It should be remarked, that peas, as well as all vegetable seeds, are liable to sport and become hybrid sorts; some of which are at times saved for separate culture, and are called, when found good, by particular names; so that every twenty or thirty years many of the kinds are changed.  Thus Briant, in his Flora Diaetetica, enumerates fourteen varieties, a few only of which bear the same name as those now in the list of the London seedsmen.

457.  POMPION.  Cucurbita Pepo.—­This is of the gourd species, and grows to a large size.  It is not much in use with us:  but in the south of Europe the inhabitants use the pulp with some acid fruits for pastry, and it is there very useful.  It is also sometimes used in a similar manner here with apples.  Almost all the gourd species are similar in taste and nutriments when used this way.

458.  Purslane.  Portulaca oleracea.—­Two kinds of Purslane, the green and the golden, are cultivated.  These are eaten with vinegar, &c. the same as other salad oils, and are a fine vegetable in warm weather.  The seeds are usually sown in the spring.

459.  Radish.  Raphanus sativus.—­The varieties in cultivation are,

The Early Scarlet.  The Early Purple Short-top.  The Salmon Radish.  The White Turnip Radish.  The Red Turnip Radish.  The Black Spanish.

The above are sown almost every month in the year, and when the weather is fine, every good garden may have a supply all the year of those useful and wholesome vegetables.

The black Spanish radish is a large rooted variety usually sown in August, and is eaten in the winter season.

The poor labouring man’s fare, which is usually eaten under the hedge of the field of his employment, is often accompanied with a dried onion; and was this root more known than it generally is, it would yield him, at the expense of two-pence, with a little labour in his cottage garden, an equally pleasant and more useful sauce to his coarse but happy meals.  I have observed many instances of this oeconomy amongst the labouring classes in my youth, but fear it is not quite so commonly made use of in the present day.

460.  Radish, horse.  Cochlearia Armoracea.—­The root of this vegetable is a usual accompaniment to the loyal and standard English dishes, the smoking baron and the roast surloin; with which it is most generally esteemed.

It should not be passed unnoticed here, that this very grateful and wholesome root is not at all times to be eaten with impunity.  One or two instances of its deleterious effects have been witnessed by my much esteemed friend Dr. Taylor, the worthy Secretary at the Society of Arts, and which he has communicated to me.  I shall insert his own words, particularly as it may be the means of preventing the botanical student from falling into the same error, after arriving with the usual good appetite, from his recreative task of herborizing excursions.  “Some gentlemen