HENDERSON'S SUPERIOR SEEDS EOR MARKET GARDENERS. 



47 



fSV VEGETABLE SEEDS. 



HERB SEEDS. SWEET, POT AND MEDICINAL. 



No garden is complete without a few Herbs for culinary or medicinal purposes. 

 These should be harvested on a dry day. just before they come into full 

 bloom, then dried quickly and packed closely, entirely excluded from the air. 



Anise. For garnishing cordials and flavoring 



Balm. For making balm tea and balm wine; useful in fevers 



Basil, Sweet. The leaves and tops of the shoots are used for highly seasoned 



soups, stews and sauces; a leaf or two is sometimes placed in salads. 

 Borage. Excellent for bees. The leaves are used in salads or boiled as spinach; 



the flowers are aromatic and used in cool drinks 



Caraway. The aromatic seeds are used in confectionery, cakes and medicine 



Catnip. Useful for seasoning, and also crown as a bee food 



Coriander. For garnishing; the seeds are aromatic and useful for flavoring 

 Dill. The aromatic seeds are used in pickles, preserves, soups and sauces . 

 Fennel, Sweet. The leaves boiled enter into many fish sauces, and are beautiful 



for garnishing; the seeds are employed in confectionery and for flavoring 



liquors 



Fennel, Florence. Cirown like celery, which it resembles somewhat in flavor 



Hop Seed. (Hamulus Lupulus.) 



Horehound. Useful for its tonic properties and for cough remedies 



Hyssop. The leafy tops and flowers are dried for making Hyssop Tea. . . . 



Lavender. A popular, aromatic herb, emitting a delightful perfume 



Marjoram, Sweet. The leaves and ends of the shoots are popularly used for 



seasoning; it is usually grown as an annual 



Opium Poppy. (Papaver Somntferum.) Grown for the production of opium.. 

 Rosemary. The aromatic leaves are used for seasoning. The oil from the 



flowers is the chief ingredient in " Eau de Cologne." 



Saffron. The flowers are used in coloring soups, olives and other dishes. . 



Sage. The leaves are used in dressings and in sauces 



Savory, Summer. Used for seasoning and flavoring soups and dressings. . 

 Savory, Winter. A hardy perennial; the leaves are used for flavoring.. .. 

 Thyme, Broad Leaved. The leaves are dried for seasoning; also useful as a bee 



food 



Tansy. Formerly a prominent domestic medicine 



Wormwood. Used for medicinal purposes; also beneficial for poultry, planted 



in poultry grounds ■ • 



PRICES. 



Pkls., Ozs., and \ Lbs. deliv- 

 ered free, but add 8c. to Lbs. 



Pkt. 



Oz. 



I Lb. 



Lb. 



.05 



.10 



.20 





05 



15 



50 





.05 



. 15 



.40 





.05 



.10 



.30 



1 .00 



.05 



.10 



.30 



.80 



.10 



.40 







.05 



.10 



.20 





.05 



. 10 



.20 



.50 



.05 



. 10 



.20 





.05 



. 15 



45 



1 40 



.20 



1 .00 







.05 



.25 







.05 



. 15 







.05 



.20 



.50 





.05 



.15 



.45 



1 fit) 



.05 



.15 



.35 



1 .00 



.10 



.35 







.05 



.15 







.05 



.15 



.45 



1 .40 



.05 



.10 



.30 



1 . 00 



.05 



.20 







10 



.35 



1 . 10 



3 50 



.05 



.20 







.05 



20 



.60 





SWEET MARJORAM. 



GARDEN HERBS AND HOW TO GROW THEM 



From Peter Henderson's book " Gardening for Profit." 



" I believe even yet the cultivation of Sweet Herbs, for market 

 purposes, is but little known in this country, except in the veget- 

 able gardens in the vicinity of New York: there it is practiced to 

 an extent of perhaps 100 to 150 acres, a fair average profit of 

 which would be about $250.00 per acre. Like the crops of 

 Celery, Spinach, or Horseradish, they are grown only as second 

 crops, that is, they are planted in July, after an early crop of 

 Peas, Cabbages, Beets, or Onions has been sold off. The 

 principal kinds grown are Thyme, Sage, Summer Savory, and 

 Sweet Marjoram, the former two being grown in the ratio of 

 ten acres to one of the others. 



Thyme is sown in rows in April in rich mellow soil, carefully 

 kept clean from weeds until the plants are fit to set out, which 

 may be done any time that the ground is ready from middle of 

 June until end of July. As the plants are usually small and 

 delicate it is necessary that the ground be well fined down by 

 harrowing with the disc harrow, or raking before planting. 

 The distance apart, for all the kinds, is about the same, namely, 

 twelve inches between the rows, and eight or ten inches be- 

 tween the plants. In eight or ten days after the herb crop has 

 been planted, the ground is " hoed " lightly over by a steel rake, 

 which disturbs the surface sufficiently to destroy the weeds 

 that are just beginning to germinate; it is done in one-third of 

 the time that it could be done by a hoe, and answers the purpose 

 quite as well, as deep hoeing at this early stage of planting is 

 perfectly useless. In ten or twelve days more, the same opera- 

 tion is repeated with the steel rake, which usually effectually 

 destroys all weeds, the seeds of which are near enough to the 

 surface to germinate. By the middle of September, the herb 

 crop usually covers the ground completely, looking like a field 

 of clover. Allow this mass to grow for another month as it is, 

 and you would not increase the weight of leaves; the plants 

 would grow taller, keeping the green and marketable leaves on 



the top, but only yellow and withered ones and plenty of woody 

 stems below. But by cutting out every alternate row (each 

 plant making about two bunches), the remaining rows are 

 allowed light and air, and in three or four weeks will have 

 spread so as again to cover up the entire surface, from which 

 half the crop has already been gathered. We treat Sage in all 

 respects the same as Thyme. 



By this method of cutting out every other row, fully a double 

 crop is taken, and of a quality superior to what it would be were 

 it allowed to grow without being thus thinned out. About 

 thirty years ago I was lucky enough to discover the importance 

 of this plan of doubling our crops of herbs, and as I had not, in 

 those days, begun to tell " what I know about gardening," I 

 kept my own counsel for some years before my neighbors dis- 

 covered the plan. Herbs are regarded as a safe crop for the 

 market gardener; they are less perishable than anything else 

 grown, for, if there be any interruption to their sale in a green 

 state, they can, if necessary, be dried and boxed up and sold in 

 the dry state, months after. The price now is from $6 to $10 

 per 1,000 bunches, and we always prefer to dry them rather 

 than sell lower than $0 per 1,000, experience telling us that the 

 market will usually so regulate itself as to handsomely pay for 

 holding back the sale. The cost of getting the crop raised and 

 marketed will average about $150.00 per acre, one-half of the 

 expense being in lying it in bunches. But with many of our 

 industrious German gardeners it does not cost half that, as the 

 tying up is usually done by their wives and children. 



The season for selling is October, November and December; 

 and if shipped in open crates, so arranged by divisions of slats 

 that not more than eight or nine inches of a layer would be 

 together, they could be shipped at that cool season to distances 

 requiring fifty or sixty hours in transit. The average receipts 

 per acre is now about $400.00." 



