OF SUNDRY HERBS 89 



five large handfuls of the young tops and left to infuse 

 for several hours. 



NETTLE SPINACH. Boil the young nettle tops in as little 

 water as possible, and when sufficiently cooked rub through 

 a sieve. 



NASTURTIUM 



One does not think of nasturtiums as a herb, but they 

 are included in old gardening lists as such. Some people 

 make use of the young leaves in salad, but for some unknown 

 reason we have abandoned the custom of adding the flowers 

 to our salads. They taste very much like the leaves, only 

 a little more delicate, and there is always a little drop of 

 honey in them. Pickled in vinegar the seeds make a good 

 substitute for capers. 



To PICKLE NASTURTIUM SEEDS. Gather your little knobs 

 quickly after your blossoms are off ; put them in cold water 

 and salt for three days, shifting them once a day; then 

 make a pickle (but do not boil it at all) of some white wine, 

 exchallot, horse-radish, pepper, salt, cloves, and mace whole 

 and nutmeg quartered; then put in your seeds and stop 

 them close ; they are to be eaten as capers. E. Smith, The 

 Complete Housewife, 1736. 



PARSLEY 



" If you will have the leaves of the parcelye grow crisped, 

 then before the sowing of them stuffe a tennis ball with the 

 sedes and beat the same well against the ground whereby 

 the seedes may be a little bruised or when the parcelye 

 is well come up go over the bed with a waighty roller 

 whereby it may so presse the leaves down or else tread the 

 same downe under thy feet." A Crete Herball, 1539. 



Hercules is said to have selected parsley to form the first 

 garlands he wore. The Greeks had a great veneration for 

 parsley, and of it the victor's crown was made at the 

 Isthmian games ; and Grecian gardens were often bordered 

 with parsley, and rue, and sprigs of this herb were strewn 

 on the dead. Canon Ellacombe says that parsley has the 



