a flower that looks like a Gaillardia. In the middle of
the page is the title, with Adam on one side, dressed in
the skin of a beast and holding a very fine spade, like the
spades used in France to this day. This, I imagine,
represents Toil, while Wisdom is personified on the other
side by Solomon. He is clad in the conventional dress
of the kings of the Middle Ages — a long cloak, a cape of
ermine, a spiked crown, a sceptre, bare legs, and a pair of
Eoman sandals. At the top of the page is the eye of
God with a Hebrew word written below it. At the four
corners are four female figures representing Europe,
Asia, Africa, and America. Europe, only, is in a chariot
drawn by a pair of horses. Asia, riding a rhinoceros,
wears a very short skirt and curious, pointed, curled shoes,
not unlike the slippers still worn in Turkey, and a stiff
headdress that resembles those used by women in the
thirteenth century. Africa has no clothes, only a hat,
and rides a zebra. America has a bow and arrow, and
rides, also without clothes, a curious long-eared sheep.
These ladies are surrounded by the vegetation supposed
to be typical of each country. Among other plants, Asia
has again the Vegetable Lamb before described, and
Asia, not America, has the Indian Corn (Maize), which,
I believe, is supposed to be as exclusively indigenous to
America as Tobacco is. It appears to have been entirely
unknown to the Old World, and has never been found with
other corn in any of the old tombs, or alluded to in the
classics. Its cultivation must have spread very quickly,
and it is known all over the South of Europe as Ble
de Turquie to this day. Turquie was the term used
in the Middle Ages for describing anything foreign.
When the early discoverers of Canada went up the
St. Lawrence and reached the rapids, which still bear
the name of La Chine rapids, they thought they had
reached the China seas and joined the continent of Asia,
56 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN
It is, therefore, curious to note that Parkinson figures an
American plant amongst the vegetation of Asia. The
old Red Indian natives of North America used to sow the
Maize with a fish on either side of the seed to propitiate
their gods. No wonder it grew luxuriantly. Africa has
in the foreground what appears to be a Stapelia, Aloes,
and Date-palms. America has Cactuses, Pineapples, and
the large Sunflower, being the vegetation rather of South
than North America. As representing the geographical
knowledge and art notions of the day, it is decidedly an
interesting title-page. The woodcuts throughout the
book are of the whole plant, root and all ; but they are
without much character, all about the same size, and less
well-drawn than the flowers in the * Paradisi.' The
medical properties of the plants are described at length
and with much detail, and are really curious. I wonder
if our complicated prescriptions and remedies will some
day sink to the level which the science of herbs has
reached to-day. It would not be so very surprising if this
should happen, considering how much the faith put in
the modern drugs resembles the belief in cures as
described in these old Herbals. At the Museum there is
a great collection of Herbals of all nationalities, especially
German.
Page 33
Presented as published in 1898. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
A modernized reading is not available for this page yet. You are seeing the original text.
a flower that looks like a Gaillardia. In the middle of
the page is the title, with Adam on one side, dressed in
the skin of a beast and holding a very fine spade, like the
spades used in France to this day. This, I imagine,
represents Toil, while Wisdom is personified on the other
side by Solomon. He is clad in the conventional dress
of the kings of the Middle Ages — a long cloak, a cape of
ermine, a spiked crown, a sceptre, bare legs, and a pair of
Eoman sandals. At the top of the page is the eye of
God with a Hebrew word written below it. At the four
corners are four female figures representing Europe,
Asia, Africa, and America. Europe, only, is in a chariot
drawn by a pair of horses. Asia, riding a rhinoceros,
wears a very short skirt and curious, pointed, curled shoes,
not unlike the slippers still worn in Turkey, and a stiff
headdress that resembles those used by women in the
thirteenth century. Africa has no clothes, only a hat,
and rides a zebra. America has a bow and arrow, and
rides, also without clothes, a curious long-eared sheep.
These ladies are surrounded by the vegetation supposed
to be typical of each country. Among other plants, Asia
has again the Vegetable Lamb before described, and
Asia, not America, has the Indian Corn (Maize), which,
I believe, is supposed to be as exclusively indigenous to
America as Tobacco is. It appears to have been entirely
unknown to the Old World, and has never been found with
other corn in any of the old tombs, or alluded to in the
classics. Its cultivation must have spread very quickly,
and it is known all over the South of Europe as Ble
de Turquie to this day. Turquie was the term used
in the Middle Ages for describing anything foreign.
When the early discoverers of Canada went up the
St. Lawrence and reached the rapids, which still bear
the name of La Chine rapids, they thought they had
reached the China seas and joined the continent of Asia,
56 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN
It is, therefore, curious to note that Parkinson figures an
American plant amongst the vegetation of Asia. The
old Red Indian natives of North America used to sow the
Maize with a fish on either side of the seed to propitiate
their gods. No wonder it grew luxuriantly. Africa has
in the foreground what appears to be a Stapelia, Aloes,
and Date-palms. America has Cactuses, Pineapples, and
the large Sunflower, being the vegetation rather of South
than North America. As representing the geographical
knowledge and art notions of the day, it is decidedly an
interesting title-page. The woodcuts throughout the
book are of the whole plant, root and all ; but they are
without much character, all about the same size, and less
well-drawn than the flowers in the * Paradisi.' The
medical properties of the plants are described at length
and with much detail, and are really curious. I wonder
if our complicated prescriptions and remedies will some
day sink to the level which the science of herbs has
reached to-day. It would not be so very surprising if this
should happen, considering how much the faith put in
the modern drugs resembles the belief in cures as
described in these old Herbals. At the Museum there is
a great collection of Herbals of all nationalities, especially
German.