102 



KITCHEN-GARDEN PLANTS. 



[chap. 



is, to have it to use in winter ; for, though it is hardy enough, it 

 win rot, if it stand tied up too long ; and it is difficult to preserve 

 it, on account of this tendency to rot. One way is to take up 

 the roots with balls to them in the month of October, when they 

 are perfectly dry, tying the plants up, as before mentioned, at the 

 same time, planting these balls in sand or earth, in a shed. But 

 as this can hardly make the plants reach, for use, beyond the mid- 

 dle of December, the only effectual way to have endive in winter is 

 to cover them with glazed frames in the fall of the year, or to do 

 the same very well with hoops and mats, taking all covering off in 

 mild weather, just protecting the plants from hard frosts, and going 

 on bleaching and cutting for use as directed for the autumn. 

 Endive may be transplanted, but it does not transplant so well as 

 lettuce, and the plants are never so fine as those that remain on 

 the spot where they were sowed. If transplanted, they should be 

 put at about twelve inches apart, hoed nicely between and kept 

 clear from weeds. Endive, if sowed early in the spring, ripens its 

 seed that same summer ; but the best way is to save two or three 

 good plants that have stood the winter, and let them go to seed. 

 They will produce a great abundance, which, if carefully preserved, 

 will keep good four or five years, at the least. I have mentioned 

 the middle of July as the time of sowing for the main crop : but 

 some may be be sowed later, as it does not require any great deal 

 of room. 



149. FENNELL is an perennial herb, propagated from seed or 

 from offsets, sowed in the spring, or the offsets planted in the fall. 

 The plants should stand about a foot asunder. The leaves are 

 used in salads, or for making a part of the sauce for fish. In 

 winter, the seeds are bruised, to put into fish-sauce, and they give 

 it the same flavour as the leaves of the plant. It is a very hardy 

 thing ; two yards square in the herb-bed will be enough for any 

 family ; and, once in the ground, it will stand for an age. 



150. GARLICK may be propagated from the seed; but is 

 usually propagated from offsets. It is a bulb which increases after 

 the manner of the hyacinth and the tulip : the offsets are taken off 

 in these spring and planted in rows at a foot apart, being merely 

 pressed into the ground with the finger and thumb, and covered 

 over with a little earth. The ground ought to be kept perfectly 

 clean during the summer, and, though it ought to be good, it 

 ought by no means to be wet. When the leaves begin to get 



