IN this chapter we have something to say of an old familiar friend, the _Cabbage_, which for ages has been one of the most useful of all our vegetables, being very productive, and, for many persons, nutritious and healthful. It is found growing wild on the cliffs in many parts of the southern coasts of England; but these do not very closely resemble the large, vigorous vegetable we see on our farms and in our gardens. There it is dwarfed, not weighing more than an ounce, with a few feeble leaves. Even in this state it is sometimes gathered and eaten for greens, but is not very tempting. Although thus found wild on the southern British coast, the numerous kinds now under careful cultivation, in almost all our large farms or market-gardens, are the results of many experiments made by scientific and enterprising agriculturists. It was also largely cultivated and improved in other countries long before its use was understood in England. It was a common product among the Romans, and although they were lawless and ambitious in their inroads upon the surrounding nations, their conquests, with all the attending evils, were conducive of many good results; for wherever their armies went, they left behind new arts and habits, tending toward a larger civilization than is commonly the result of wars. Many fruits, roots, and vegetables, unknown in Spain, Germany, and England, were brought by the conquering Romans into general use among these nations. The Saxons used cabbage under the name of kale, and it is still so called in Scotland. For a long time it was the only vegetable known in that country, but there is no end to the kinds now in use, and the varieties are multiplied yearly by the experiments and skill of the producers. With some persons it is not easy of digestion when cooked, but when cut up raw and used as a salad there is hardly anything more wholesome or palatable than the cabbage. Some chemists assert that it contains an oil which is injurious, unless, when cooking, the cabbage is boiled in two waters. However that may be, we know that this vegetable is far more delicate and tempting, if, after boiling about half an hour, the water is poured off, and clear boiling water added, in which the cabbage is cooked till done. With that precaution, aside from being nicer, it is not half as liable to produce disagreeable effects.