Culinary Herbs: Their Cultivation Harvesting Curing and Uses

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.

M. G. Kains.
New York, 1912.

PagePrefaceA Dinner of HerbsCulinary Herbs DefinedHistoryProduction of New VarietiesStatus and UsesNotable Instance of UsesMethods of CuringDrying and StoringHerbs as GarnishesPropagation, SeedsCuttingsLayersDivisionTransplantingImplementsLocation of Herb GardenThe Soil and Its PreparationCultivationDouble CroppingHerb RelationshipsThe Herb List:AngelicaAniseBalmBasilBorageCarawayCatnipChervilChivesClaryCorianderCuminDillFennelFinocchioFennel FlowerHoarhoundHyssopLavenderLovageMarigoldMarjoramMintParsleyPennyroyalPeppermintRosemaryRueSageSamphireSavory, SummerSavory, WinterSouthernwoodTansyTarragonThyme

ILLUSTRATIONS

PageHerbs and Children, a Happy HarmonyFrontispieceSpading ForkBarrel Culture of HerbsTransplanting Board and DibbleAssortment of Favorite WeedersPopular Adjustable Row MarkerPopular SpadesLath Screen for Shading BedsHarvesting Thyme Grown on a Commercial ScaleGarden Hoes of Various StylesDried Herbs in Paper and TinHerb Solution BottlePaper Sacks of Dried Herbs for Home UseHand Cultivator and ScarifierFlat of Seedlings Ready to Be TransplantedGlass Covered Propagating BoxFlower Pot Propagating BedHolt's Mammoth and Common SageMarker for Hotbeds and Cold FramesLeading Forms of TrowelsWooden DibblesCombination Hand PlowSurface Paring CultivatorThinning Scheme for HarvestingCenter Row Hand CultivatorHand PlowProphecy of Many Toothsome DishesAnise in Flower and in FruitSweet BasilBorage, Famous for "Cool Tankard"Caraway for Comfits and Birthday CakesCatnip, Pussy's DelightCoriander, for Old-Fashioned CandiesDill, of Pickle FameSweet FennelSweet MarjoramMint, Best Friend of Roast LambCurled ParsleyRue, Sour Herb of GraceSage, The Leading Herb for Duck and Goose DressingHolt's Mammoth and Common Sage LeavesDainty Summer SavoryTarragon, French Chef's DelightThyme for Sausage

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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