OF THE GROWING OF HERBS 155 



Authorities differ as to whether Finocchio is an annual, but 

 at anyrate, in England, it must be treated as one. 

 Finocchio should be sowed in dry, light earth, and must 

 afterwards be thinned, or the plants transplanted to a 

 distance of fifteen inches between each. The swelling 

 stems " of some tolerable substance " must be earthed 

 up five or six inches, and will be blanched and tender 

 in a fortnight's time, and if sowed in successive sowings, 

 it may be eaten from June till December. 



Endive must be sown in successive crops in July and 

 the early part of August, and this will produce " a 

 sufficiency to last through the winter and early spring. 

 If sown earlier it runs to seed the same year ; but if 

 early endive is required, a little white-curled variety 

 is the best to sow. The ground should be light and 

 rich on a dry subsoil"; when sufficiently grown, the 

 plants should be thinned, and those taken out, trans- 

 planted at a distance of ten or twelve inches apart, and 

 watered occasionally till they are well rooted. Endive 

 is more easy to blanch if sowed in trenches than in level 

 ground. In wet weather, blanching is best accomplished 

 by putting a garden-pot over the plant ; but, in summer, 

 it is better to tie the leaves together and earth them 

 half way up. The process will take from a week in dry 

 weather to nearly three weeks in wet, and the plant 

 must be taken up soon after it is finished, as after a few 

 days it begins to decay. In severe frost the bed should 

 be covered with straw litter. 



Chervil is sown in August and September, and can be 

 used in the same autumn and through the winter; if 

 successive crops are wanted, it may be sown any time 

 between the end of February and August. It should 

 be sown in shallow drills, and the plants left to grow 

 as they come up. When the leaves are two or three 

 inches high they are ready to be used, and if cut close, 

 fresh leaves will shoot up in their place. Lambs' Lettuce 



