Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 April 1886 — Facts not Generally Known. [ARTICLE]

Facts not Generally Known.

Spinach is a Persian plant. Horse-radish is a native of England. Melons were found originally in Asia. Filberts originallycame from Greece. Quinces originally came from Corinth. The turnip originally came from Rome. Tlte peach originally came from Persia. Sage is a native of the south of Europe. Sweet marjoram is a native of Portugal. Damsons originally came from Damascus. The nasturtium came originally from Pern. The pea is a native of the south of Europe. Ginger is a native of the East and West Indies. Coriander seed came originally from the East. The cucumber was originally a tropical vegetable. Tlte Greeks called butter bonturbs—“cow cheese.” The gooseberry is indigenous t« Great Britain. Apricots are indigenous to the plains of Armenia. Pears were originally brought from the East by the Romans, Capers originally grew wild in Greece and Northern Africa. The walnut is a native of Persia, the Caucasus and China. The clove is a native of the Malacca Island, as also is the nutmeg. Cherries were known in Asia as far back as the seventeenth century. Garlic came to us first from Sicily and the shores of the Mediterranean.

Asparagus was originally a wild seacoast plant, and is a native of Great Britain. i - " *7~* —~ Necatine received its name from nectar. the principal drink of the gods. 1 The tomato is a native of South America, and it takes its name front a Portugese word. Greengage is called after the Gage family, who first took it into England from a monastery in Paris. Parsley is said to have come from Egypt, and mythology tells us it was Used to adorn the head of Hercules. Apples xvere originally brought front the East by the Romans. The crab-ap-ple is indigenous to Great Britain. When James Buchanan xyas Minister to England he had ears of corn, hermetically sealed, sent to him from this country. The onion was almost san object of worship with the Egyptians 2,00 Q years before the Christian era. It first came from India. The cantaloupe is a native of America, and so called from the name of a place near Rome, where it was first cultivated in Europe. Before the middle of the seventeenth century tea was not used in England, and was entirely unknown to tha Greeks and Romans. The xvord biscuit is French for “twice baked.” because, originally, that was the mode of entirely depriving it of moiature to insure its keeping. Cloves come to us from the Indies, and take their name from the' Latin claurus or French ekim, both meaning a nail, to which they have a resemblance. ■ - Lemons were used by the Romans to keep moths from their garments, and in the time of Pliny they were considered an excellent poison. They are natives of Asia. ~