The Book of Herbs, Rosalind Northcote [best books to read for self development TXT] 📗
- Author: Rosalind Northcote
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In the early part of August, the young shoots should be cut back, and the decayed flower-stems removed, on such plants as hyssop, sage, lavender, and the like, and they will then send out new short shoots, which will make a close, bushy head for the winter. If possible, this should be done in damp weather. In October, the beds should be weeded; if the plants stand at some distance from each other, the earth between should be loosened, and if the beds are old, a little manure would be a great advantage. Amongst close-growing herbs, digging is impossible, but the ground must be hoed, raked and cleaned of weeds.
Biennials.—Parsley.—There are many kinds of parsley, and one specially recommended is the triple-curled variety. All parsleys are raised from seed, and it is a good thing to sow one bed in March and a second in June, thus securing a continual supply all through the winter. The plants want well thinning out, and if the weather be very dry, the last sown should have two or three waterings with weak manure water. To protect them from the frost, a reed-hurdle, or even a few branches of fir, may be used, but, of course, a box-frame and light is the best. Parsley likes a deep soil, not too rich; and a good quantity of soot worked into it much improves the plants.
Caraway is raised from seed, which should be sown in the autumn, and it may also be sown in March or April, but the result will not be so good. This plant likes a rich, light soil. Dill should be sown in the spring, either broadcast or in drills, six to twelve inches apart. It may be sown in autumn, but this is not very advisable. Clary is sown in the end of March or in April, and should be transplanted to six to twelve inches apart, when the plants are two or three inches high; it may also be grown from cuttings.
Rampions should be thinly sowed in April or May in shady borders. If the plant is grown for use, it must not be allowed to flower, and in this case, it should not be sown till the end of May. The plants should be moderately watered at first (and later if the weather be very dry), and when sufficiently grown, they should be thinned out to three or four inches apart. The roots are fit for use in November. Alexanders or Alisanders, will send up shoots indefinitely, but must be sown afresh every year if wanted for the table. The seed should be sown in drills eighteen inches or more apart, and the plants thinned out to five or six inches distance from each other. When they are well grown they should be earthed up several inches on each side to blanch them.
Annuals.—Anise and Coriander like a warm, dry, light soil. If this is not procurable, anise should be “sown in pots in heat, and removed to a warm site in May.”[90] Coriander may be sown in February, if it be mild and dry, and the seeds must be buried half an inch. Cumin is rarely seen; but it is advised that it should be sown in a warm, sunny border in March or April.
[90] Loudon.
Sweet Marjoram and Summer Savory must both be sowed in light earth, either in drills nine inches apart, or broadcast, when they must be thinned out later on. The plants thinned out may be planted in another bed at six inches distance from each other, and must be watered. Sweet Basil and Bush Basil are both raised from seed sown in a hot-bed in the end of March, and the young plants should be set a foot apart in a warm border in May. They may be sown in an open border, but there is a risk of their coming up at all, and a certainty, that if they do, the plants will be late and small. Sweet Basil (Ocymum Basilicum) is much the largest plant, Bush Basil (O. Mininum) being scarcely half the size; both like a rich soil.
Borage is raised from seed, and, if let alone, will seed itself and come up, year after year, in the same place. It likes a dry soil. Gardening books recommend that it should be planted in drills and thinned, but for the sake of the picturesque, it should be dotted about among low-growing herbs in single plants or little clumps.
Marigolds should be planted in light, dry soil; they may be “sowed in the spring, summer, or autumn, to remain or be transplanted a foot asunder.”[91] The outer edge (near the palings) of Regent’s Park, close to Hanover Gate, testifies to their power of seeding themselves. Authorities differ as to whether Finocchio is an annual, but at anyrate, in England, it must be treated as one. Finocchio should be sowed in dry, light earth, and must afterwards be thinned, or the plants transplanted to a distance of fifteen inches between each. The swelling stems “of some tolerable substance” must be earthed up five or six inches, and will be blanched and tender in a fortnight’s time, and if sowed in successive sowings, it may be eaten from June till December.
[91] Abercrombie.
Endive must be sown in successive crops in July and the early part of August, and this will produce “a sufficiency to last through the winter and early spring. If sown earlier it runs to seed the same year; but if early endive is required, a little white-curled variety is the best to sow. The ground should be light and rich on a dry subsoil”; when sufficiently grown, the plants should be thinned, and those taken out, transplanted at a distance of ten or twelve inches apart, and watered occasionally till they are well rooted. Endive is more easy to blanch if sowed in trenches than in level ground. In wet weather, blanching is best accomplished by putting a garden-pot over the plant; but, in summer, it is better to tie the leaves together and earth them half way up. The process will take from a week in dry weather to nearly three weeks in wet, and the plant must be taken up soon after it is finished, as after a few days it begins to decay. In severe frost the bed should be covered with straw litter.
Chervil is sown in August and September, and can be used in the same autumn and through the winter; if successive crops are wanted, it may be sown any time between the end of February and August. It should be sown in shallow drills, and the plants left to grow as they come up. When the leaves are two or three inches high they are ready to be used, and if cut close, fresh leaves will shoot up in their place. Lambs’ Lettuce is appreciated chiefly in the winter; it should be sown in August, and again in September to last through the winter and early spring. Dry fairly mellow soil will suit it, and it may be left to grow as it was sowed.
Rocket.—“This is an agreeable addition to cresses and mustard, early in spring. It should be sown in a warm border in February, and during the next months if a succession is wanted. After the first rough leaf has appeared, thin out the plants.”[92] The Purslanes are both tender annuals, Green Purslane (Portulaca olerecea) being rather hardier than Golden Purslane (P. sativa). They should be sowed on hot-beds in February or March; or in a warm border, they may be sowed in drills during fine weather in May. They should be left as they grow, and when the leaves are gathered they must be cut low, and then a fresh crop will appear. Purslane must be watered occasionally in very dry, hot weather.
[92] Loudon.
The above remarks pretend to being no more than bare outlines of the art of growing certain herbs. Many of these have outlived their reputation, and are now cultivated for no practical purpose, but for sentiment’s sake, or for their aromatic grace, by those who “take a delight” in such things. To these I hope these suggestions may be useful. Any person desiring to bring a special herb to perfection is hardly likely to need reference to one of the many admirable gardening dictionaries, for it is not probable that he would look to an amateur for solid instruction on such points. To conclude, Leonard Meager[93] gives some pithy directions which it is well to bear in mind:—
“In setting herbs ever observe to leave the tops no more than a handful above the ground, and the roots a foot under the earth.
[93] “New Art of Gardening.”
“Twine the roots of the herbs you set, unless too brittle. Gather herbs when the sap is full in the top of them. Such herbs as you intend to gather for drying, to keep for use all the winter, do it about Lammas-tide; dry them in the shade that the sun draw not out their vertue, but in a clear air and breezy wind, that no mustiness may taint them.”
Cut all herbs just before they flower, except where the flower heads are wanted—lavender or camomile, for instance. These should be cut just before the flowers are fully open.
CHAPTER VOF HERBS IN MEDICINE
I wake and from my squalid couch arise...
Be this my topic, this my aim and end,
Heav’n’s will to obey and seek t’oblige a friend...
Some herbs adorn the hills—some vales below,
Where limpid streamlets in meanders flow,
Here’s Golden Saxifrage, in vernal hours,
Springs up when water’d well by fertile showers:
It flourishes in bogs where waters beat,
The yellow flowers in clusters stand complete.
Adorn’d with snowy white, in meadows low,
White Saxifrage displays a lucid show:...
Why should my friends in pining grief remain,
Or suffer with excruciating pain?
The wholesome medicines, if by heaven blest,
Sure anodynes will prove and give them rest....
Here’s Tormentilla, with its searching parts,
Expels the pois’nous venom from our hearts...
Wood-betony is in its prime in May,
In June and July does its bloom display,
A fine, bright red does this grand plant adorn,
To gather it for drink I think no scorn;
I’ll make a conserve of its fragrant flowers,
Cephalick virtues in this herb remain,
To chase each dire disorder from the brain.
Delirious persons here a cure may find
To stem the phrensy and to calm the mind.
All authors own wood-betony is good,
’Tis king o’er all the herbs that deck the wood;
A king’s physician erst such notice took
Of this, he on its virtues wrote a book.
The Poor Phytologist.—James Chambers.
The old herbalists used so many herbs and found each one good for so many disorders that one is filled with wonder that patients ever died, till one examines into the prescriptions and methods generally, and then one is more astonished that any of them recovered. I shall not mention any prescriptions here, excepting the celebrated antidote to all poison, Venice Treacle. This included seventy-three ingredients, and
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