CHAPTER VIII. 



OLERACEOUS PLANTS, OR POT-HERBS, 



COMPRISING SUCH AS ARE USED FOR GARNISHING AND SEASONING. 



The plants which constitute this chapter, being 

 chiefly aromatic, should be accommodated with 

 a light poor soil, and be cultivated by them- 

 selves, on whatever scale the garden may be ; 

 and if we except the common parsley, which 

 requires to occupy a considerable space, a bed 

 or two at most of the others will be found 

 sufficient. The situation chosen for them 

 should be some snug and convenient spot, 

 sheltered and warm, as the majority of these 

 herbs delight in a warm sunny spot; conve- 

 nient, because some or other of them are in 

 daily use, and if scattered over the garden, 

 as is too often the case, much time is lost in 

 collecting them. To prevent mistakes, every 

 variety should be legibly named at the end of 

 the bed next to the walk ; and the smaller the 

 garden is, the more necessity there is for this 

 being attended to. 



§ 1. — PAESLEY. 



Natural history. — Parsley (Apium petroseli- 

 num L.) belongs to the natural order Umbelli- 

 ferae, to the sub-order Orthospermaa, and tribe 

 Amminese, and to the class Pentandria Digynia 

 in the Linnoean arrangement. The generic 

 name is derived from Apon, water, Celtic, from 

 the place where the plant grows ; and the spe- 

 cific name from petre, a stone, and selinum — stone 

 selinum. It is a native of Sardinia, introduced 

 about 1548. Gerard spells it parsele, parsely, 

 and parsley ; and says it " is delightful to the 

 taste and agreeable to the stomach." Phillips 

 asserts that rt parsley easily resisteth the cold 

 and the heat, if it be sown on a rich damp 

 soil, or near a spring." This is a very different 

 condition, as to situation, to what it enjoys 

 in cultivation ; and hence cultivators in ge- 

 neral sow it in dry exposed places, to avoid 

 its damping or rotting off during winter, which 

 it is very apt to do in strong damp soils, be they 

 ever so rich ; and in much elevated situations 

 it is with great difficulty preserved during win- 

 ter and spring. That it would succeed better if 

 planted near a spring is possible, as the water 

 rising from a great depth is higher in tempera- 

 ture than the surrounding atmosphere, and 

 hence springs seldom freeze. Few, however, 



have such springs at command, and so com- 

 pletely protected as to exclude hares, which are 

 exceedingly fond of this plant. Indeed, it has 

 been sown often in preserves, where it has been 

 wished to encourage these destructive creatures. 

 The seed of the common parsley has the pro- 

 perty of remaining long in the ground after 

 sowing before it vegetates — from forty to fifty 

 days. Some fatal mistakes have occurred by 

 people gathering JEtliusa cynapium (fool's pars- 

 ley), a poisonous plant often found in old 

 gardens as a weed, and so similar to parsley 

 as to be readily mistaken for it ; and instances 

 are recorded where the leaves of Coniunn 

 maculatum (hemlock) have been gathered for 

 it in the same way. To avoid such, it would 

 be well if amateurs, and those not sufficiently 

 acquainted with these plants, were to cultivate 

 the curled parsley only, which could not be 

 mistaken for either. The plain-leaved sort, 

 however, is hardier, and withstands the win- 

 ter cold better, and therefore is often sown 

 where the finer curled varieties would not sur- 

 vive. 



Use.— Parsley is in great demand throughout 

 the whole year for a variety of culinary pur- 

 poses, and is the common garnish to all cold 

 meats, and enters into many sauces, soups, 

 broths, &c. It should always be brought to 

 table when any dish is introduced that is strongly 

 seasoned with onions, as it takes off the smell 

 and prevents the after- taste of that strong root. 

 Forenoon tipplers chew a leaf of parsley to pre- 

 vent their breath from bearing witness against 

 them. The leaves are gathered when quite dry, 

 and hung up in small bundles, in an apartment 

 heated to from 60° to 70°, to dry. In a day or 

 two they may be pounded or rubbed down to a 

 powdery state, and bottled for winter use. 

 Hung up to the roof of a kitchen, or placed in 

 a Dutch oven in the evening at a moderate dis- 

 tance from the fire, they will be in a fit state by 

 morning for pounding. It retains its flavour 

 long when dried, if kept excluded from air. In 

 this state it is excellent for seasoning omelets 

 and all similar dishes. 



Propagation. — It is propagated by sow- 

 ing the seed only. An ounce of seed 

 will sow a drill 150 feet in length. 



