CULINARY HERBS 93 



cut when the plant is about to bloom. These stems 

 are considered a great delicacy served raw with the 

 leaf stalks still around them. Oil, vinegar and pep- 

 per are eaten with them. By sowing at intervals 

 of a week or lo days Italian gardeners manage to 

 have a supply almost all the year. 



The seeds are used in cookery, confectionery and 

 for flavoring liquors. Oil of fennel, a pale yellow 

 liquid, with a sweetish aromatic odor and flavor, is 

 distilled with water. It is used in perfumery and 

 for scenting soaps. A pound of oil is the usual 

 yield of 500 pounds of the plant. 



Finocchio, or Florence fennel (F. duke, D. C), 

 deserves special mention here. It appears to be a 

 native of Italy, a distinct dwarf annual, very thick- 

 set herb. The stem joints are so close together and 

 their bases so swelled as to suggest malformation. 

 Even when full grown and producing seed, the plant 

 rarely exceeds 2 feet. The large, finely cut, light 

 green leaves are borne on very broad, pale green 

 or almost whitish stalks, which overlap at their 

 bases, somewhat like celery, but much more swelled 

 at edible maturity, to form a sort of head or irregular 

 ball, the ''apple," as it is called, sometimes as large 

 as a man's fist. The seeds are a peculiar oblong, 

 much broader than long, convex on one side and 

 flat on the other, with five conspicuous ribs. 



Cultivation is much the same as for common fen- 

 nel, though owing to the dwarf nature of the plant 

 the rows and the plants may be closer together. 

 The seedlings should be 5 or 6 inches asunder. They 

 are very thirsty things and require water frequently. 



