Oil the Cultivation of Herbs and Salads. 157 



Chervil is sown monthly during summer, and sent to 

 market in punnets. For winter use, it is sown out of doors 

 in August, and in pits in September. 



Knotted Marjoram is generally sown in low span-roofed 

 houses or pits, on bottom heat, arising from either dung or 

 tan, and covered over with about four inches of mould, in 

 which the seeds are sown, and covered lightly. The best 

 time for sowing is February and March ; when up, it is pot- 

 ted, and gradually hardened off for out-door planting, or 

 forced on for early use. What is left in the bed is cut when 

 fit, and sent to market ; but as this herb is wanted in winter, 

 in a green state, the crop planted out is cut down in autumn ; 

 and when the plants begin to grow they are taken up, potted 

 into 8-inch pots, and put in a pit or house to cut as green 

 marjoram. For this purpose, the plants should not be allowed 

 to ripen seed before they are cut down in autumn. 



Dried Herbs. — Dried herbs are important both for home 

 purposes and those of shipping. They may be either dried 

 in sheds, compressed, or bottled. The common plan of dry- 

 ing and keeping herbs has many objections. They are usu- 

 ally pulled up by the roots or cut off, and hung up in bunches 

 in sheds ; and being left open to all changes of weather they 

 lose their fine aromatic flavor, and become musty. Mr. 

 Lindsay, who was once head gardener at Chiswick House, 

 shewed me his plan of preserving herbs in 1834. After 

 drying them in screens before the fire, he had them rubbed 

 through a sieve, and then put into paper or linen bags, com- 

 pressed, and put away in drawers in a dry room, where they 

 were kept in a dry state, and where the flavor could not 

 escape. Mr. Dickenson, a steward and cook at one of the 

 Cambridge Universities, told me that this plan of keeping 

 herbs answered famously, and that by drying them off" quick- 

 ly they were as green as could be. About Mitcham they are 

 dried in the flued drying houses. 



Cooks may perhaps object to herbs being ground, on ac- 

 count of not wishing them to mix with soup, but in that 

 case it is easy to put them into bags. Another way consists 

 in rubbing the herbs through a seive and bottling them. 



