94 CULINARY HERBS 



When the "apple" attains the size of an egg, earth 

 may be drawn up slightly to the base, which may be 

 about half covered ; cutting may begin about lo 

 days later. Florence fennel is generally boiled and 

 served with either a butter or a cream dressing. It 

 suggests celery in flavor, but is sweeter and is even 

 more pleasingly fragrant. In Italy it is one of the 

 commonest and most popular of vegetables. "In 

 other European countries it is also well known, but 

 in America its cultivation is almost confined to Ital- 

 ian gardens or to such as supply Italian demands 

 in the large cities. In New York it is commonly 

 sold by greengrocers and pushcart men in the Italian 

 sections. 



Fennel Flower (Nigella sativa, Linn.), an Asiatic 

 annual, belonging to the Ranunculaceae, grown to a 

 limited extent in southern Europe, but scarcely 

 known in America. Among the Romans it was es- 

 teemed in cookery, hence one of its common names, 

 Roman coriander. The plant has a rather stiff, 

 erect, branching stem, bears deeply cut grayish-green 

 leaves and terminal grayish-blue flowers, which pre- 

 cede odd, toothed, seed vessels filled with small, 

 triangular, black, highly aromatic seeds. For gar- 

 den use the seed is sown in spring after the ground 

 gets warm. The drills may be 15 to 18 inches apart 

 and the plants thinned to 10 or 12 inches asunder. 

 No special attention is necessary until midsummer, 

 when the seed ripens. These are easily threshed 

 and cleaned. After drying they should be stored 

 in sacks in a cool, dry place. They are used just 

 as they are or like dill in cookery. 



