132 



PROFITABLE GARDENING. 



CHAPTER XVI. — CULTIVATION OF CHERVIL. 



The kitchen-garden is as much be- 

 witched by modern fancies and pre- 

 judices as the flower-garden, and all 

 sorts of valuable old English salads 

 and table vegetables have taken their 

 departure along with the favourite 

 flowers of the days gone by. Where 

 do you see a real musk rose, or a tuft 

 of glittering ldac honesty, and where 

 do you meet with tarragon and 

 cardoons, and chicory and chervil F 

 Fashion may be allowed to meddle 

 with the fanciful notions of clipped 

 yew and hornbeam, and put geraniums 

 and cupheas where sweet Williams 

 and cloves, and double daisies ought 

 to be ; but what right has fashion to 

 kick out of our homely kitchen-gar- 

 dens the once homely herbs that gave 

 savoury flavours to roast venison, suc- 

 culent coolness to home-baked bread 

 and creamy butter, and the restorative 

 bitter or refreshing acidity to the in- 

 valid's tea or cordial ? Here is cher- 

 vil, or at least here it should be, under 

 its old English name of sweet cicely, for 

 adding a spicinessto the flavour of soups, 

 a crispiness and zest to salads, an aro- 

 matic odour to vinegar, and beauty to 

 any dish that may need a green gar- 

 nish. Chervil is really too good a 

 thing to be thrust aside, and any 

 French cook will tell you that without 

 it one-half at least of the best dishes 

 must be utterly spoiled. We want 

 people to taste and try the things tbeir 

 grandfathers and grandmothers took 

 delight in ; the human palate has not 

 changed in its physiology, and why 

 should the favourite vegetables of the 

 last century be less acceptable on the 

 tables of this peculiarly gastronomic 

 generation? Grow a row of chervil, 

 and if you are a disciple of Aber- 

 crombie, you will not fail to add 

 coriander-seed, which he always men- 

 tions with it as its proper companion. 

 On chalky soils, where many good 

 salads and potherbs give poor crops, 

 chervil will pay well, tor on chalk it is 

 at home. Bud it will grow in almost 

 any soil, and has a constitution aud 

 habit closely resembling parsley. The 



best place for it is the sunniest plot 

 in the kitchen-garden, to be well 

 drained, and, impossible, dressed with 

 a sprinkling of lime-rubbish, chalk, 

 or old mortar. It is a grand thing 

 to get a pinch of really good seed, for, 

 like parsley, it is contemptible if not 

 thoroughly crumpled in the leaf, and 

 in all respects hearty to look upon. 

 Presently salads will be scarce, the 

 hot weather will make radishes pun- 

 gent and lettuces lanky, small salads 

 will be in the rough leaf, and tough as 

 hemp, if not used within a day or two 

 of coming up. Endive is pretty to look 

 at, but flavourless, and, therefore, 

 sow curled chervil immediately after 

 having read this, and beside it a row 

 of real golden cress and Normandy 

 cress. The golden cress is delicious, 

 and may be cut at a dozen times before 

 it will attempt to run to flower. To 

 keep up the supply of chervil, sow 

 again in August and be particular as 

 to the culture of this sowing. Hand- 

 pick and weed well, and, in doing so, 

 remove every plant that is not tho- 

 roughly handsome in its character. 

 j From this batch take seed next season, 

 I and every future seasons sow again in 

 'August, and, by judiciously retaining 

 : the best habited plants, and removing 

 I those that come with thin, flat leaves, 

 you will secure as good a sample of 

 seed as any that can be had from the 

 Continent, the French seed bearing 

 the palm in the market, 'lhe next 

 sowing should be in the first week of 

 March, and the next again in June, 

 and thus you have your supply for 

 the year. Chervil may be used as an 

 edging in the kitchen-garden, if need- 

 ful, as parsley is sometimes used. If 

 grown in a piece, it should be in drills 

 not less than nine inches apart, very 

 thinly sown and covered with the 

 merest sprinkle of flue earth, say not 

 more than a quarter of an inch deep. 

 When in the rough leaf, thin the 

 plants to six inches apart, and that 

 will give room for them to grow vigo- 

 rously, and meet along the row. 



A new and excellent variety of 



