con and
beans have thus been associated for centuries, and New England owes to
Assyria the model for the present Boston bean-pot. In the best table-bean,
either Lima or the butter-bean, will be found in a hundred parts, thirty
of nitrogen, fifty-six of starch, one and a half of cellulose, two of
fatty matter, three and a half of saline, and eight and a half of water.
The proportion of nitrogen is less in pease, but about the same in
lentils. The chestnut also comes under this head, and is largely eaten in
Spain and Italy, either boiled, or dried and ground into flour.

TUBERS and ROOTS follow, and of these the _Potato_ leads the van. Low as
you may have noticed their standing on the food-table to be, they are the
most economical and valuable of foods, combining as well with others, and
as little cloying to the palate, as bread itself. Each pound of potatoes
contains seven hundred and seventy grains of carbon, and twenty-four
grains of nitrogen; each pound of wheat-flour, two thousand grains of
carbon, and one hundred and twenty of nitrogen. But the average cost of
the pound of potatoes is but one cent; that of the pound of wheat, four.
It is obtainable at all seasons, and thus invaluable as a permanent store,
though best in the winter. Spring, the germinating season, diminishes its
nutritive value. New potatoes are less nutritious than older ones, and in
cooking, if slightly underdone, are said to satisfy the appetite better;
this being the reason why the laboring classes prefer them, as they say,
"with a bone in them."

In a hundred parts are found but two of nitrogen, eighteen of starch,
three of sugar, two-tenths of fat, seven-tenths of saline matter, and
seventy-five parts of water. The _Sweet-potato_, _Yam_, and _Artichoke_
are all of the same character. Other _Tubers_, the _Turnip_, _Beet_,
_Carrot_, and _Parsnip_, are in ordinary use. The turnip is nine-tenths
water, but possesses some valuable qualities. The beet, though also
largely water, has also a good deal of sugar, and is excellent food.
Carrots and parsnips are much alike in composition. Carrots are generally
rejected as food, but properly cooked are very appetizing, their greatest
use, however, being in soups and stews.

HERBACEOUS ARTICLES follow; and, though we are not accustomed to consider
_Cabbage_ as an herb, it began existence as cole-wort, a shrub or herb on
the south coast of England. Cultivation has developed it into a firm round
head; and as