The Book of Herbs, Rosalind Northcote [best books to read for self development TXT] 📗
- Author: Rosalind Northcote
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It is from wormwood that Absinthe is made; and it has been used instead of hops in making beer. It used to be laid among stuffs and furs to keep away moths and insects—by its bitterness, ordinary folk supposed, but Culpepper knew better, and gives an astrological reason: “I was once in the tower and viewed the wardrobe and there was a great many fine cloaths (I can give them no other title, for I was never either linen or woolen draper), yet as brave as they looked, my opinion was that the moths might consume them. Moths are under the dominion of Mars; this herb Wormwood (also an herb of Mars) being laid among cloaths will make a moth scorn to meddle with the cloaths as much as a lion scorns to meddle with a mouse, or an eagle with a fly.” One would not expect to find a moth a “martial creature,” but evidently he is, and this explanation of the working of the law of “sympathies,” not only tells us so, but kindly shows us a sure means of safeguarding our goods from an ubiquitous enemy.
Mugwort has many reputed medical virtues, and Dr Thornton who usually crushes any pretension to such claims, says it “merits the attention of English physicians, in regard to gout.” It is with this plant that the Japanese prepare the Moxa that they use as a cautery to a great extent.
Mugwort is said to be a good food for poultry and turkeys. De Gubernatis tells a Russian legend about this plant which they call Bech. Once the Evil One offended his brother, the Cossack Sabba, who seized and bound him, and said he should not be released till he had done him some great service. Presently, some Poles came close by and made a feast, and were happy, leaving their horses to graze. The Cossack Sabba coveted the horses and promised the Evil One his liberty if he could manage to get them. The Evil One then sent other demons to the field and caused Mugwort to spring up, whereupon the horses trotted away, and as they did so, the Mugwort moaned “bech, bech.” And now when a horse treads on it, the plant remembers the Pole’s horses and still moans “bech, bech!” for which reason, in the Ukraine it is still called by that name. It is left untold whether the flight of the horses was due to the magical nature of the plants, or to their usual bitterness. The latter is likely enough, as according to Dr Thornton, horses and goats are not fond of it, and cows and swine refuse it.
Other well-known varieties of Wormwood are H. pontica, Roman wormwood whose leaves are less bitter; and A. Maritima, sea-wormwood, and A. Santonica, Tartarian wormwood.
[83] “Notable Things.”
Bay (Laurus Nobilis).Muscado put among it,
And here and there a leaf of bay,
Which still shall run along it.
Muses’ Elysium.
And gild the bays and rosemary.
Hesperides.—Herrick.
Down with the mistletoe,
Instead of holly, now upraise,
The greener box, for show.
Ceremonies for Candlemas Eve.—Herrick.
A Bay-tree invites criticism, as it is certainly not a “herb,” but it is so often classed with some of them, especially with rosemary (to whom it seems to have been a sort of twin) that a brief extract from its interesting history must be made. Herrick’s verses show that both for weddings and decorations, rosemary and bays were paired together—bays being also gilded at weddings—and Brand quotes some lines from the “Wit’s Interpreter” to show that alike at funerals, they were fellows:—
With Lillies which all o’er her grow,
Instead of bays and rosemary.
And Coles says, “Cypresse garlands are of great account at funeralls amongst the gentiler sort, but rosemary and bayes are used by the commons both at funeralls and weddings.” Parkinson’s testimony is eloquent: “It serveth to adorne the house of God, as well as of man; to procure warmth, comfort, and strength to the limmes of men and women by bathings and anoyntings out, and by drinks, etc., inward: to season the vessels wherein are preserved our meates, as well as our drinkes; to crown or encircle as with a garland the heads of the living, and to sticke and decke forth the bodies of the dead; so that from the cradle to the grave we have still use of, we have still need of it.” No one could give higher praise to its natural virtues, but in other countries, it was endowed with supernatural ones. “Neyther falling sickness, neyther devyll, wyll infest or hurt one in that place where a bay-tree is. The Romans call it the Plant of the Good Angell.”[84] On the contrary, the withering of bay-trees was a very ill omen, and a portent of death. Canon Ellacombe says this superstition was imported from Italy, but it seems to have taken root in England. Shakespeare mentions it in Richard II., as if it were no new idea; and Evelyn tells us, as if he were adding a fresh fact to a store of common knowledge, that in 1629, at Padua, before a great pestilence broke out, almost all the Bay-trees about that famous University grew sick and perished.
Sir Thomas Browne deals with another belief: “That bays will protect from the mischief of lightning and thunder is a quality ascribed thereto, common with the fig-tree, eagle and skin of a seal. Against so famous a quality Vicomeratus produceth experiment of a bay-tree blasted in Italy. And, therefore, although Tiberius for this intent did wear laurel upon his temples, yet did Augustus take a more probable course, who fled under arches and hollow vaults for protection.” Sir Thomas is very logical.
It is not always clear when Laurel and when Bay is intended, because our Bay-tree was often called Laurel in Elizabethan days. For instance:—
His shepherd’s pipe may chant more heavenly lays.
Intro. to Br. Pastorals by Christopher Brooke.
If one is airily told one may pluck bays from a laurel bush, it is impossible to know which is really meant, and a certain confusion between the two is inevitable. William Browne, who took, or pretended to take, seriously the view that bays could not be hurt by thunder, brings forward an ingenious theory to account for it. It is that “being the materials of poets ghirlands, it is supposed not subject to any of Jupiter’s thunderbolts, as other trees are.
The victor’s garland and the poet’s crown.”
Besides being a prophet of evil, the Bay-tree was also a token of joy and triumph. “In Rome, they use it to trim up their Churches and Monasteries on Solemn Festivals ... as also on occasion of Signal Victories and other joyful Tidings; and these Garlands made up with Hobby-Horse Tinsel, make a glittering show and rattling Noise when the Air moves them”; also, “With the Leaves of Laurel they made up their Despatches and Letters Laurus involutoe, wrapt in Bay-leaves, which they sent the Senate from the victorious General.” Imagine a “victorious General” now sitting down to label despatches with leaves, signifying triumph! “Ere Reuter yet had found his range,” how much better the art of becoming ceremonial was understood.
Finally, the Bay was regarded as a panacea for all ailments, and, therefore, the statue of Æsculapius was crowned with its leaves.
I append to this book a copy of the List of Herbs that Tusser gives in “March’s Abstract.” It will be seen that he has carefully classified them according to their suitability for stilling, strewing, bough-pots or kitchen.
[84] “Book of Notable Things,” C. Lupton.
CHAPTER IVOF THE GROWING OF HERBS
In sowing and setting, good housewives delight;
To have in a garden or other like plot,
To trim up their house, and to furnish their pot.
She teacheth them all, to be known to a few,
To set or to sow, or else sown to remove,
How that should be practised, pain if ye love.
But set to remove, when the weather is cold.
Cut all thing or gather, the moon in the wane,
But sow in encreasing or give it his bane.
New sown do not so, if ye do as I wish:
Through cunning with dibble, rake, mattock and spade,
By line, and by level, the garden is made.
Who soweth too soon little better shall speed,
Apt time and the season, so diverse to hit,
Let aiér and layer, help practice and wit.
Five hundred Points of Good Husbandry.—Tusser.
The majority of herbs are not exacting in their requirements, but a few foreigners thrive the better for a little protection as a start. This is the opinion of a successful gardener on the Herb-Border in an ordinary kitchen-garden: “As to soil and situation, I used to devote a border entirely to Herbs, under a privet hedge, facing north-west, with a rough marly bottom. I had a plant of most varieties I could get hold of, both Culinary and Medicinal.”
Circumstances dictated that my own herbs should grow in a plot, rather overshadowed, and I found that they flourished, though annuals, as a rough rule, do best where they can get plenty of sunshine. In speaking of their cultivation, I have divided them into three groups: Perennials, Biennials and Annuals, and take the Perennials first.
Tansy will grow in almost any soil and may be increased, either in spring or autumn, by slips or by dividing the roots. Lavender is not always easy to please and likes a rather poor, sandy soil. When it is rich and heavy, matters are sometimes improved by trenching the ground and putting in chalk about a bushel to a land-yard (16 feet 6 inches by 16 feet 6 inches); lime from a kiln is also used in the same quantity.[85] Broad-leaved and narrow-leaved are the varieties of the purple Lavender usually sold, and, besides these, White Lavender. The narrow-leaved is the hardiest kind and its scent is the strongest; but the white-flowered has a very delicate fragrance. It requires care, but is better able to stand cold in a poor, than in a rich soil.
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