(From Part xiv. of _Knowledge for the People, or the Plain Why and
Because._)
Why is it improper to consider the turnip a real bulb?
Because it is an intermediate stem which swells into a bulbous form.
Turnips have not been cultivated in England, in fields, more than a
century; but this agricultural practice now yields an annual return
which probably exceeds the interest of our national debt.--_Sir Walter
Scott._
Why is the Cauliflower so named?
Because of its origin from _caulis,_ the stalk of a herb. Colewort is
of a similar origin.
Why are the stems of the Cabbage tribe considered wholesome food?
Because their acrid flavour is dipersed among an abundance of
mucilage. Cabbages were commonly used among the ancients, and Cato
wrote volumes on their nature. The Indians had so much veneration for
them, that they swore by cabbages, and were therein as superstitious
as the Egyptians, who gave divine honours to leeks and onions, for the
great benefits which they said they received from them.--_Lemery on
Food._
Why do Cabbages emit a strong animal odour?
Because they contain a great quantity of azote or nitrogen, one of the
ultimate elements of animal matter, and strongly characterized in the
destructive distillation of horn, hoofs, or bones.
Why do not the leaves of the Cabbage remain wet, after being immersed
in water, and again taken out of it?
Because they are powdered with a slight layer of resinous matter,
similar to that which covers certain fruits, and, in particular, plums
and grapes. Their sea-green colour is also attributed to this resinous
layer.
Why is Quassia so called? Because it was named in honour of a negro,
Quassia, a drunken doctor, who discovered the virtue of the wood in
curing malignant fevers.
Why is the Ice plant so called?
Because its stem is covered with soft tubercles, or excrescences,
which have a crystalline appearance.
Why do the leaves of some trees fall very early?
Because they are articulated to the branch; that is, they do not unite
with it by the whole of their base, but are simply fixed to it by
a kind of contraction or articulation; as in the maple and horse
chestnut.
Why do leaves fall at the approach of winter?
Because a separation takes place, either in the foot-stalk, or more
usually at its base, and the dying part quits the vigorous one, which
is promoted by the weight of the leaf itself, or the action of the
gales that blow in autumn on its expanded form. M. Richard explains
the cause more philosophically: "Although the fall of the leaves
generally takes place at the approach of winter, cold is not to be
considered as the principal cause of this phenomenon. It is much more
natural to attribute it to the cessation of vegetation, and the want
of nourishment which the leaves experience at that season, when the
course of the sap is interrupted. The vessels of the leaf contract,
dry up, and soon after, that organ is detached from the twig on which
it had been developed."
Why do some trees, as the Oak, the Beech, and the Hornbeam, retain
their leaves to a late period of autumn?
Because the life of the twigs on which they grow is not sufficiently
vigorous to throw them off, after the brown colour indicates that they
are dead.
Why have some plants been termed the Poor Man's Weather-glass?
Because they shut up their flowers against the approach of rain.
Linnaeus, however, thinks, that flowers lose their fine sensibility,
after the anthers have performed their office, or when deprived of
them artificially. Sir James Smith also observes, that some species
are sometimes exhausted by continued wet; "and it is evident that
very sudden thunder showers often take such flowers by surprise, the
previous state of the atmosphere not having been such as to give them
due warning."
Many flowers have a regular time of opening and shutting. We have
already mentioned the Marigold; the goat's-beard is vulgarly called
"John go-to-bed at noon," from its closing at mid-day; and at the Cape
of Good Hope there is a "four o'clock flower," because it invariably
closes at that time. The common daisy is, however, a readier example,
its name being a compound of day's and eye--Day's-eye, in which
way, indeed, it is written by Ben Johnson. It regularly shuts after
sun-set, to expand again with the morning light. Thus,--
The little dazie, that at evening closes.
Spenser.
By a daisy, whose leaves spread,
Shut when Titian goes to bed.--_G. Withers._
Leyden sings of moist or rainy weather foretold by daisies. Thus we
may examine a whole field, and not find a daisy open, except such as
have their flowering nearly over, and have in consequence lost their
sensibility.
The daisy is one of the pet flowers of the poets. Chaucer is ecstatic
in its praise, and calls it his "owne hartes' rest;" Burns, "Wee,
modest, crimson-tipped flower;" and Wordsworth, in beautiful and
touching simplicity, has addressed several poems to "the poet's
darling."
Appended to Richard's valuable "Elements," is the _Horologium Florae,_
(timepiece of Flora,) or a table of the hours at which certain plants
expand and shut, at Upsal, 60 deg. north latitude. The earliest Meadow
Salsafy opens from 3 to 4 A.M.; and closes from 9 to 10 A.M. The
latest A.M. is the _Mesembryanthemum Modiflorum,_ (used in the
manufacture of Maroquin leather,) which opens 10 to 11 A.M.,
and closes at 12 P.M. The latest opening P.M. is the _Cactus
Grandiflorus,_ 9 to 10 P.M., and closing at 12 P.M., thus remaining
open only two or three hours. Other flowers, we may add, are
so peculiarly delicate, as scarcely to bear the contact of the
atmosphere.
Forster, in his "Researches about Atmospheric Phenomena," notices
several prognostics of the weather by plants. Thus, Chickweed has been
said to be an excellent weather-guide. When the flower expands freely,
no rain need be feared for a long time. In showery days the flower
appears half concealed, and this state may be regarded as indicative
of showery weather; when it is entirely shut, we may expect a rainy
day. If the flowers of the Siberian sowthistle remain open all night,
we may expect rain next day. Before showers, the trefoil contracts its
leaves. Lord Bacon observes, that the trefoil has its stalk more
erect against rain. He also mentions a small red flower, growing in
stubble-fields, called by the country people _wincopipe_, which, if it
opens in the morning, assures us of a fine day.
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