The ferula tribe consists of nine or ten known species of plants, and it is supposed that asafœtida is yielded by several of them.
In some parts of the Levant the sailors are said to use the stalks of a species of ferula to transport fire from one island to another. This custom is of great antiquity, and explains a passage of Hesiod, who, speaking of the fire stolen from heaven by Prometheus, says that he carried it in a ferula. The foundation of this fable is undoubtedly owing to what Diodorus Siculus informs us of Prometheus, that he was the inventor of the steel with which fire is struck from flint; and in all probability that prince made use of the pith of the ferula instead of tinder, to convey it from one place to another.
88. CORIANDER is a small globular seed, produced by an annual umbelliferous plant (Coriandrum sativum), with leaves in slender segments, and small whitish flowers, that grows wild in Suffolk and Essex, and is cultivated in several parts of England.
In several farms in Essex and Kent the cultivation of coriander is pursued to considerable extent. This is done solely for the seed, which is used by distillers, druggists, and confectioners. In some parts of the North of Europe it is ground and mixed with dough, to give an aromatic flavour to bread.
Coriander is usually grown with teasel ([53]) and caraway ([91]); but, as neither of the latter come to perfection until the second year after they have been sown, the coriander is harvested without interfering with the other crops. In this labour, which usually commences about the beginning of July, women and children are principally employed: and, to prevent the seeds of the largest and best plants from being shed and lost, each stem is cut separately. The stems are then carried into some convenient part of the field, and threshed all together upon a sail cloth.
So luxuriantly, and, at the same time, so abundantly does this plant grow in a wild state, in some of the southern parts of Europe, as almost to choke the growth of wheat and other grain. Every part of it, except the seed, has a fetid and disagreeable smell. The seeds, when taken in large quantities, have been considered injurious; but Dr. Withering states, that he has known six drams of them taken without any remarkable effect.
89. PARSNIP is the root of an umbelliferous plant (Pastinaca sativa), with winged and serrated leaves, and small yellow flowers, which is cultivated in kitchen gardens, and which also grows wild on the borders of ploughed fields in several parts of England.
The wild and cultivated parsnips differ much from each other, but particularly in the roots of the latter being large and succulent, and those of the former being slender and woody.
Parsnips are propagated by seed sown in February or March, and the roots are in perfection about October. These, besides their use as a vegetable for the table, are of great value for the feeding of cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs. Land in Guernsey, which lets for 7l. an acre, is sown with parsnips to feed cattle; and the milk of the cows so fed is not only richer than it would otherwise be, but yields butter of fine saffron colour and excellent taste.
If parsnips be washed clean, and sliced among bran, horses will eat them. They will fatten sheep and oxen in a short time; and for the feeding of hogs they are at least equal if not superior to carrots. As food for mankind they are considered extremely nutritive; and may, with great advantage, be kept on board ships that are destined for long voyages. It is, however, said that they should not be dug up for use in the spring, because, at that season, the nutritive juices rising upward to produce the seed, they are then unwholesome.