176 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Juke 28, 1859. 
used as it deserves, for it is cooling and pleasant. Sow 
now on a warm border, and once a-month. till August. 
The shoots are ready for use when they are two inches 
high. Water freely iu dry weather. There is a variety 
called Golden Purslane, but it is not so good as the green 
variety. 
Sage ( Salvia officinalis). —A low-growing undershrub ; 
well known, and perhaps more esteemed for its savoury 
quality than any other herb of the garden. The leaves 
are used for many kinds of meats, especially geese and 
ducks. I remember when I was a boy, and living in 
Yorkshire, eating the young leaves spread on buttered 
cakes called cracklings, and sprinkled with pepper, with 
great gusto. I was then, of course, a hungry growing 
lad, and enjoyed my saged buttered crisp cakes very 
greatly. I think I could eat one with pleasure even now. 
Sage is much valued by the cook in various ways in the 
culinary art. For sore throats a decoction of the red¬ 
leaved .variety is much recommended as a gargle. I 
found, a few years ago, a fine-broad-leaved variety in the 
gardens about Sheffield, which is well worthy of general 
cultivation. There are several varieties—namely, the 
common, the red-leaved, the narrow-leaved, and the broad¬ 
leaved. There are also some with the leaves variegated. 
Sage is increased principally by cuttings. We have a 
proverb in Yorkshire as to the time of putting in Sage- 
cutting?. It is,— 
“ If Sage you wisli with you to stay, 
Take slips and plant them in the month of May.” 
A proverb that, like many others, has a good deal of truth 
in it. I have planted hundreds of cuttings as an edging 
to cart-drives in a market garden in this month with 
scarcely a single failure. These cuttings, when they 
begin to grow, should have their tops nipped off and a 
little earth drawn to the stems. In moist weather roots 
will push forth in the partially buried stems; and the 
plants will form nice, round, low, dense bushes, which 
will stand any amount of cold, provided the soil and 
subsoil are moderately dry. This herb is also raised 
from seeds sown in spring; but the seedlings are so full 
of sap, and gross green wood, that they often perish in 
winter. Sage should be renovated every third year, and 
the flowering shoots always kept cut in. July is the best 
month to gather Sage to dry for winter use. If cut later, 
the plants have not time to make fresh growth and ripen 
the wood to stand the severity of the winter frost. 
Savory ( Satureia montana and S. hortensis). —The first 
is a hardy low shrub, and the other a hardy annual. 
Both are used as seasoners and in soups, the flavour being 
pleasant to most palates. The shrub may be increased 
by slips or cuttings in May, but seeds of both are sold in 
the seed shops. Both should be sown in drills in May, 
and may remain where they are sown and drawn up ; the 
roots cut off, and the tops tied in bundles and dried in 
the herb-room for winter use. For using green, keep a 
few plants of the winter Savory in a bed of dry soil in an 
open situation. 
Shallots ( Allium Ascalonicum). —A hardy bulbous- 
rooted perennial, a native of Palestine, found near As- 
kalon : hence its specific name. It is used for pickling 
and for seasoning ; and is by some highly esteemed 
chopped up small and eaten raw with beef steaks or mutton 
chops. It is considered milder than the Onion. 
Shallots are easily cultivated. Divide the root, or bulb, 
into separate cloves, and plant each division in rows five 
inches apart every way. The soil should be dry and in 
good order, but not manured the same season. The 
cloves, though small, will produce large bulbs by August; 
when, as soon as the tops turn yellow, take them up, dry 
and store them for use. 
In rich, freshly-manured soil the Shallot is very liable 
to the attacks of the maggot. To prevent this, plant as 
advised above in undunged rich ground, and plant in 
raised drills—that is, draw with a hoe the soil into ridges ; 
then draw a drill in the centre of each ridge, and plant 
the cloves in that drill. As soon as the plants have begun 
to grow, and have got firm hold, level down the ridges, 
leaving the Shallots level with the general surface of the 
bed. So managed, the maggot will not be found amongst 
them to any extent. 
Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus ).—A hardy creeping 
perennial from Siberia. It is used in pickles to give a 
peculiar flavour. If the top and leaves are bruised and 
steeped amongst some good vinegar, a pleasant fish-sauce 
is the result. The young tops and leaves are used also in 
soups, sauces, and other culinary preparations. French 
cooks are very fond of using this aromatic herb, and woe 
to the gardener who does not provide it largely for them. 
It may be used either green or dry. 
It should be cultivated in a warm dry soil; and may be 
propagated successfully in May or June by slips or 
cuttings of the young shoots : or it may be raised from 
seed sown in May. To obtain green tops early, plant 
some roots in pots, and place them in a gentle heat. 
Also in October remove some of the creeping roots, and 
plant them close to a south wall: they will be earlier by 
several weeks than in the open border. 
Thyme (Thymus vulgaris and 1\ ci triodor a ).—The 
common and the Lemon Thyme. Both are hardy, low 
shrubs, and are used in soups, stuffings, and sauces. The 
first may be raised from seed annually, and treated as an 
annual—that is, gathered and dried, and seed sown every 
spring; but there is a variety that rarely flowers, and is 
more esteemed on that account. The Lemon Thyme is 
generally propagated by division about May or June. 
The safest way with both is to lay some fine, light, sifted 
soil amongst the shoots, and as soon as fresh roots are 
pushed into it, take up the entire plants, divide them into 
moderate-sized plants, and replant them immediately in 
any rich dry soil. They will make nice tufts by autumn, 
and will stand the winter well. For winter use, cut off 
some side-shoots, tie them up in small bundles, and hang 
them up in a dry room, or shed, to dry. Then put them 
in thin paper bags to keep off dust, and they will be fit 
for use when the plants out of doors are all covered with 
snow. 
There are some few other herbs that are used for the 
pot and other culinary purposes, but they are so little 
used that it is scarcely worth while to take up space and the 
reader’s time with them—such, for instance, as Borage, 
Burnett, Costmary, Indian Cress, Marigold, Dill, Clary, 
and Tansy. T. Appleby. 
(To he continued.) 
CAULIFLOWER CULTURE. 
“Op all flowers,” said Dr. Johnson, “commend me to the 
Cauliflower.” This was an ejaculation which has been often 
re-echoed by many epicures ; amongst whom no vegetable ranks 
more highly than the subject of our present theme. Its lightness 
and succulence render it a general favourite: but to bring it to 
its acme of excellence requires the most liberal culture. The 
ground for it should be deeply trenched and highly manured. 
In its treatment it is necessary to have regard to three or four 
principal crops. The 1st sown at the end of August for pro¬ 
ducing early heads under hand-glasses, to come in about the end 
of May or beginning of June : the smallest plants from this 
sowing to be planted in a quarter for succession in July. 2nd, 
the first, second, and third spring sowings for summer supply. 
And 3rdly, a sowing made about the 20th of May for an autumnal 
and winter supply. These sowings, if well attended to, will give 
a constant succession ; and if taken up late in autumn, and laid 
under the lights of a spare vinery, they will prove a most useful 
source of supply for the winter. 
I am av'are that it is not usual to pot Cauliflowers : it is more 
customary to prick them down in a two or three-light frame for 
the winter, and to plant them under hand-glasses in November. 
My practice is—and it is one I would recommend—to pot all my 
plants and stow them away in any cold Peach-house or vinery till 
February, when I plant the strongest under hand-glasses, reserving 
the weakest for the open quarter, and thus securing a succession. 
