A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History; of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and; Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the; Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History; of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and; Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the; Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
Of the shrub kind, as junipers, the mountain-ash, wild rose-trees, and
raspberry bushes, the country produces great abundance; together with a
variety of berries; blue berries of two sorts, round and oval; partridge-
berries, cranberries, crow-berries, and black-berries. These the natives
gather at proper seasons, and preserve, by boiling them into a thick jam,
without sugar. They make no inconsiderable part of their winter provisions,
and are used as sauce to their dried and salt fish; of which kind of food
they are unquestionably excellent correctives. They likewise eat them by
themselves in puddings and various other ways, and make decoctions of them
for their ordinary liquor.
We met with several wholesome vegetables in a wild state, and in great
quantities; such as wild celery, angelica, chervil, garlic, and onions.
Upon some few patches of ground in the vallies, we found excellent turnips
and turnip-radishes. Their garden cultivation went no farther; yet from
hence I am led to conclude, that many of the hardy sorts of vegetables,
(such at least as push their roots downward,) like as carrots; parsnips,
and beet, and perhaps potatoes, would thrive tolerably well. Major Behm
told me, that some other sorts of kitchen vegetables had been tried, but
did not answer; that neither any of the cabbage or lettuce kind would ever
head; and that peas and beans shot up very vigorous stalks, flowered and
podded, but the pods never filled. He likewise told me, that in the
experiments made by himself at Bolcheretsk, with different sorts of
farinaceous grain, there generally came up a very high and strong blade,
which eared, but that the ears never yielded flour.
This short account of the vegetable production reaches to such parts of the
country only as fell within our notice, In the neighbourhood of the
Kamtschatka river, where (as has been observed) both the soil and climate
are by much the best in the whole peninsula, garden culture is attended to,
and probably with great success, as appears from our having received, at
the same time with the second drove of cattle from Verchnei, a present of
cucumbers, of very large fine turnips, celery, and some other garden-stuff,
of which I do not recollect the kinds.
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