Preface of Culinary Herbs, Their Cultivation, Harvesting, Curing, and Uses This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Larry Wilson Culinary Herbs, Their Cultivation, Harvesting, Curing, and Uses by Maurice Grenville Keynes Ah, Zephyrus, Artyre, and Flora, too. Ye tender bibbers of the rain and dew. Young playmates of the rose and daffodil. Be careful ere ye enter in to fill your baskets high with fennel, green and balm and golden pines. Savory latter mint and column vines. Cool parsley, basil sweet, and sunny tine. Ye every flower and leaf of every clime. Withered in the dewy mourn, high, away, fly, fly. Keats in Demian Preface A small boy who wanted to make a good impression once took his little sweetheart to an ice cream parlor. After he had vainly searched the list of edibles for something within his means, he whispered to the waiter, What you got that looks Tony and tastes nice for nineteen cents. This is precisely the predicament in which many thousand people are today. Like the boy they have skinny purses, voracious appetites, and mighty yearnings to make the best possible impression within their means. Perhaps having been invited out, they learned by actual demonstration that the herbs are culinary magicians, which convert cheap cuts and scraps into toothsome deities. They are thus aroused to the fact that by using herbs they can afford to play host and hostess to a larger number of hungry and envious friends than ever before. Maybe it is mainly due to these yearnings, and to the memories of mothers and grandmothers' famous dishes that so many inquiries concerning the propagation, cultivation, curing, and uses of culinary herbs are asked of authorities on gardening and cookery. And maybe it is because no one has really loved the herbs enough to publish a book on the subject. That herbs are easy to grow, I can abundantly attest, for I have grown them all. I can also bear ample witness to the fact that they reduce the cost of high living if by that phrase is meant pleasing the palate without offending the purse. For instance, a few days ago a friend paid twenty cents for soup beef and five cents for soup greens. The addition of salt, pepper, and other ingredients brought the initial cost up to twenty-nine cents. This made enough soup for ten or twelve liberal servings. The lean meat removed from the soup was minced and mixed with not more than ten cents worth of diced potatoes, stale bread crumbs, milk, seasoning, and herbs before being baked as a supper dish for five people who by their bland smiles and scotch plates attested that the Vians both looked Tony and tasted nice. I am glad to acknowledge my thanks to Mr. N. R. Graves of Rochester, New York and Professor R. L. Watts of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural College for the photographic illustrations and to Mr. B. F. Williamson, the orange-jad company's artist for the pen and ink drawings which adds so much to the value attractiveness and interest of these pages. If this book shall instill or awaken in its readers the wholesome though cupboard love that the culinary herbs deserve both as permanent residents of the garden and as masters of the kitchen, it will have accomplished the object for which it was written. N. G. Keynes, New York, 1912 End of Preface Section 1 of Culinary Herbs Their Cultivation, Harvesting, Curing, and Uses This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Jennifer Fornier, Marshall, Virginia Culinary Herbs Their Cultivation, Harvesting, Curing, and Uses by Maurice Grenville Keynes Culinary Herbs In these days of jaded appetites, condiments, and canned goods, how fondly we turn from the dreary monotony of the dainty menu to the memory of the satisfying dishes of our mothers. What made us, like Oliver Twist, ask for more? Were those flavors real or was it association and natural youthful hunger that enticed us? Can we ever forget them? Or what is more practical? Can we again realize them? We may find the secret and the answer in Mother's Garden. Let's peep in. The garden, as in memory we view it, is not remarkable except for its neatness and perhaps the mixing of flowers, fruits, and vegetables as we never see them jumbled on the table. Strawberries and onions, carrots and currants, potatoes and poppies, apples and sweet corn, and many other as strange comrades all grow together in Mother's Garden in the utmost harmony. All these are familiar friends. But what are those plants near the kitchen? They are Mother's Sweet Herbs. We have never seen them on the table. They never played leading roles such as those of the cabbage and the potato. They are merely members of the cast, which performed the small but important parts in the production of the pleasing tout ensemble. Soup, stew, sauce, or salad, the remembrance of which, like that of a well-staged and well-acted drama, lingers in the memory long after the actors are forgotten. Probably no culinary plants have, during the last fifty years, been so neglected, especially during the ready-to-serve food campaign of the closed quarter-century did they suffer most. But they are again coming into their own. Few plants are so easily cultivated and prepared for use. With the exception of the onion, none may be so effectively employed, and none may so completely transform the leftover as to tempt an otherwise bockey appetite to indulge in a second serving without being urged to perform the homely duty of eating it to save it. Indeed, sweet herbs are, or should be, the boon of the housewife, since they make for both pleasure and economy. The soup may be made of the most wholesome, nutritious, and even costly materials. The fish may be boiled or baked to perfection. The joint or the roast and the salad may be otherwise faultless. But if they lack flavor, they will surely fail in their mission, and none of the neighbors will plot to steal the cook, as they otherwise might did she merit the reputation that she otherwise might by using culinary herbs. This doleful condition may be prevented, and the cook enjoy an enviable esteem by the judicious use of herbs, singly or in combination. It is greatly to be regretted that the uses of these humble plants, which seem to fall lower than the dignity of the title vegetable, should be so little understood by intelligent American housewives. In the flavoring of prepared dishes, we Americans, people, as the French say, of one sauce, might well learn a lesson from the example of the English matron, who usually considers her kitchen incomplete without a dozen or more sweet herbs, either powdered or in decoction, or preserved in both ways. A glance into a French or a German culinary department would probably show more than a score. But a careful search in an American kitchen would rarely reveal as many as half a dozen, and in the great majority probably only parsley and sage would be brought to light. Yet these humble plants possess the power of delivering even unpalatable and insipid dishes, pecanth and appetizing, and this too at a surprisingly low cost. Indeed, most of them may be grown in an out-of-the-way corner of the garden, or if no garden be available, in a box of soil upon a sunny windowsill, a method adopted by many foreigners living in tenement houses in New York and Jersey City. Certainly they may be made to add to the pleasure of living, and as Solomon declares, better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox with contention. It is to be regretted that the moving picture show and the soda-water fountain have such an influence in breaking up old-fashioned family evenings at home when everyone gathered around the evening lamp to enjoy homemade dainties. In those good old days the young man was expected to become acquainted with the young woman in the home. The girl took pride in serving solid and liquid culinary goodies of her own construction. Her mother, her all-sufficient guide, mapped out the shore, safe, and Orthodox highway to a man's heart and saw to it that she learned how to play her cards with skill and precision. Those were the days when a larger proportion lived happily ever after, than in modern times, when recreation and refreshment are sought more frequently outside than inside the walls of home. But it is not too late to learn the good old ways over again and enjoy the good old culinary dainties. Whoever relishes the summer cups at cheer but do not inebriate may add considerably to his enjoyment by using some of the sweet herbs. Spearmint adds to lemonade the pleasing pungency it has readily imparts to a less harmful but more notorious beverage. The blue or pink flowers of borage have long been famous for the same purpose, though they are perhaps often are added to a mixture of honey and water, to grape juice, raspberry vinegar, or strawberry acid. All that is needed is an awakened desire to re-establish home comforts and customs. Then, a little later experimentation will soon fix the herb habit. The list of home confections may be very pleasingly extended by candying the aromatic roots of loveage and thus raising up a rival to the candied ginger said to be imported from the Orient. If anyone likes coriander and caraway, I confess that I don't. He can sugar the seeds to make those little comforts, the candies of our childhood, which our mothers tried to make us think we liked to crunch either separately or sprinkled on our birthday cakes. Those were before the days when somebody's name was stamped on every piece to aid digestion. Can we ever forget the picnic when we had certain kinds of sandwiches? Our mothers minced sweet fennel, the tender leaves of sage, marjoram, or several other herbs, mixed them with cream cheese and spread a layer between two thin slices of bread. Perhaps it was the swimming or the three-legged racing or the swinging or all put together that put a razor edge on our appetites and made us relish those sandwiches more than was perhaps polite. But will we not, all of us who ate them, stand ready to dispute with all comers that it was the flavors that made us forget our manners? But sweet herbs may be made to serve another pleasing and aesthetic purpose. Many of them may be used for ornament, a bouquet of the pale pink blossoms of thyme and the delicate flowers of marjoram, the fragrant sprigs of lemon balm mixed with the bright yellow umbels of sweet fennel, the finely divided leaves of roux and the long glassy ones of bourgeoisie is not only novel in appearance but in odor. In sweetness it excels even sweet peas and roses. Mixed with the brilliant red berries of Barbary and multi-flora rose and the dark green branches of the hardy thyme, which continues fresh and sweet through the year, a handsome and lasting bouquet may be made for a midwinter table decoration, a fragrant reminder of Shakespeare's lines in a winter's tale. Here's flowers for you, hot lavender, mince, savory, marjoram, the marigold that goes to bed with the sun and with him rises weeping. The rare aroma of sweet marjoram reminds so many city people of their mothers and their grandmother's country gardens that countless muslin bags of the dried leaves sent to town ostensibly for stuffing poultry never reach the kitchen at all but are accorded more honoured places in the living-room. They are placed in the sunlight of a bay window where old Saul may coax forth their prison to odours and perfume the air with memories of childhood summers on the farm. Other memories cling to the delicate little lavender. Not so much because the owner of a well-filled linen closet perfumed her spotless hoard with its fragrant flowers but because of more tender remembrances. Would any country wedding chest be complete without its little silk bags filled with dried lavender buds and blooms to add the finishing touch of romance to the dainty trousseau of linen and lace? What can recall the bridal year so surely as this same kindly lavender? End of Section 1 Section 2 of Culinary Herbs Their Cultivation, Harvesting, Curing and Uses This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Jennifer Fornier, Marshall, Virginia Culinary Herbs Their Cultivation, Harvesting, Curing and Uses by Maurice Grenville Keynes A Dinner of Herbs In an article published in American Agriculturist Dora M. Morrell says, There is an inference that a dinner of herbs is rather a poor thing, one not to be chosen as a pleasure. Perhaps it might be if it came daily but for once in a while try this which I am going to tell you. To prepare a dinner of herbs in its best estate you should have a bed of seasonings such as our grandmothers had in their gardens, rows of sage, of spicy mint, sweet marjoram, summer savoury, fragrant thyme, tarragon, chives and parsley. To these we may add if we take herbs in the scriptural sense, nasturtium, and that toothsome esculent, the onion, as well as lettuce. If you wish a dinner of herbs but have not the fresh, the dried will serve but parsley and mint you can get at most times in the markets or in country gardens where they often grow wild. Do you know, my sister housewife, that if you were to have a barrel sod in half filled with good soil, some holes made in the side and then placed the prepared half-barrel in the sun you could have an herb garden of your own year through even if you live in a city flat. In the holes at the sides you can plant parsley and it will grow to cover the barrel so that you have a bank of green to look upon. On the top of the half-barrel plant your mint, sage, thyme and tarragon. Thyme is so pleasing a plant in appearance and fragrance that you may acceptably give it a place among those you have in your window for ornament. The Belgians make a parsley soup that might begin your dinner or rather your luncheon. For the soup thicken flour and butter together as for drawn butter sauce and when properly cooked thin to soup consistency with milk. Flavor with onion juice, salt and pepper. Just before serving add enough parsley cut in tiny bits to color the soup green. Serve croutons with this. For the next course choose an omelette with fine herbs. Any cookbook will give the directions for making the omelette and all that will be necessary more than the book directs is to have added to it minced thyme, tarragon and chives before folding or they may be stirred into the omelette before cooking. Instead of an omelette you may have eggs stuffed with fine herbs and served in cream sauce. Cut hard-boiled eggs in half the long way and remove the yolks. Mash and season these adding the herbs as finely minced as possible. Shape again like yolks and return to the whites. Cover with a hot cream sauce and serve before it cools. Both of these dishes may be garnished with shredded parsley over the top. With this serve a dish of potatoes scalloped with onion. Prepare by placing in alternate layers the two vegetables. Drain well with salt, pepper and butter and then add milk even with the top layer. This dish is quite hearty and makes a good supper dish of itself. Of course you will not have a meal of this kind without salad. For this try a mixture of nasturtium leaves and blossoms, tarragon, chives, mint, thyme and the small leaves of the lettuce. Adding any other green leaves of the spicy kind which you find to taste good. Then dress these with a simple oil and vinegar dressing. Omitting sugar, mustard or any such flavouring for there is spice enough in the leaves themselves. Pass with these if you will sandwiches made with lettuce or nasturtium dressed with mayonnaise. You may make quite a different thing of them by adding minced chives or tarragon or thyme to the mayonnaise. The French are very partial to this manner of compounding new sauces from the base of the old one. After you do it a few times you also will find it worthwhile. When it comes to a dessert I am afraid you will have to go outside of herbs. You can take a cream cheese and work into it with a silver knife any of these herbs or any two of them that agree with it well and serve it with toasted crackers. Or you can toast your crackers with common cheese grating above it sage and thyme. Whether this dinner of herbs appeals to the reader or not I venture to say that no housewife who has ever stuffed a thanksgiving turkey a Christmas goose or ducks or chickens with home grown, home prepared herbs either fresh or dried will ever after be willing to buy the paper packages or tin cans of semi in odorous prehistoric dust which masquerades equally well as fresh sage, summer savory thyme or something else the only apparent difference being the label. To learn to value herbs at their true worth one should grow them. Then every visitor to the garden will be reminded of some quotation from the Bible or Shakespeare or some other repository of interesting thoughts for since herbs have been loved as long as the race has lived on the earth literature is full of references to facts and fancies concerning them thus the herb garden will become the nucleus around which cluster whorey legends gems of verse and liltes of song and where one almost stoops to remove his shoes for the wisdom of the ages blooms anew among the sages. End of Section 2 Section 3 of culinary herbs their cultivation, harvesting curing and uses this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Jennifer Fornier Marshall, Virginia culinary herbs their cultivation harvesting, curing and uses by Maurice Grenville Canes culinary herbs defined beginning through production of new varieties it may be said that sweet or culinary herbs are those annual biennial or perennial plants whose green parts, tender roots or ripe seeds have an aromatic flavor and fragrance do either to a volatile oil or to other chemically named substances peculiar to the individual species since many of them have pleasing odors they have been called sweet and since they have long been used in cookery to add their characteristic flavors to soups, stews dressings, sauces and salads they are popularly called culinary this last designation is less happy than the former since many other herbs such as cabbage, spinach, kale dandelion and collards are also culinary herbs these vegetables are however probably more widely known as pot herbs or greens history it seems probable that many of the flowering herbs now in use were similarly employed before the erection of the pyramids and also that many then popular no longer appear in modern lists of escalants of course this statement is based largely upon imperfect records perhaps in many cases only hints more or less doubtful as to the various species but it seems safe to conclude that a goodly number of the herbs discussed in this volume especially those said to be natives of the Mediterranean region overhung and perfumed the cradle of the human race in the Orient and marked the footsteps of our rude progenitors as they strode more and more sturdily toward the horizon of promise it seems to gain support also from the fact that certain eastern peoples whom modern civilization declares to have uneducated tastes still employ many herbs which have dropped by the wayside of progress or like the caraway and the redoubtable poosley an anciently popular pot herb are but known in western lands as troublesome weeds relying upon biblical records alone several herbs were highly esteemed prior to our era in the gospels of Matthew and Luke references made to ties of mint, anise, rue, cumin and other herbs and more than 700 years previously Isaiah speaks of the sowing and threshing of cumin which since the same passage Isaiah 28-25 also speaks of fitches vetches wheat, barley and rye seems then to have been a valued crop the development of the herb crops contrasts strongly with that of the other crops to which reference has just been made whereas these latter have continued to be staples and to judge by their behavior during the last century may be considered to have improved in quality and yield since that ancient time the former have dropped to the most subordinate position of all food plants they have lost in number of species and have shown less improvement than perhaps any other groups of plants cultivated for economic purposes during the century just closed only one species, parsley may be said to have developed more than an occasional improved variety and even during this period the list of species seems to have been somewhat curtailed tansy, hissep, whorehound, and several others being considered of too pronounced and even unpleasant flavor to suit cultivated palates with the exception of these few species, the loss of which seems not to be serious this absence of improvement is to be regretted because with improved quality would come increased consumption and consequent beneficial results in the appetizing flavor of the foods to which herbs are added and greatly improved varieties of most species can hardly be expected until a just appreciation has been awakened in individual cultivators who probably in a majority of cases will be lovers of plants rather than men who earn their living by market gardening until the public better appreciates the culinary herbs there will be a comparatively small commercial demand until the demand is sufficient to make growing herbs profitable upon an extensive scale market gardeners will devote their land to crops which are sure to pay well hence the opportunity to grow herbs as an adjunct to gardening is the most likely way that they can be made profitable and yet there is still another namely growing them for sale in the various prepared forms and selling them in glass or tin receptacles in the neighborhood or by advertising in the household magazines there surely is a market and a profitable one if rightly managed and with right management and profit is to come desire to have improved varieties such varieties can be developed at least as readily as the wonderful modern chrysanthemum has been developed from an insignificant little wildflower not half as interesting or promising originally as our common oxide daisy a well known field weed not the least object of this volume is therefore to arouse just appreciation of the opportunities awaiting the herb grower besides the very large and increasing number of people who take pleasure in the growing of attractive flowering and foliage plants find vegetables and choice fruits there are many who would find positive delight in the breeding of plants for improvement of the origination of new varieties and who would devote much of their leisure time to this work make it a hobby did they know the simple underlying principles for their benefit therefore the following paragraphs are given production of new varieties besides the gratification that always accompanies the growing of plants there is in plant breeding the promise that the progeny in some way be better than the parent and there is the certainty that when a stable variety of undoubted merit has been produced it can be sold to an enterprising seedsman for general distribution in this way the amateur may become a public benefactor reap the just reward of his labors and keep his memory green the production of new varieties of plants is a much simpler process than is commonly proposed it consists far more in selecting and propagating the best specimens than in any so called breeding with the majority of the herbs this is the most likely direction in which to seek success suppose we have sown a packet of parsley seed and we have 5000 seedlings among these a lot will be so weak that we will naturally pass them by when we are choosing plantlets to put in our garden beds here is the first and simplest kind of selection by this means and by not having space for a great number of plants in the garden we probably get rid of 80% of the seedlings almost surely the least desirable ones suppose we have transplanted 1000 seedlings where they are to grow and produce leaves for sale or home use among these provided the seed has been good and true at least 90% will be about alike in appearance productivity and otherwise the remaining plants may show variations so striking as to attract attention some may be tall and scraggly some may be small and puny others may be light green still others dark green and so on but there may be one or two plants that stand out conspicuously as the best of the whole lot these are the ones to mark with a stake so they will not be molested when the crop is being gathered and so they will attain their fullest development these best plants and only these should then be chosen as the seed bearers no others should be allowed even to produce flowers when the seed has ripened that from each plant should be kept separate during the curing year and when spring comes again each lot of seed should be sown by itself when the seedlings are transplanted they should be kept apart and labeled number one, number two, number three, etc so the progeny of each parent plant can be known and its history kept the process of selecting the seedlings the second year is the same as in the first the best are given preference when being transplanted in the beds all sorts of variations even more pronounced than the first year may be expected the effort with the seedlings derived from each parent plant should be to find the plants that most closely resemble their own parents and to manage these just as the parents were managed no other should be allowed to flower this process is to be continued from year to year if the selection is carefully made the grower will soon rejoice because he will observe a larger and a larger number of plants approaching the type of plant he has been selecting for in time practically the whole plantation will be coming true to type and he will have developed a new variety if his ideal is such as to appeal to the practical man the man who grows parsley for money and if the variety is superior to varieties already grown the originator will have no difficulty in disposing of his stock of seed and plants if he so desires to a seedsman who will gladly pay a round price in order to have exclusive control of the new creation or he may contract with a seedsman to grow seed of the new variety for sale to the trade it may be said further that new varieties may be produced by placing the pollen from the flowers of one plant upon the pistols in the flowers of another and then covering the plant with fine gauze to keep insects out with the herbs however this method seems hardly worthwhile because the flowers are as a rule very small and the work necessarily finicky and because there are already so few varieties of most species that the operation may be left to the activities of insects it is for this reason however that none but the choicest plants should be allowed to bloom so none but desirable pollen may reach and fertilize the flowers of the plants to be used as seed producers end of section 3 please visit LibriVox.org recorded by Dustin Thomas Culinary Herbs Their Cultivation, Harvesting, Curing and Uses by Maurice Greenville Keynes Culinary Herbs Defined Status and Uses to Methods of Curing Status and Uses some readers of a statistical turn of mind may be disappointed to learn that figures as to the value of the annual crops of individual herbs the acreage in order to each the average cost yield and profit and acre etc are not obtainable and that the only way of determining the approximate standing of the various species is the apparent demand for each in the large markets and stores unquestionably the greatest call is for parsley which is used in restaurants and hotels more extensively as a garnish than any other herb in this capacity it ranks about equal with watercress and lettuce which both find their chief uses as salads as a flavoring agent it is probably less used than sage but more than any of the other herbs it is chiefly employed in dressings with mild meats such as chicken turkey venison veal with baked fish and for soups stews and sauces especially those used with boiled meats fish and fricassees of the meats mentioned thus it has a wider application than any other of the culinary herbs sage which is a strongly flavored plant is used chiefly with such fat meats as pork goose duck and various kinds of game large quantities are mixed with sausage meat and in some countries with certain kinds of cheese throughout the united states it is probably the most frequently called in requisition of all herbs probably outranking any two of the others with the exception of parsley time and savory stand about equal and are chiefly used like parsley though both especially the former are used in certain kinds of sausage marjoram which is similarly employed comes next then follow bomb, fennel and basil these milder herbs are often mixed with much of the same reason that certain simple perfumes are blended to produce a new odor combination of herbs resulting in a new compound flavor such compounds are utilized in the same way that the elementary herbs are in classes by themselves are tarragon and spearmint the former of which is chiefly used in the coxswain and the flavoring of fish sauces and the latter as the universal dressing with spring lamb mint has also a more convivial use but this seems more the province of the WCTU than of this book to discuss dill is probably the most important of the herbs whose seeds rather than their leaves are used in flavoring food other than confectionary it plays its chief role in the pickle barrel amidst quantities of cucumber pickles flavored principally with dill are used in the restaurants of the larger cities and also by families the foreign born citizens and their descendants being the chief consumers the demand for these pickles is met by the leading pickle manufacturer who prepare special brands generally according to german recipes and sell them to the deliocatessen and the grocery stores if they were to rely upon me for business they would soon go bankrupt to my palette the dill pickle appeals as almost the acame of disagreeableness notable instances of uses the flavors of the various herbs cover wide range commencing with fennel and ending with sage and are capable of a wide application in one case which came under my observation the cook made a celery flavored stew of some meat scraps not being wholly consumed the surviving debris appeared a day or two later in company with other odds and ends as the chief actor in a meat pie flavored with parsley alas left over again nevermind muse the cook and no one who partook of the succeeding stew discovered the lurking parsley and its overpowered progenitor the celery under the effectual disguise of summer savory by an unforeseen circumstance the fragments remaining from this last stew did not continue the cycle and disappear in another pie had this been their fate however their presence could have been completely obscured by sage this problem in perpetual progression of culinary homopathy can be practiced in any kitchen but hush tell it not in the dining room methods of curing celery herbs may be divided into three groups those who foliage furnishes the flavor those whose seed is used and those whose roots are prepared in the kitchen foliage herbs are employed either green or as decoctions or dried each way with its special advocates green herbs if freshly and properly gathered are richest in flavoring substances and when adding to sauces fricases, stews, etc reveal their freshness by their particles as well as by their decidingly finer flavor in salads they almost entirely supplement both the dried and the decocted herbs since their fresh colors are pleasing to the eye and their crispness to the palate where the specks of the dried herbs would be objectionable and both these and the decoctions impart a somewhat inferior flavor to such dishes since herbs cannot, however always be obtained throughout the year unless they are grown in window boxes they are infused or dried both infusing and drying are similar processes in themselves but for the best results they are dependent upon the observance of a few simple rules no matter in what condition or for what purpose they are to be used the flavors of foliage are invariably best in well-developed leaves and shoots still in full vigor of growth with respect to the plant as a whole these flavors are most abundant and pleasant just before the flowers appear and since they are generally due to essential oils which are quickly dissipated by heat they are more abundant in the morning than after the sun has reached the zenith as a general rule, therefore best results with foliage herbs especially those to be used for drying and infusing may be secured when the plant seemed ready to flower the harvest being made as soon as the dew has dried and before the day has become very warm the leaves of parsley, however may be gathered as soon as they attain that deep green characteristic of the mature leaf and since the leaves are produced continuously for many weeks, the mature ones may be removed every week or so a process which encourages the further production of foliage postpones the appearance of the flowering stem to make good infusions the freshly gathered clean foliage should be liberally packed in stopper jars covered with the choiciest vinegar and the jars kept closed in a week or two, the fluid will be ready to use, but in using it trials must be made to ascertain its strength and the quantity necessary to use, usually only the clear liquid is employed sometimes, however, as with mint the leaves are very finely minced before being bottled and both liquid and particles employed tarragon, mint, and the seed herbs such as dill are perhaps more often used in ordinary cookery as infusions than otherwise an objection to the cautions is that the flavor of vinegar is not always desired in a culinary preparation and neither is that of alcohol or wine which are sometimes used in the same way as vinegar end of culinary herbs defined status and uses to methods of curing section 5 of culinary herbs, their cultivation harvesting, curing, and uses this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Betty B culinary herbs their cultivation, harvesting curing, and uses by Maurice Grenville Keynes culinary herbs defined drying and storage herbs as garnishes drying and storing when only a small quantity of an herb is to be dried the old plan of hanging loose bunches from the ceiling of a warm dry attic or a kitchen will answer better perhaps is the use of trays covered with clean stout manila paper upon which thin layers of the leaves are spread these are placed either in hot sunlight or in the warm kitchen where warm air circulates freely they must be turned once a day until all the moisture has been evaporated from the leaves and the softer more delicate parts have become crisp then they may be crunched and crumbled between the hands the stalks and the hard parts rejected and the powder placed in airtight glass or earthenware jars or metal cans stored in a cool place if there be the slightest trace of moisture in the powder it should be still further dried to ensure against mold prior to any drying process the cut leaves and stems should be thoroughly washed to get rid of any trace of dirt before being dried as noted above the water should all be allowed to evaporate evaporation may be hastened by exposing the herbs to a breeze in a shallow basket, a wire tray or upon a table while damp there is little danger of their being blown away as they dry however the current of air should be more gentle the practice of storing powdered herbs in paper or paste board packages is bad since the delicate oils readily diffuse through the paper and sooner or later the material becomes as valueless for flavoring purposes as ordinary hay or straw this loss of flavor is particularly noticeable with sage which is one of the easiest herbs to spoil by bad management even when kept in airtight glass or tin receptacles as recommended it generally becomes useless before the end of two years when large quantities of herbs are to be cured a fruit evaporator may be employed the herbs being spread thinly upon wire bottom trays so that an ample current of air may pass through them hair must be taken to keep the temperature inside the machine below 120 degrees the greatest efficiency can be secured by placing the trays of most recently gathered herbs at the top the partially dried ones being lowered to positions nearer the source of heat in this way the fresh dry warm air comes in contact first with the herbs nearly dried removes the last vestige of moisture from them and after passing through the intervening trays comes to those most recently gathered unless the evaporator be fitted with some mechanism which will permit all the trays to be lowered simultaneously the work of changing the trays may seem too irksome to be warranted but where no changes of trays are made greater care must be given to the bottom trays because they will dry out faster than those at the top indeed in such cases after the apparatus is full it becomes almost essential to move the trays lower because if fresh green herbs particularly those which are somewhat wet be placed at the bottom of the series the air will become so charged with moisture from them that the upper layers may for a time actually absorb this moisture and thus take longer to dry besides this will surely lose some of their flavoring ingredients the very things which it is desired to save no effort should be made to hasten the drying process by increasing the temperature since this is likely to result as just mentioned a personal experience may teach the reader a lesson I once had a large amount of parsley to cure and thought to expedite matters by using the oven of a gas stove suffice it to tell that the whole quantity was ruined not a pinch was saved in spite of the closest regulation the heat grew too great and the flavor was literally cooked out of the leaves the delicate oil saturated everything in the house and for a week or more the whole place smelled as if chicken fricassee was being made upon a wholesale plan except as garnishes herbs are probably more frequently used in a dry state than in all other ways put together perhaps this is because the method of preparing them seems simpler than that of infusion because large quantities may be kept in small spaces and because they can be used for every purpose that the fresh plants or the decoctions can be employed in general however they are called into requisition principally in dressings, soups stews and sauces in which their particles are not considered objectionable if clear sauces or soups are desired the dried herbs may still be used to impart the flavor their particles being removed by straining the method of preparing dill, anise, caraway and other herbs whose seed is used differs from that employed with the foliage herbs mainly in the ripeness of the plants these must be gathered as soon as they show signs of maturity but before the seeds are ready to drop from them in all this work a special care must be paid to the details of cleaning for a pleasing appearance the seed heads must be gathered before they become the least bit weather beaten this is as essential as to have the seed ripe next the seed must be perfectly clean free from chaff bits of broken stems and other debris much depends upon the manner of handling as well as upon harvesting care must be taken in threshing to avoid bruising the seeds particularly the oily ones by pounding too hard or by tramping upon them threshing should never be done in damp weather always when the air is very dry in clear weather after the dew has disappeared the approximately ripe plants or seed heads must be harvested and spread thinly never packed firmly upon stout cloth such as ticking, sale cloth or factory cotton a warm open shed where the air circulates freely is an admirable place since the natural temperature of the air is sufficient in the case of seeds to bring about good results usually in less than a week the tops will have become dry enough to be beaten out with a light flail or a rod in this operation great care must be taken to avoid bruising or otherwise injuring the seed the beating should therefore be done in a sheet spread upon a lawn or at least upon short grass the force of the blows will thus be lessened and bruising avoided for cleaning herb seeds sieves in all sizes from number 2 to number 40 are needed the sizes represent various fineness of mesh all above number 8 should be a brass wire because brass is considerably more durable and less likely to rust than iron the cloths upon which the herbs are spread should be as large as the floor upon which the threshing is to be done except when the floor is without cracks but it is more convenient to use cloths always because they facilitate handling and temporary storing light cotton duck is perhaps best but the weave must be close a convenient size is 10 by 10 feet after the stalks have been removed the seed should be allowed to remain for several days longer in a very thin layer the thinner the better and turned every day to remove the last vestige of moisture it will be even better still to have the drying sheet suspended so air may circulate below as well as above the seed not less than a week for the smallest seeds and double that time for the larger ones is necessary to avoid loss or injury it is imperative that the seed be dry before it is put in the storage packages of course if infusions are to be made all this is unnecessary the seed may be put in the liquor as soon as the broken stems etc are removed subsequent to threshing herbs as garnishes as garnishes several of the culinary herbs are especially valuable this is particularly true of parsley which is probably more widely used than any other plant it is only close rivals being watercress and lettuce which however are generally inferior to it in delicacy of tint and form of foliage the two cardinal virtues of a garnish parsley varieties belong to three principal groups based upon the form of the foliage one, plain varieties in which the leaves are nearly as they are in nature two, moss curled varieties in which they are curiously and pleasingly contorted and three, fernleaved in which the foliage is not curled much divided into thread-like parts the moss curled varieties are far more popular than the other two groups put together and are the only ones used especially as garnishes with meat dishes in the hotels and restaurants of the large cities the plainleaved sorts cannot be compared in any way except in flavor with the varieties of the other groups but the fernleaved kinds which unfortunately have not become commercially well known surpass even the finest varieties of the moss curled group not only in their exquisite and delicate form but in their remarkably rich dark green coloring and blendings of light and shade but the mere fact that these varieties are not known in the cities should not preclude their popularity in suburban and town gardens and in the country where every householder is monarch of his own soil and can satisfy very many aesthetic and gustatory desires without reference to market dictum that being alike of the market gardener and his customer several other herbs tansy, savory, thyme marjoram, basil and balm make pretty garnishes but since they are not usually considered so pleasant to nibble at they are rarely used the pleasing effect of any garnish may be heightened by adding here and there a few herb flowers such as thyme or savory other flowers may be used in the same way for instance, nasturtium there is no reason why herbs so used should not be employed several times over and afterwards dried or bottled in vinegar if they be free from gravy, oils, fats, etc and if in sufficient quantity to make such a use worthwhile other pretty garnishes which are easily obtained are corn salad, pepper grass mustard, fennel and young leaves of carrot but surpassing all these pleasing and novel effects are the curled, pink, red and white-leaved varieties of chicory and nasturtium flowers alone or resting upon parsley or other delicate foliage so much by way of digression End of Section 5 Section 6 of culinary herbs their cultivation harvesting, curing and uses this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Culinary Herbs their cultivation harvesting, curing and uses by Morris Granville Keynes Culinary Herbs Defined Propagation Seeds Division Most herbs may be readily propagated by means of seeds some however such as tarragon which does not produce seed and several other perennial kinds are propagated by division layers or cuttings in general propagation by means of seed is considered most satisfactory since the seeds in many instances are small or slow to germinate they are usually sown in shallow boxes or seed pans when the seedlings are large enough to be handled they are transplanted to small pots or somewhat deeper flats or boxes a couple of inches being allowed between the plants when the conditions are favourable in the garden that is, when the soil is moist and warm and the season has become settled the plantlets may be removed to permanent quarters if the seed be sown out of doors it is a good practice to sow a few radish seeds in the same row with the herb seeds particularly if these latter take a long time to germinate or are very small as margarine, savoury and time the variety of radish chosen should be a turnip-rooted sort of exceedingly rapid growth and with few and small leaves the radishes serve to mark the rows and thus enable cultivation to commence much earlier than if the herbs were sown alone they should be pulled early the earlier the better after the herb plantlets appear never should the radishes be allowed to crowd the herbs by the narration of a little incident I may illustrate the necessity of sowing these radish seeds thinly having explained to some juvenile gardeners that the radish seeds should be dropped so far apart among the other seeds that they would look lonesome in the bottom of the rows not more than six seeds to the foot and having illustrated my meaning by sowing a row myself I let each one take his turn at sowing while I watched them all went well but alas for precept and example to judge by the general result after the plants were up the seedsmen might justifiably have guaranteed the seed to germinate about five hundred percent because each boy declared that he sowed his rows thinly nevertheless there was a stand of radishes that would have gladdened the heart of a lawn-maker the rows looked like regiments drawn up in close order and not as was desired merely lines of scattered skirmishers in many places there were more than one hundred to the foot fortunately the variety of quick maturing kind and the crop for such it became was harvested before any damage was done the slow-appearing seedlings whose positions the radishes were intended to indicate cuttings no herbs are so easy to propagate by means of cuttings as spearmint, peppermint and their relatives which have underground stems every joint of these stems will produce a new plant if placed in somewhat moist soil often however this ability is a disadvantage because the plants are prone to spread and become a nuisance unless watched hence such plants should be placed where they will not have their roots cut by tools used close to them when they seem to be extending their borders should be trimmed with a sharp spade pushed vertically full-depth into the soil and all the earth beyond the clump thus restricted should be shaken out with a garden fork and the cut pieces of mint removed further the forked over-ground should be hoed every week during the remainder of the season to destroy lurking plantlets the other perennial and biannual herbs may be readily propagated by means of stem cuttings or slips generally as easy to manage as verbenas, geraniums and other house plants the cuttings may be made of either fully ripened wood of the preceding or the current season or they may be of firm not succulent green stems after trimming off all but a few of the upper leaves which should be clipped to reduce transpiration the cuttings never more than four or five inches long should be plunged nearly full depth in well-shaded rather light porous well-drained loam where they should remain undisturbed until they show evidences of growth then they may be transplanted while in the cutting bed they must never be allowed to become dry this is especially true of greenwood cuttings made during the summer these should always have the coolest shadiest corner in the garden the cuttings taken in the spring should be set in the garden as soon as rooted but the summer cuttings especially if taken late should generally be left in their beds until the following spring they may however be removed for winter use to window boxes or the greenhouse benches often the plants grown in window boxes may supply the early cuttings which may be rooted in the house where a greenhouse is available a few plants may be transplanted in autumn either from the garden or from the bed of summer cuttings just mentioned kept in a rather cool temperature during the winter and drawn upon for cuttings as the stems become sufficiently mature the rooting may take place in a regular cutting bench or it may occur in the soil out of doors the plantlets being transplanted to pots as soon as they have rooted well if a large number of plants is desired a hotbed may be called into requisition in early spring and the plants hardened off in cold frames as the season advances hardening off is essential with all plants grown under glass for outdoor planting because unless the plants be endured to outside temperatures before being placed in the open ground they will probably suffer a check if they do not succumb wholly to the unaccustomed conditions if well managed they should be injured not at all layers several of the perennial herbs such as sage, savoury and thyme may be easily propagated by means of layers the stems being pegged down and covered lightly with earth if the moisture and the temperature be favourable roots should be formed in three or four weeks and the stem separated from the parent and planted often there may be several branches upon the stem and each of these may be used as a new plantlet provided it has some roots the rooted part of the main stem attached to it by this method I have obtained nearly one hundred rooted plants from a single specimen of Holtz mammoth sage grown in a greenhouse and from the same plant at the same time I have taken more than one hundred cuttings this is not an exceptional feat with this variety the plants of which are very branchy and often exceed a yard in diameter layering is probably the simplest and most satisfactory method of artificial propagation under ordinary conditions since the stems are almost sure to take root if undisturbed long enough and since rooted plants can hardly fail to grow if properly transplanted then too less apparent time is taken than with plants grown from cuttings and far less than with those grown from seed in other words they generally produce a crop sooner than the plants obtained by the other methods set in operation at the same time division division of the clumps of such herbs as mint is often practiced a sharp spade or a lawn-edger being used to cut the clump into pieces about six inches square the squares are then placed in new quarters and packed firmly in place with soil this method is however the least satisfactory of all mentioned because it too frequently deprives the plants of a large amount of roots thus impairs the growth and during the first season or two may result in unsymmetrical clumps if done in early spring before growth starts least damage is done to the plants artificial methods of propagation especially those of cutage and layerage have the further advantage over propagation by means of seeds in the perpetuation of desired characters of individual plants one or more of which may appear in any plantation these particularly if more productive than the others should always be utilized as stock not merely because their progeny artificially obtained are likely to retain the character and thus probably increase the yield of the plantation but principally because they may form the nucleus of a choice strain except in the respects mentioned these methods of propagation are not notably superior to propagation by means of good seed which by the way is not overabundant by the consumption of a little extra time any desired number of plants may be obtained from seed at any rate seed is what one must start with in nearly every case end of section 6 section 7 of culinary herbs their cultivation harvesting curing and uses this is a labour box recording all labour box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit labourbox.org culinary herbs their cultivation harvesting curing and uses by Maurice Grenville Canes culinary herbs defined transplanting location of herb garden transplanting no more care is required in transplanting herbs than in resetting other plants but unless a few essentials are realized in practice the results are sure to be unsatisfactory of course the ideal way is to grow the plants in small flower pots and when they have formed a ball of roots to set them in the garden the next best is to grow them in seed pans or flats, shallow boxes in which they should be set several inches apart as soon as large enough to handle and in which they should be allowed to grow for a few weeks to form a mass of roots when these plants are to be set in the garden they should be broken apart by hand with as little loss of roots as possible but whether neither of these plants can be practiced as in the growing of the plants in little nursery beds either in hot beds cold frames or in the garden border the plants should be pricked out that is transplanted while very small to a second nursery bed in order to make them stockier and able to take care of themselves when removed to final quarters if this be done there should be no need of clipping back the tops to balance an excessive loss of roots a necessity in case the plants are not so treated or in the case they become large or lanky in the second bed in all cases it is best to transplant when the ground is moist as it is immediately after being dug or plowed but this cannot always be arranged neither can one always count upon a shower to moisten the soil just after the plants have been set if advantage can be taken of an approaching rainfall it should be done because this is the ideal time for transplanting it is much better than immediately after which is perhaps next best transplanting in cloudy weather and toward evening is better than in sunny weather and in the morning since the weather is prone to be coy the manual part of transplanting should always be properly done the plants should always be taken up with as little loss of roots as possible be kept exposed to the air as short a time as possible and when set in the ground have the soil packed firmly about their roots so firmly that the operator may think it is almost too firm after setting the surface soil should be made loose so as to act as a mulch and prevent the loss of moisture from the packed lower layer if the ground be dry a hole may be made beside the plant and filled with water lots of water and when it has soaked away and the soil seems to be drying the surface should be made smooth and loose as already mentioned if possible such time should be avoided because of the extra work entailed and the probable increased loss due to the unfavorable conditions implements when herbs are grown upon a commercial scale the implements needed will be the same as for a general trucking plows, harrows, weeder, etc. to fit the soil for the hand tools much labor can be saved by using hand wheel drills cultivators, weeders and the other tools that have become so wonderfully popular within the past decade or two some typical kinds are shown in these pages these implements are indispensable in keeping the surface soil loose and free from weeds especially between the rows and even fairly close to the plants in doing this they save an immense amount of labor and time since they can be used with both hands and the muscles of the body with less exertion and the hole in the rake require nothing however can take the place of the hand tools for getting among and around the plants the work that weeding entails is tiresome but must be done if success is to crown one's efforts while the plants are little, some of the weeders may be used those with a blade or a series of blades are adapted for cutting weeds off close to the surface those with prongs are useful only for making the soil loose closer to the plants then the rake or be run by the average man those of various types are useful when the plants become somewhat larger or when one does not have the wheel cultivators in all well regulated gardens there should be a little liberal selection of the various wheel and hand tools only one of the hand tools demands any special comment many gardeners like to use a dibble for transplanting with this tool it is so easy to make a hole press the soil against the plant dropped in that hole but I believe that many of the failures in transplanting result from the improper use of this tool unless the dibble may be properly operated the plant may be left suspended in a hole the sides of which are more or less hard and impervious to the tiny tender rootlets that strive to penetrate them from my own observation of the use of this tool I believe that the proper place for the dibble in the novices garden is in the attic side by side with the unloaded shotgun where it may be viewed with apprehension in spite of this warning if anyone is hard enough to use a dibble let him choose the flat style not the round one the proper way is to thrust the tool straight down at right angles to the direction of the row and press the soil back and forth with the flat side of the blade to the hole say 2 or 3 inches across and 5 or 6 inches deep has been formed in the hole the plant let should then be suspended so all the roots and a little of the stem beneath the surface will be covered when the soil is replaced replacing the soil is the important part of the operation the dibble must now be thrust in the soil again parallel and close to the hole and the soil pushed over so the hole would be completely closed from bottom to top firming the soil completes the operation there is much less danger of leaving a hole with the flat than with the round dibble which is almost sure to leave a hole beneath the plant I remember having trouble with some lily plants which were not thriving supposing that insects were at the roots I carefully drew the earth away from one side and found that the earth brought up carefully beneath the bulbs and that the roots were hanging 4 or 5 inches beneath the bulbs and the hole left by the dibble and not properly closed by the careless gardener I therefore warn every dibble user to be sure to crowd over the soil well especially at the lower end of the hole for my own part I rely upon my hands digits existed long before dibbles and they are much more reliable what matter if some soil sticks to them it is not unresponsive to the wooing of water location of herb garden in general the most favorable exposure for an herb garden is toward the south but lacking such an exposure should not deter one from planting herbs on a northern slope if this be the only site available indeed such sites often prove remarkably good if other conditions are propitious and proper attention is given the plants similarly a smooth gentle sloping surface is especially desirable but even in gardens in which the ground is almost billowy the gardener may often take advantage of the irregularities by planting the moisture loving plants in the hollows and those that like dry situations upon the ridges nothing like turning disadvantages to account no matter what the nature of the surface and the exposure it is always advisable to give the herbs the most sunny spots in the garden places where shade from trees barns other buildings and from fences cannot reach them this is suggested because the development of the oils upon which the flavoring of most of the herbs mainly depends is best in full sunshine and the plants have more substance than when grown in the shade section 7 section 8 of culinary herbs their cultivation harvesting curing and uses this is a labor box recording all labor box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit laborbox.org culinary herbs their cultivation harvesting curing and uses by Maurice Grenville Keynes culinary herbs defined the soil in its preparation double cropping as to the kind of soil Hobson's choice ranks first it is not necessary to move into the next county just to have an herb garden this is one of the cases in which the gardener may well make the best of however bad a bargain he has but supposing that a selection be possible a light sandy loam underlaid by a porous subsoil so as to be well drained should be given the preference since it is warmed quickly easily worked and may be stirred early in the season and after remain clay loams are less desirable upon every one of the points mentioned and very sandy soils also but if Hobson has one of these there will be an excellent opportunity to cultivate philosophy as well as herbs and the gardener may be really surprised at the results obtained no harm in trying whatever the quality of the soil it should not be very rich because in such soils the growth is apt to be ranked and the quantity of oil small in proportion to the leafage the preparation of the soil should commence as soon as the grass in the neighborhood is seen to be sprouting well decayed manure should be spread at the rate of not more than double that quantity to the square yard and as soon as the soil is dry enough to crumble readily it should be dug or plowed as deeply as possible without bringing up the subsoil this operation of turning over the soil should be thoroughly performed the earth being pulverized as much as possible to accomplish this no hand tool surpasses the spading fork the other method is however superior especially when practiced upon the heavier soils fall plowing or digging and practicing this method care should be taken to plow late when the soil moistened by autumn rains will naturally come up in big lumps these lumps must be left undisturbed during the winter for frost to act upon all that will be necessary in the spring will be to rake or harrow the ground the clods crumble I once had occasion to try this method upon about 25 acres of land which had been made by pumping mud from a river bottom upon a marsh thus converted into dry ground by the sediment three sturdy horses were needed to do the plowing the earth turned up in chunks as large as a man's body contrary to my plow man's doubts and predictions Jack Frost did a grand milling business that winter clods that could hardly be broken in the autumn with a sledge hammer crumpled down in the spring at the touch of a garden rake cultivation having thoroughly find the surface of the garden by harrowing and raking the seeds may be sown or the plants transplanted as already noted from this time forward the surface must be kept loose and open by surface cultivation every week or 10 days and after every shower that forms a crust until the plants cover the whole ground this frequent cultivation is not merely for the purpose of keeping the weeds in check it is a necessary operation to keep the immediate surface layer powdery in which condition it will act as a mulch to prevent the loss of water from the lower soil layers when kept in perfect condition by frequent stirring the immediate surface should be powdery yes powdery within one inch of the surface however the color will be darker from the presence of moisture when supplied with such conditions failures must be attributed to other causes than lack of water double cropping when desired herbs may be used as secondary crops to follow such early vegetables as early cabbage and peas or if likely to be needed still earlier after radishes, transplanted lettuce and onions grown from scents these primary crops having reached marketable size are removed the ground stirred and the herb plants transplanted from nursery beds or cold frames often the principal herbs sage, savory, majorum and thym are set close together both the rows and the plants in them being nearer than recommended further on the object of such practice is to get several crops in the following way when the plants in the rows commence to crowd one another each alternate plant is removed and sold or cured this may perhaps be done a second time then when the rows begin to crowd each alternate row is removed and the remainder allowed to develop more fully the chief advantages of this practice are not only that several crops may be gathered but each plant being supplied with plenty of room and light will have fewer yellow or dead leaves than when crowded in the diagram the numbers show which plants are removed first second third and last end of section 8 section 9 of culinary herbs their cultivation harvesting curing and uses this is a labor box recording all labor box recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit laborbox.org culinary herbs their cultivation harvesting curing and uses by Maurice Greenville Keynes culinary herbs defined herb relationships those readers who delight to delve among pedigrees genealogies and family connections may perhaps be a little disappointed to learn that in spite of the odorous nature of the herbs there are none whose history reveals a skeleton in the closet they are all harmless now and then to be sure there occurs records of a seemingly compromising nature such as the effects attributed to the eating or even the handling of celery but such accounts harrowing as they may appear are insufficient to warrant a bar sinister indeed not only is the mass of evidence in favor of the defendant but it casts a reflection upon the credibility of the plaintiff who may usually be shown to have indulged immoderately to have been frightened by hallucinations or even to have arraigned the innocent for his own guilt certain it is that there is not one of the sweet herbs mentioned in this volumes that has not long enjoyed a more or less honored place in the cuisine of all the continents and this in spite of the occasional tutings of some would be detractor like those classes of society that cannot move with the four hundred the herbs are very exclusive more exclusive indeed than their superiors the other vegetables very few members have they admitted that do not belong to two approved families and such unrelated ones as do reach the charmed circles must first prove their worthiness and then hold their places by intrinsic merit these two Cotabes are known as the Labiate and the Umbrella Praire the former including the sages mints and their connections the latter the Parsleys and their relatives with the exception of Terragon which belongs to the Composite Parsley and few of its relatives which have deserted their own ranks all the important leaf herbs belong to the Labiate and without a notable exception all the herbs whose seeds are used for flavoring belong to the Umbrella Praire Fennel flower which belongs to the natural order Renunculaceae or Crowfoot family is a candidate for admission to the seed sedality cost Mary and southern wood of the Composite seek membership with the leaf faction Rue of the Ruta Cae and Tanzia of the Composite in spite of suspension for their boldness and ill-breeding occasionally force their way back into the domain of the leaf herbs marigold a composite forms a clique by itself the most exclusive club of all it has admitted no members and there seem to be no candidates the important members of the Labiate are sage Selvia aficionados savoury hortensis savoury winter montana thymus vulgaris majorum oragonum oonites and m vulgari balm aficionados basil cilicum linn and o minimum linn spearmint mentha spitica linn or m veridis linn peppermint mentha piprida linn rosemary rosmarinus aficionados linn clary salvia meribium vulgar linn heisopis vulgaris linn catnip nepeta cataria linn lavender lavendulivera dc el spica dc these plants which are mostly natives of mild climates of the old world are characterized by having square stems opposite simple leaves and branches and more or less two lipped flowers which appear in the axles of the leaves occasionally alone but usually several together forming little whorls which often compose loose or compact spikes or racemies each fertile blossom is followed by four little seed-like fruits in the bottom of the calyx which remains attached to the plant the foliage is generally plentifully dotted with minute glands that contain a volatile upon which depends the aroma and pickwinsy peculiar to the individual species the leading species of the umbilifera are parsley, carum, petrosilinum, benth and hook dill, anethum, gravelins, linn, fennel, phoniculum, aficial, linn, angelica, arch, angelica, aficionalis, hoof, im, anise, pimpinella, anisum, linn, caraway, carum, caraway, linn, coriander, corianderum, sativum, linn, chervil, sandix, serifolium, linn, cumin, or cuminum, cuminum, siminum, linn, lovage, levisticum, aficionel, cauch, samfire, chrythum, maritimum, linn, like the members of the preceding group, the species of the umbilifera are principally natives of mild climates of the old world, but many of them extend farther north into the cold parts of the continent, even beyond the Arctic Circle in some cases. They have cylindrical, usually hollow, stems, alternate, generally compound leaves, the basis of whose stalks in sheath the branches are stems and small flowers almost always arranged in compound, terminal umbels. The fruits are composed of two seed-like dry carpals, each containing a single seed and usually separating when ripe. Each carpal bears five longitudinal, prominent ribs and several, often four, lesser intermediate ones in the intervals between which numerous oiled ducks have their openings from the interior of the fruit. The oil is generally found in more or less abundance, also in other parts of the plant, but is usually most plentiful in the fruits. The members of the compasitae used as sweet herbs are, with the exception of tarragon, comparatively unimportant and except for having their flowers in close heads on a common receptacle surrounded by an involucre, have few conspicuous characters in common, no further space except that required for their enumeration need here be devoted to them and this remark will apply also to the other two herbs mentioned further below. Compasitae Marigold Pot Calundula Oficinalis Lin Tansy Thanacetum Valgaris Lin Tarragon Artemisia Dragunculis Lin Southernwood Artemisia Abrotanum Lin Rutaceae Roo Ruta Gravenolins Lin Boraginaceae Borage Borago Oficinalis Lin Renuculecia Phenolflower Nigella Sativa Lin Before dismissing this section of the subject, it may be interesting to glance over the list of names once more. Seven of these plants were formerly so prominent in medicine that they were designated official and nearly all the others were extensively used by physicians. At the present day there are very few that have not passed entirely out of official medicine and even out of domestic practice, at least so far as their intrinsic qualities are concerned. Some, to be sure, are still employed because of their pleasant flavors, which disguise the disagreeable taste of other drugs. But this is a very different matter. One of the most notable of these is phenol. It wonders could that plant not perform three hundred years ago. In Parkinson's, theatricum botanicum 1640, its virtues are recorded apart from its use as food, for which then, as now, it was highly esteemed without the attachment of any medicinal qualities as an esculent. It was considered efficacious in cases of gout, jauntus, cramps, shortness of breath, wheezing of the lungs, for cleansing of the blood and improving the complexion, to use as an eye water or to increase the flow of milk, as a remedy for serpent bites or an antidote for poisonous herbs and mushrooms, and for people who are grown fat to abate their unwieldliness and make them more gaunt and lank. But let us peep into the nineteenth edition of the United States dispensatory. Can this be the same phenol, which is one of our most grateful aromatics, and which, because of the absence of any highly excitant property, is recommended for mixing with unpleasant medicines, ask any drugist, and he will say it is used for little else nowadays than for making a tea to give babies for wind on their stomachs. Strange, but true it is. Similar statements, if not more remarkable ones, could be made about many of the other herbs herein discussed. Many of these are spoken of as formally considered specific for such and such troubles, but now known to be inert. The cause is not far to seek, and imaginative and superstitious people attached fanciful powers to these and hundreds of other plants which the intervening centuries have been unable wholly to eradicate for among the more ignorant classes, especially of Europe. Many of these relics of a dark age still persist. But let us not gloat over our superior knowledge after a similar lapse of time may not our vaunted wisdom concerning the properties of plants look as ridiculous to the delver among our musty volumes. Indeed, it may, if we may judge by the discoveries and investigations of only the past 50 years during this time, a surprisingly large number of plants have been proved to be not merely innocuous instead of poisonous as they were reputed, but fit for human food and even of superior excellence. End of section 9. Section 10 of Culinary Urrips Their Cultivation, Harvesting, Curing and Uses This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are on the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Culinary Urrips, Their Cultivation, Harvesting, Curing and Uses Angelica, Archangelica Oficinalis, a biennial or perennial herb of the natural order umbiliferae, so called from its supposed medicinal qualities. It is believed to be a native of Syria from once it has spread to many cool European climates, especially Lapland and the Alps, where it has become naturalized. Description. Its roots are long, spindle-shaped, fleshy, and sometimes weigh three pounds. It stems stout, herbaceous, fluted, often more than four feet tall and hollow. Its leaves long stocked, frequently three feet in length, reddish purple at the clasping bases and composed in the larger ones of numerous small leaflets in three principal groups, which are each subdivided into three lesser groups. Its flowers yellowish or greenish, small and numerous in large roundish umbels. Its seeds pale yellow, membrane-shaped, oblong flattened on one side, convex on the other, which is marked with three conspicuous ribs. Cultivation. Since the seeds lose their vitality rapidly, rarely being viable after the first year, they should be sown as soon as ripe in late summer or early autumn, or not later than the following spring after having been kept during the winter in a cold storeroom. The soil should be moderately rich, rather light, deep, well drained, but moist and well supplied with humus. It should be deeply prepared and kept loose and open as long as tools can be used among the plants, which may be left to care for themselves as soon as they shade the ground well. In the autumn, the seeds may be sown where the plants are to remain or preferably in a nursery bed, which usually does not need protection during the winter. In the spring, a mild hot bed, a cold frame, or a nursery bed in the garden may be used according to the earlyness of planting. Half an inch is deep enough to cover the seeds. The seedlings should be transplanted when still small for their first summer's growth, a space of about 18 inches being allowed between them. In the autumn, they should be removed to permanent quarters, the plants being set three feet apart. If well grown, the seeds may be cut for use during the summer after transplanting. The plants may not, however, produce seed until the following season. Unless seed is desired, the top should be cut and destroyed after before flowering time, because if this be not done, the garden is apt to become overrun with Angelica's seedlings. If the seeds are wanted, they should be gathered and treated as indicated on page 28. After producing seed, the plants frequently die, but by cutting down the tops when the flower heads first appear, and thus preventing the formation of seed, the plants may continue for several years longer. Uses. The stems and leaf stalks, while still succulent, are eaten as a salad or roasted and boiled like potatoes. In Europe, they are frequently employed as a garnish, or as an adjunct to dishes of meat and fish. They are also largely used for making Candied Angelica. See below. Formerly, the seeds were blanched like celery and were very popular as a vegetable. Now, they are little used in the United States. The tender leaves are often boiled and eaten as a substitute for spinach. Less in America than in Europe, the seeds, which, like other parts of the plant, are aromatic and bitter-ish, are used for flavoring various beverages, cakes, and candies, especially confit. Oil of Angelica is obtained from the seeds by distillation with steam or boiling water. The vapor being condensed in the oil separated by gravity. It is also obtained in smaller quantity from the roots. 200 pounds of which, it is said, yield only about one pound of the oil. Like the seeds, the oil is used for flavoring. Angelica Candied Green says, the fresh roots, the tender stems, the leaf stocks, and the midribs of the leaves make a pleasing aromatic candy. When fresh-gathered, the plant is rather too bitter for use. This flavor may be reduced by boiling. The parts should first be sliced lengthwise to remove the pith. The length of time will depend somewhat upon the thickness of the pieces. A few minutes is usually sufficient. After removal and draining, the pieces are put in a syrup of granulated sugar and boiled till full candy density is reached. The kettle is then removed from the fire and the contents allowed to cool. When almost cold, the pieces are to be taken out and allowed to dry. End of Section 10. Section 11 of Gullinary Herbs, their cultivation, harvesting, curing, and uses. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Gullinary Herbs, their cultivation, harvesting, curing, and uses. Anis. Pimpinella anisum. An annual herb of the natural order and bulliferae. It is a native of southwest Asia, northern Africa, and southeastern Europe, whence it has been introduced by man throughout the Mediterranean region into Germany and to some extent into other temperate regions of both hemispheres. But seems not to be known anywhere in the wild state or as an escape to the gardens. To judge from its mention in the scriptures, Matthew 23, 23, it was highly valued as a cultivated crop prior to our era, not only in Palestine but elsewhere in the east. Many Greek and Roman authors, especially Diascarides, Theophrastus, Pliny, and Palladius, wrote more or less fully of its cultivation and uses. From their days to the present, it seems to have enjoyed general popularity. In the 9th century, Charlemagne commanded that it be grown upon the mountains. In the 13th, Albertus Magnus speaks highly of it. And since then, many agricultural writers have devoted attention to it. But though it has been cultivated for at least 2000 years and is now extensively grown in Malta, Spain, southern France, Russia, Germany, and India, which mainly supply the market, it seems not to have developed any improved varieties. Description. Its roots are white, spindle shaped, and rather fibrous. It stems about 18 inches tall, branchy, erect, slender, cylindrical. Its root leaves lobe somewhat like those of celery. Its stem leaves more and more finely cut toward the upper part of the stem, near the top of which they resemble fennel leaves in their finely divided segments. Its flowers yellowish-white, small, rather large, and loose umbrils consisting of many umbilits. Its fruits, seeds, greenish-gray, small, ovoid or oblong and outline, longitudinally furrowed and ridged on the convex side, very aromatic, Swedish and pleasantly cont. Cultivation. The seeds, which should be as fresh as possible, never more than two years old, should be sown in permanent quarters as soon as the weather becomes settled in early spring. They should be planted half an inch deep, about half an inch asunder, and drills 15 or 18 inches apart, and the plants thinned when about 2 inches tall to stand 6 inches asunder. An ounce of seed should plant about 150 feet of drill. The plants, which do not transplant readily, thrive best in well-drained, light, rich, rather dry, loamy soils well-exposed to the sun. A light application of well-rotted manure, careful preparation of the ground, clean and frequent cultivation are the only requisites in the management of this crop. In about four months from the sowing of the seed, and in about one month from the appearance of the flowers, the plants may be pulled, or preferably cut, for drying. The climate and the soils in the warmer parts of the northern states appear to be favorable to the commercial cultivation of anise, which it seems should prove a profitable crop under proper management. Uses. The leaves are frequently employed as a garnish for flavoring salads, and to a small extent as pot herbs. Far more general, however, is the use of the seeds, which enters a flavoring into various condiments, especially curry powders, many kinds of cake, pastry and confectionery, and into some kinds of cheese and bread. Anise oil is extensively employed for flavoring many beverages, both alcoholic and non-spiritist, and for disguising the unpleasant flavors of various drugs. The seeds are also ground and compounded with other fragrant materials for making sachet powders, and the oil mixed with other fluids for liquid perfumes. Various similar anise combinations are largely used in perfuming soaps, palmatums, and other toilet articles. The very volatile, nearly colorless oil is usually obtained by distillation with water, and about 50 pounds of seed being required to produce one pound of oil. At Irford, Germany, where much of the commercial oil is made, the hay and the seeds are both used for distilling. End of section 11. Melissa of Fikinalis. A perennial herb of the natural order Libyate. The popular name is a contraction of balsam, the plant having formerly been considered as specific for a host of ailments. The generic name, Melissa, is the Greek for bee, and is an allusion to the fondness of bees for the abundant nectar of the flowers. Balm is a native of Southern Europe, where it was cultivated as a source of honey and as a sweet herb more than 2,000 years ago. It is frequently mentioned in Greek and Latin poetry and prose. Because of its use for anointing, Shakespeare referred to it in the Glorious Lines, King Richard II, Act III, Scene II. Not all the water in the rough, rude sea can wash the balm from an anointed king. As a useful plant, it received attention from the pen of planning. From its home, it has been introduced by man as a garden plant into nearly all temperate climates throughout the world, and is often found as an escape from gardens where introduced, occasionally in this role in the earliest settled of the United States. Very few well-marked varieties have been produced. A very agated one, now grown for ornament as well as for culinary purposes, is probably the same as that mentioned by Maui in 1778. Description The roots are small and fibrous. The stems, about 18 inches tall, very numerous, erect or spreading square. The leaves green, except as mentioned, broadly ovate with toothed margins, opposite, rather succulent, highly scented. The flowers few whitish or purplish in small, loose, axillary, one-sided clusters born from mid-summer until late autumn. The seeds, very small, more than 50,000 to the ounce. Cultivation Balm is readily propagated by means of divisions, layers, cuttings, and by its seeds, which germinate fairly well even when four years old. Owing to its small size, the seeds should be planted in a seed pan or flat in a greenhouse or hot bed where all conditions can be controlled. The soil should be made very fine and fryable. The thinly scattered seeds merely pressed upon the surface with a block or a brick and water applied preferably through the bottom of the seed pan, which may be set in the shallow dish of water until the surface of the soil begins to appear moist. When an inch tall, the seedlings should be pricked out two inches apart in other, deeper flats, and when about four inches tall, set in the garden about one foot of sunder and rose about 18 inches apart. When once established, they may be increased readily by the artificial means mentioned, C-Page 34. Ordinary clean cultivation throughout the season, the removal of dead parts, and care to prevent the plants from spreading unduly are the only requisites of cultivation. Preferably, the soil should be poor, rather dry, little if it all enriched, and in the sunny place. The foliage of seedling plants or plants newly spring set should be ready for use by mid-summer. That of foliage plants from early spring and to late autumn. For home use and market, it should be cured as recommended on page 25, the leaves being very thinly spread and plentifully supplied with air because of their succulents. The temperature should be rather low. Uses The foliage is widely used for flavoring soups, stews, sauces, and dressings, and when fresh to a small extent with salads. Auto or oilabomb obtained by aqueous distillation from the hay is a pale yellow essential and volatile oil highly prized in perfumery for its lemon-like odor and is extensively employed for flavoring various beverages. End of section 12 Recorded by Mel Auto Section 13 of culinary herbs, their cultivation, harvesting, curing, and uses. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recorded by Mel Auto Culinary herbs, their cultivation, harvesting, curing, and uses by Maurice Greenville Canes. Section 13 Basil Basil Okimum Basilicum of an annual herb of the order Labiate. The popular name derived from the specific signifies royal or kingly, probably because of the plant's use in feasts. In France it is known as herb royal royal herb. The generic name is derived from ozah, a Greek word signifying odor. The plant is a native of tropical Asia where for centuries, especially in India, it has been highly esteemed as a condiment. Probably the early Greek and Roman writers were well acquainted with it, but the translators are not decided. They suppose that the Okimon of Hippocrates, Dioscortes, and Theophrastus is the same as Okimum Hortense of Columella and Varo. The plant's introduction into England was about 1548, or perhaps a little earlier, but probably not prior to 1538 because Turner does not mention it in his libelous, published in that year. It seems to have grown rapidly in Italy, for in 1586 light speaks of it as if well known. In America it has been cultivated somewhat for about a century partly because of its fragrant leaves which are employed in bouquets but mainly for flavoring culinary concoctions. In Australia it has also more or less grown and in countries where French commerce or other interests have penetrated it is well known. There are several related species which, in America less than in Europe or the East have attracted attention. The most important of these is dwarf or bush basil, Okimum Minimal, a small Chilean species also reported from coach in China. It was introduced into cultivation in Europe in 1573. On account of its compact form it is popular in gardens as an edging as well as a culinary herb for more than a century it has been grown in America. Sacred basil, Okimum Sanctum is an oriental species is cultivated near temples in India and its odiferous oil extracted for religious uses. Formerly the common species was considered sacred by the Brahmins who used it especially in honor of Vishnu and in funeral rites. An African species, Okimum Fruticosum is highly valued at the Cape of Good Hope for its perfume. Description From the small fibrous roots are tall. They are very branching and leafy. Their leaves are green except as noted below. Ovate, pointed, opposite, somewhat toothed, rather succulent and highly fragrant. The little white flowers which appear in mid-summer are reseemed in leafy worlds followed by small black fruits popularly called the seeds. These, like flaxseed emit imusilaginous substance when soaked in water. About 23,000 weigh an ounce 10 ounces filipined. Their vitality lasts about 8 years. Like most of the other culinary herbs basil has very little in several centuries. There are no well marked varieties of modern origin. Only 3 varieties of common basil are listed in America. Vilmarin lists only 5 French ones. Purple basil has lilac flowers and when grown in the sun also purple leaf stems and young branches. This leaf basil has large pale green blistered and wrinkled leaves like those of lettuce. Its closely set clusters of flowers appear somewhat late. The leaves are larger and fewer than in the common variety. The dwarf species is a more compact branching and dainty than the common species. It has 3 varieties. One with deep violet foliage and stems like lilac white flowers and two with green leaves. One very dense and compact. East Indian or tree basil, Okimum gratissimum a well known species in the Orient seems to have a substitute in Okimum suave also known by the same popular name and presumably the species cultivated in Europe and to some extent in America. It is an upright branching annual which forms a pyramidal bush about 20 inches tall and often 15 inches in diameter. It favors very warm situations in tropical countries. Cultivation. Basil is propagated by seeds. Because these are very small they are best sown in flats under glass covered lightly with finely sifted soil and moistened by standing in a shallow pan of water until the surface shows a wet spot. When about an inch tall the seedlings must be pricked out 2 inches apart each way in larger sized flats. When 3 inches tall put a foot asunder in rows 15 to 18 inches apart. Often the seed is sown in the mellow border as early in the spring as the ground can be worked. This method demands perhaps more attention than the former because of weeds and because the rows cannot be easily seen. When transplanting preference should be given to a sunny situation in a mellow, light, fertile rather dry soil thoroughly well prepared and as free from weeds as possible. From the start the ground must be kept loose, open and clean. When the plants meet in the rows, cultivation may stop. First gatherings of foliage should begin by mid summer when the plants start to blossom. Then they may be cut to within a few inches of the ground. The stump should develop a second and even a third crop if care is exercised to keep the surface clean and open. A little dressing of quickly available fertilizer applied at this time is helpful. For seeds some of the best plants should be left uncut. The seed should ripen by mid-autumn. For winter use plants may be transplanting from the garden or seedlings may be started in September. The seeds should be sown two to the inch and the seedlings transplanted to pots or boxes. A handy pot is a four inch standard. This is large enough for one plant. In flats the plants should be five or six inches apart each way. Basil is one of the most popular herbs in the French cuisine. It is especially relished in mock turtle soup which when correctly made derives its peculiar taste chiefly from the clove-like flavor of basil. In other highly seasoned dishes such as stews and dressings basil is also highly priced. It is less used in salads. A golden yellow essential oil which reddens with age is extracted from the leaves and uses in perfumery more than in the kitchen. The original and famous federal lane sausages formerly popular with cockney epicures owed the reputation mainly to basil. During the reigns of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth farmers grew basil and pots and presented them with compliments to their landlady when these paid their visits. End of section 13 recorded by Mel Otto. Section 14 Colonary herbs. Their cultivation, harvesting, curing, and uses. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recorded by Mel Otto. Colonary herbs. Their cultivation, harvesting, curing, and uses by Maurice Grenville Keynes. Section 14 Borage Borago aficinalis. A coarse, hearty, annual herb of the natural order boriginaceae. Its popular name derived from the generic is supposed by some to have come from corruption of core, the heart, and ago to affect because of its former use as a cordial or heart fortifying medicine. Courage is from the same source. The standard dictionary however points to Borago rough and indicates it indirectly by cross references to Beerus, a thick coarse woollen cloth worn by the poor during the 13th century. The roughness of the full grown leaves suggests flannel. Whichever derivation be correct each is interesting as implying qualities intrinsic or attributed to the plant. The specific name indicates its obsolete use in medicine. It is one of the numerous plants which have shaken off the superstitions almost none, but the least enlightened people now attribute any medicinal virtues whatever to it. The plant is said to come originally from Oelepo, where for centuries has been considered a native of Mediterranean Europe and Africa, once it has become naturalized throughout the world by Europeans who were probably more from medicinal and for culinary purposes. According to Ainsley, it was among the species listed by Peter Marner as planted on Isabella Island by Columbus's companions. The probability is that it was also brought to America by the colonists during Queen Elizabeth's time. It has been listed in American Seizments catalogs since 1806 but the demand has always been small and the extent to which it is cultivated very limited. Description. Borage is a somewhat spreading habit branchy about 20 inches tall. It's oval or oblong lancelot leaves and other green parts are covered with whitish rather sharp spreading hairs. The flowers generally blue, sometimes pink violet red or white are loosely racemed at the extremities of the branches and main stems. The flaming rose gleams swarly red. The borage gleams more blue. And low white flowers with starry head glimmer the rich dusk through. George McDonald Songs of the Summer Night Part 3 Cultivation. No plant is more easily grown. The seed need only be dropped and covered in any soil from poor to rich and the plants will grow like weeds and even become such if allowed to have sway. Borage seems however to prefer rather light dry soils waste places and steep banks. Upon such the flavor of the flowers is declared to be superior to that produced upon richer ground which develops a rancor growth of foliage. In the garden the seeds are sown about one half inch asunder and it rose 15 inches apart. Shortly after the plants appear they are thinned to stand 3 inches apart. The thinnings being cooked like spinach or a small and delicate they may be made into salads. Two other thinnings may be given for similar purposes as the plants grow. So that at the final thinning the specimens will stand about a foot asunder. Up to this time the ground is kept open and clean by cultivation. Afterwards the borage will usually have possession. Uses. More popular than the use of the foliage as a pot herb and a salad is the employment of borage blossoms and the tender upper leaves in company or not with those of the sturchium as a garnish or an ornament to salads and still more as in addition to cooling drinks. The best known of these beverages is cool, tankard composed of wine, water, lemon juice, sugar and borage flowers. To this they seem to give additional coolness. They are often used similarly in lemonade, nagas, claret cup and fruit juice drinks. The plant has possibly a still more important though undeveloped use as a beef forage. It is so easily grown and flowers so freely that it should be popular with apiarists, especially those who own or live near wasteland, dry and stony tracks which they could sew to it. For such places it has an advantage over the many weeds which generally dispute possession and that it may be readily controlled by simple cultivation. It generally can hold its own against the plant populace of such places. End of section 14 Recorded by Mel Otto.