Excerpt
PREFACE
A small boy who wanted to make a good impression once took his little sweetheart to an ice cream parlor. After he had vainly searched the list of edibles for something within his means, he whispered to the waiter, "Say, Mister, what you got that looks tony an' tastes nice for nineteen cents?"
This is precisely the predicament in which many thousand people are today. Like the boy, they have skinny purses, voracious appetites and mighty yearnings to make the best possible impression within their means. Perhaps having been "invited out," they learn by actual demonstration that the herbs are culinary magicians which convert cheap cuts and "scraps" into toothsome dainties. They are thus aroused to the fact that by using herbs they can afford to play host and hostess to a larger number of hungry and envious friends than ever before.
Maybe it is mainly due to these yearnings and to the memories of mother's and grandmother's famous dishes that so many inquiries concerning the propagation, cultivation, curing and uses of culinary herbs are asked of authorities on gardening and cookery; and maybe it is because no one has really loved the herbs enough to publish a book on the subject. That herbs are easy to grow I can abundantly attest, for I have grown them all. I can also bear ample witness to the fact that they reduce the cost of high living, if by that phrase is meant pleasing the palate without offending the purse.
For instance, a few days ago a friend paid twenty cents for soup beef, and five cents for "soup greens." The addition of salt, pepper and other ingredients brought the initial cost up to twenty-nine cents. This made enough soup for ten or twelve liberal servings. The lean meat removed from the soup was minced and mixed with not more than ten cents' worth of diced potatoes, stale bread crumbs, milk, seasoning and herbs before being baked as a supper dish for five people, who by their bland smiles and "scotch plates" attested that the viands both looked "tony" and tasted nice.
I am glad to acknowledge my thanks to Mr. N. R. Graves of Rochester, N. Y., and Prof. R. L. Watts of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural College, for the photographic illustrations, and to Mr. B. F. Williamson, the Orange Judd Co.'s artist, for the pen and ink drawings which add so much to the value, attractiveness and interest of these pages.
If this book shall instill or awaken in its readers the wholesome though "cupboard" love that the culinary herbs deserve both as permanent residents of the garden and as masters of the kitchen, it will have accomplished the object for which it was written.
CONTENTS Page Preface A Dinner of Herbs Culinary Herbs Defined History Production of New Varieties Status and Uses Notable Instance of Uses Methods of Curing Drying and Storing Herbs as Garnishes Propagation, Seeds Cuttings Layers Division Transplanting Implements Location of Herb Garden The Soil and Its Preparation Cultivation Double Cropping Herb Relationships The Herb List: Angelica Anise Balm Basil Borage Caraway Catnip Chervil Chives Clary Coriander Cumin Dill Fennel Finocchio Fennel Flower Hoarhound Hyssop Lavender Lovage Marigold Marjoram Mint Parsley Pennyroyal Peppermint Rosemary Rue Sage Samphire Savory, Summer Savory, Winter Southernwood Tansy Tarragon Thyme
ILLUSTRATIONS Page Herbs and Children, a Happy Harmony Frontispiece Spading Fork Barrel Culture of Herbs Transplanting Board and Dibble Assortment of Favorite Weeders Popular Adjustable Row Marker Popular Spades Lath Screen for Shading Beds Harvesting Thyme Grown on a Commercial Scale Garden Hoes of Various Styles Dried Herbs in Paper and Tin Herb Solution Bottle Paper Sacks of Dried Herbs for Home Use Hand Cultivator and Scarifier Flat of Seedlings Ready to Be Transplanted Glass Covered Propagating Box Flower Pot Propagating Bed Holt's Mammoth and Common Sage Marker for Hotbeds and Cold Frames Leading Forms of Trowels Wooden Dibbles Combination Hand Plow Surface Paring Cultivator Thinning Scheme for Harvesting Center Row Hand Cultivator Hand Plow Prophecy of Many Toothsome Dishes Anise in Flower and in Fruit Sweet Basil Borage, Famous for "Cool Tankard" Caraway for Comfits and Birthday Cakes Catnip, Pussy's Delight Coriander, for Old-Fashioned Candies Dill, of Pickle Fame Sweet Fennel Sweet Marjoram Mint, Best Friend of Roast Lamb Curled Parsley Rue, Sour Herb of Grace Sage, The Leading Herb for Duck and Goose Dressing Holt's Mammoth and Common Sage Leaves Dainty Summer Savory Tarragon, French Chef's Delight Thyme for Sausage
CULINARY HERBS
In these days of jaded appetites, condiments and canned goods, how fondly we turn from the dreary monotony of the "dainty" menu to the memory of the satisfying dishes of our mothers! What made us, like Oliver Twist, ask for more? Were those flavors real, or was it association and natural, youthful hunger that enticed us? Can we ever forget them; or, what is more practical, can we again realize them? We may find the secret and the answer in mother's garden. Let's peep in.
The garden, as in memory we view it, is not remarkable except for its neatness and perhaps the mixing of flowers, fruits and vegetables as we never see them jumbled on the table. Strawberries and onions, carrots and currants, potatoes and poppies, apples and sweet corn and many other as strange comrades, all grow together in mother's garden in the utmost harmony.
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