RADISH.
Amongst other singularities which abound in the Talmud, the curious can but have remarked the following:
Judea formerly produced kitchen garden plants so large, that a fox bethought himself to hollow a radish, and make it his residence. After he had removed, this new kind of lair was discovered; it was put into a scale, and found to weigh nearly one hundred pounds.[IX_162]
It is a pity that no one preserved the seed of so remarkable a vegetable, which no doubt was only to be found in Judea.
The Greeks had very fine radishes, but they were not of such a surprising size. They procured them from the territory of Mantinea.[IX_163] Mount Algidea also furnished the Romans with an excellent kind,[IX_164] but which they esteemed less highly than those of Nursia,[IX_165] in the country of the Sabines. These latter cost about threepence a pound in the time of Pliny; they were sold for double that sum when the crop was not abundant.[IX_166]
Writers of antiquity notice three distinct kinds of radishes: the large, short, and thick; the round; and the wild.[IX_167] They fancied that, at the end of three years, the seed of this plant produced very good cabbages,[IX_168] which must have been rather vexatious, at times, to honest gardeners who might have preferred radishes.
In times of popular tumult this root was often transformed into an ignominious projectile, with which the mob pursued persons whose political opinions rendered them obnoxious to the majority, as we might say in the present day.[IX_169] As soon as calm was re-established, the insulting vegetable was placed in the pot to boil, and afterwards eaten with oil and a little vinegar.[IX_170]
The Romans preserved radishes very well, by covering them with a paste composed of honey, vinegar, and salt.[IX_171]