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.” 
Rcmaunt 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 that the sede schal bere the 
Kytte hym nougt 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 nougt 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 Arch&ologia, 1894. See illustration facing p. 62. 
3 Sauces. 
