The two common varieties are the black or brown mustard, known as (brassica sinapis nigra), and the white seed, as it is called, although of a yellow color (brassica sinapis alba), usually found in whole mixed spices. The Indian wild brown mustard seed (rai or charlock juncea Sarepta brassica), taking the name Sarepta from the city of that name in Russia, in the government of Saratov, is sometimes offered as the black mustard. Sinapis glauca and sinapis ramosa yield a white seed found in South Russia and in the steppes northeast of the Caspian Sea. Mustard is known by every farmer and is an annual herb (see illustration), from three to six feet high, with lyrate leaves, yellowish flower, and slender pods containing round seed; it may be grown almost anywhere. As only a few kinds of mustard seed are known to commerce, we will confine our history principally to the black seed, which is yellow within (brassica nigra), and which furnishes the most aroma. The seeds are very small and do not weigh more than one-fiftieth of a grain, while the seed of brassica alba, or the white seed, as it is called, is three times as large as the black. Mustard seed is found in almost all of Europe, except the most northern part, in Northern Africa, Asia Minor, the United States, Mesopotamia, the West Indies, South Siberia, and China. It is naturalized in North and South America, and is cultivated to a great extent in Bohemia, Holland, and Italy, and in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, England. It is generally put up for market in bags of 200 pounds each. Much of the black seed (Fig. 5) comes from California, and is brought to the Eastern market by railroads; much comes also from Kentucky. Each of these States produce large crops, and the New York Spice Mills use large quantities of it on account of its being cheaper than the imported. It does not contain as much flour as the yellow seed, but it is sweeter. The best dark seed comes from Italy and is exported from the city of Trieste, Austria, and is called Trieste mustard. (See illustration.) It is often sent by the Mediterranean Sea to London, and from there is transferred to New York vessels, although some comes direct from Bombay and Sicily. The yellow or large, plump, straw-colored, rough, hairy seed (Fig. 4) is much less remunerative than the black, smooth seed; is white inside, and, though a native of Asia, is found in Russia and Africa. The best of it comes from England, and is often called English mustard. [Illustration: TRIESTE, AUSTRIA] The Dutch seed is considered next grade in quality to the English. In China and some parts of Europe a species is cultivated for greens for the table, which are prepared in the same way as spinach. The great aim of the grower is to produce reddish-brown seed, without any intermixture of gray. The gray color of the seed is attributed to the influence of the rains during the ripening. The presence of this color greatly lowers the value of the seed.