44 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND 



Fenel in potage and in mete 

 Is good to done whane y u schalt ete, 

 All grene loke it be corwyn 1 small 

 In what mete y u vsyn schall." 



Mint was often used with fennel in sauces. Chaucer mentions 

 them growing together : 



" Then went I forth on my right hond 

 Downe by a litel path I fond 

 Of Mintes full and Fennell greene." 



Romaunt of the Rose. 



Parsley was, perhaps, still more common than either of these. 

 In the earliest English gardening treatise, 2 a section of the short 

 poem is devoted to parsley, and the instructions for its culture 

 are quite correct : 



" Percell kynde ys for to be 

 To be sow yn the monthe of mars so mote y the 

 He will grow long and thykke 

 And euer as he growyth thu schalt hym kytte 

 Thu may hym kytte by reson' 

 Thryes yn one seson' 

 Wurtys to make and sewes 3 also. 

 Let hym neuer to hye go 

 To lete hym grow to hye hit is grete foly. 



* * # * 



Thay tha± the sede schal bere the 

 Kytte hym nou3t but lete hym be." 



The same practical poet, John Gardener, also gives directions 

 for the planting of onions, garlick, and leeks. They were to 

 be sown on St. Valentine's day, as they are " herbys vn-meke," 

 or what would now be called " hardy." The onion plants 

 which were required for seed were to be sown in April or 

 March, and when the heads began to grow tall they were 

 supported by ash-sticks : 



" Forkys y made of asche-tre 

 That none of hem downe nou3t fall 



# * * * 



When they rype they wyl schow 

 And by the bollys thu schalt hem know 



1 = carved =cut up. 



2 MS., Trinity College, Cambridge, transcribed by myself and printed 

 in Avchcsologia, 1894. See illustration facing p. 62. 



3 Sauces. 



