 40. There isalso ample reason to conjecture, that our shallots were theascalonia; of the ancients, and that they came originally fromPalestine , especially as Hasselquist found the same speciesgrowing there wild. Egypt also originally furnished greatquantities of these vegetables. See the account of the ex-pense of those consumed by the workmen, in erecting thegreat pyramid. Herod . An important doubt may be said,however, to arise from what Theophrastus and Pliny assert,namely, that the ascalonia could not be propagated by bulbs,but by seeds; on the other hand, our shallots, and thoseraised in Germany , and most likely in many other parts ofEurope , never come to flower, and are obtained only bybulbs, so that Linnams procured the first flowers, throughHasselquist, from Palestine . But why all others of the allium

VOL. 11. a a