34 



CULINARY HERBS 



rows looked like regiments drawn up in close order 

 and not, as was desired, merely lines of scattered 

 skirmishers. In many places there were more than 

 lOO to the foot ! Fortunately the variety was a 

 quick-maturing kind and the crop, for such it be- 

 came, was harvested before any damage was done 

 the slow-appearing seedlings, whose positions the 

 radishes were intended to indicate. 



CUTTINGS 



No herbs are so easy to propagate by means of 

 cuttings as spearmint, peppermint, and their rela- 

 tives which have underground stems. Every joint 

 of these stems will produce a new plant if placed 

 in somewhat moist soil. Often, however, this abil- 

 ity is a disadvantage, because the plants are prone 



to spread and become 

 a nuisance unless 

 watched. Hence such 

 plants should be 

 placed where they will 

 not have their roots 

 cut by tools used close 

 to them. When they 

 seem to be extending, their borders should be 

 trimmed with a sharp spade pushed vertically full 

 depth into the soil and all the earth beyond the 

 clump thus restricted should be shaken out with a 

 garden fork and the cut pieces of mint removed. 

 Further, the forked-over ground should be hoed 

 every week during the remainder of the season, to 

 destroy lurking plantlets. 



Glass-Covered Propagating Box 



