Part 8 (2/2)
_Cultivation._--Although peppermint prefers wet, even swampy, soil, it will do well on moist loam. It is cultivated like spearmint. In Michigan, western New York and other parts of the country it is grown commercially upon muck lands for the oil distilled from its leaves and stems. Among essential oils, peppermint ranks first in importance. It is a colorless, yellowish or greenish liquid, with a peculiar, highly penetrating odor and a burning, camph.o.r.escent taste. An interesting use is made of it by sanitary engineers, who test the tightness of pipe joints by its aid. It has the faculty of making its escape and betraying the presence of leaks. It is largely employed in the manufacture of soaps and perfumery, but probably its best known use is for flavoring confectionery.
=Rosemary= (_Rosemarinus officinalis_, Linn.)--As its generic name implies, rosemary is a native of sea-coasts, ”rose” coming from _Ros_, dew, and ”Mary” from _marinus_, ocean. It is one of the many l.a.b.i.atae found wild in limy situations along the Mediterranean coast. In ancient times many and varied virtues were ascribed to the plant, hence its ”officinalis” or medical name, perhaps also the belief that ”where rosemary flourishes, the lady rules!” Pliny, Dioscorides and Galin all write about it. It was cultivated by the Spaniards in the 13th century, and from the 15th to the 18th century was popular as a condiment with salt meats, but has since declined in popularity, until now it is used for seasoning almost exclusively in Italian, French, Spanish and German cookery.
_Description._--The plant is a half-hardy evergreen, 2 feet or more tall. The erect, branching, woody stems bear a profusion of little obtuse, linear leaves, green above and h.o.a.ry white beneath. On their upper parts they bear pale blue, axillary flowers in leafy cl.u.s.ters. The light-brown seeds, white where they were attached to the plant, will germinate even when four years old. All parts of the plant are fragrant--”the humble rosemary whose sweets so thanklessly are shed to scent the desert” (Thomas Moore). One of the pleasing superst.i.tions connected with this plant is that it strengthens the memory. Thus it has become the emblem of remembrance and fidelity. Hence the origin of the old custom of wearing it at weddings in many parts of Europe.
”There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray, love, remember: And there is pansies, that's for thoughts.”
--_Hamlet, Act iv, Scene 5._
_Cultivation._--Rosemary is easily propagated by means of cuttings, root division and layers in early spring, but is most frequently multiplied by seed. It does best in rather poor, light soil, especially if limy.
The seed is either sown in drills 18 to 24 inches apart or in checks 2 feet asunder each way, half a dozen seeds being dropped in each ”hill.”
Sometimes the seedbed method is employed, the seed being sown either under gla.s.s or in the open ground and the seedlings transplanted.
Cultivation consists in keeping the soil loose and open and free from weeds. No special directions are necessary as to curing. In frostless sections, and even where protected by buildings, fences, etc., in moderate climates, the plants will continue to thrive for years.
_Uses._--The tender leaves and stems and the flowers are used for flavoring stews, fish and meat sauces, but are not widely popular in America. Our foreign-born population, however, uses it somewhat. In France large quant.i.ties, both cultivated and wild, are used for distilling the oil of rosemary, a colorless or yellowish liquid suggesting camphor, but even more pleasant. This oil is extensively used in perfuming soaps, but more especially in the manufacture of eau de cologne, Hungary water and other perfumes.
=Rue= (_Ruta graveolens_, Linn.), a hardy perennial herb of roundish, bushy habit, native of southern Europe. It is a member of the same botanical family as the orange, Rutaceae. In olden times it was highly reputed for seasoning and for medicine among the Greeks and the Romans.
In Pliny's time it was considered to be effectual for 84 maladies!
Today it ”hangs only by its eyelids” to our pharmacopoeia. Apicus notes it among the condiments in the third century, and Magnus eleven centuries later praises it among the garden esculents. At present it is little used for seasoning, even by the Italians and the Germans, and almost not at all by English and American cooks. Probably because of its acridity and its ability to blister the skin when much handled, rue has been chosen by poets to express disdain. Shakespeare speaks of it as the ”sour herb of grace,” and Theudobach says:
”When a rose is too haughty for heaven's dew She becometh a spider's gray lair; And a bosom, that never devotion knew Or affection divine, shall be filled with rue And with darkness, and end with despair.”
_Description._--The much branched stems, woody below, rise 18 to 24 inches and bear small oblong or obovate, stalked, bluish-green glaucous leaves, two or three times divided, the terminal one broader and notched at the end. The rather large, greenish-yellow flowers, borne in corymbs or short terminal cl.u.s.ters, appear all summer. In the round, four or five-lobed seed vessels are black kidney-shaped seeds, which retain their vitality two years or even longer. The whole plant has a very acrid, bitter taste and a pungent smell.
_Cultivation._--The plant may be readily propagated by means of seed, by cuttings, by layers, and by division of the tufts. No special directions are needed, except to say that when in the place they are to remain the plants should be at least 18 inches apart--21 or 24 inches each way would be even better. Rue does well on almost any well-drained soil, but prefers a rather poor clayey loam. It is well, then, to plant it in the most barren part of the garden. As the flowers are rather attractive, rue is often used among shrubbery for ornamental purposes. When so grown it is well to cut the stems close to the ground every two or three years.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Rue, Sour Herb of Grace]
_Uses._--Because of the exceedingly strong smell of the leaves, rue is disagreeable to most Americans, and could not become popular as a seasoning. Yet it is used to a small extent by people who like bitter flavors, not only in culinary preparations, but in beverages. The whole plant is used in distilling a colorless oil which is used in making aromatic vinegars and other toilet preparations. A pound of oil may be secured from 150 to 200 pounds of the plant.
=Sage= (_Salvia officinalis_, Linn.), a perennial member of the l.a.b.i.atae, found naturally on dry, calcareous hills in southern Europe, and northern Africa. In ancient times, it was one of the most highly esteemed of all plants because of its reputed health-insuring properties. An old adage reads, ”How can a man die in whose garden sage is growing?” Its very names betoken the high regard in which it was held; salvia is derived from _salvus_, to be safe, or _salveo_, to be in good health or to heal; (hence also salvation!) and _officinalis_ stamps its authority or indicates its recognized official standing. The name sage, meaning wisdom, appears to have had a different origin, but as the plant was reputed to strengthen the memory, there seems to be ground for believing that those who ate the plant would be wise.
_Description._--The almost woody stems rise usually 15 to 18 inches high, though in Holt's Mammoth double these sizes is not uncommon. The leaves are oblong, pale green, finely toothed, lance-shaped, wrinkled and rough. The usually bluish-lilac, sometimes pink or white flowers, borne in the axils of the upper leaves in whorls of three or four, form loose terminal spikes or cl.u.s.ters. Over 7,000 of the small globular, almost black seeds, which retain their vitality about three years, are required to weigh an ounce, and nearly 20 ounces to the quart.
_Cultivation._--Sage does best upon mellow well-drained soil of moderate fertility. For cultivation on a large scale the soil should be plowed deeply and allowed to remain in the rough furrows during the winter, to be broken up as much as possible by the frost. In the spring it should be fined for the crop. Sage is easily propagated by division, layers and cuttings, but these ways are practiced on an extensive scale only with the Holt's Mammoth variety, which produces no seed. For other varieties seed is most popular. This is sown in drills at the rate of two seeds to the inch and covered about 1/4 inch deep. At this rate and in rows 15 inches apart about 8 pounds of seed will be needed to the acre.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Sage, the Leading Herb for Duck and Goose Dressing]
Usually market gardeners prefer to grow sage as a second crop. They therefore raise the plants in nursery beds. The seed is sown in very early spring, not thicker than already mentioned, but in rows closer together, 6 to 9 inches usually. From the start the seedlings are kept clean cultivated and encouraged to grow stocky. By late May or early June the first sowings of summer vegetables will have been marketed and the ground ready for the sage. The ground is then put in good condition and the sage seedlings transplanted 6 or 8 inches apart usually. Clean cultivation is maintained until the sage has possession.
When the plants meet, usually during late August, the alternate ones are cut, bunched and sold. At this time one plant should make a good bunch.
When the rows meet in mid-September, the alternate rows are marketed, a plant then making about two bunches. By the middle of October the final cutting may be started, when the remaining plants should be large enough to make about three bunches each. This last cutting may continue well into November without serious loss of lower leaves. If the plants are not thinned, but are allowed to crowd, the lower leaves will turn yellow and drop off, thus entailing loss.
For cultivation with hand-wheel hoes the plants in the rows should not stand closer than 2 inches at first. As soon as they touch, each second one should be removed and this process repeated till, when growing in a commercial way, each alternate row has been removed. Finally, the plants should be 12 to 15 inches apart. For cultivation by horse the rows will need to be farther apart than already noted; 18 to 24 inches is the usual range of distances. When grown on a large scale, sage usually follows field-grown lettuce, early peas or early cabbage. If not cut too closely or too late in the season sage plants stand a fair chance to survive moderate winters. The specimens which succeed in doing so may be divided and transplanted to new soil with little trouble. This is the common practice in home gardens, and is usually more satisfactory than growing a new lot of plants from seed each spring.
For drying or for decocting the leaves are cut when the flowers appear.
They are dried in the shade. If a second cutting is to be made, and if it is desired that the plants shall live over winter, this second cutting must not be made later than September in the North, because the new stems will not have time to mature before frost, and the plants will probably winterkill.
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