Introduction and Background

ii LAN | | n a ) zz a m as o THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE BEQUEST OF ANITA D. S. BLAKE A GARDEN OF HERBS GARDEN OF HERBS BY ELEANOUR SINCLAIR ROHDE “cif the honye that the bees gather out of so many floures of herbes, shrubbes and trees . . . may justelye be called the bees honye . . . so may I call it that I have learned and gathered of many good autoures (not without great laboure and payne) my booke.” Wittam Turner, Herball, 1562. PHILIP LEE WARNER: PUBLISHER TO THE MEDICI SOCIETY LTD., LONDON BOSTON, MASS., 755 BOYLSTON ST. MDMXXI AGRICULTURE Ada't GIrr Printed in Great Britain. TO M.S. IN AFFECTIONATE GRATITUDE 730 PREFACE «Were it not for the sake of Custom, which has made it as unfashionable for a Book to come abroad without an introduction as for a Man to appear at Church without a Neckcloth or a Lad without a Hoop-petticoat, I should not have troubled you wii this.”—E. Smiru, The Compleat Housewife, 1736. Nowapays every one who writes a book, especially a small book, offers an apology for doing so. But this book is so unpretentious that an apology for writing it would be absurd. There is an immense wealth of literature, both learned and charming, on the subject of herbs, but there is no small practical handbook for those who are going to create an old-fashioned herb garden, and who want to know how to use these herbs as our great-grandmothers did. The fashion for ‘‘ blue,” “‘ grey,” “‘ white ” or Japanese gardens has died out; the rock garden still fascinates, but, unless made and maintained by skilful hands, it is apt to look ridiculous, so let us hope that the herb garden is to be restored to its former pride of place. Even those of us with the smallest suburban plots can make a delightful herb garden, and no matter how tiny it is a perpetual joy. Herbs ask so little and they give so much. All that the majority of our common herbs want is a fairly poor soil (the poorer the better for the aromatic herbs) and plenty of sun- light. People who know nothing of herbs imagine that it might be a dull garden consisting of only foliage plants, But there is no blue more beautiful than that of borage, whilst valerian, mallows, marigold and the stately mullein (to mention only a few examples) make lovely splashes of colour. There need be no limit to the size of the garden, for, as one eminent herbalist tells us, there are on an average about seven hundred different remedies for most of the vil viii PREFACE common ailments, but it is undoubtedly the moderate-sized garden which is the most attractive. This little book only deals with the few well-known English wild and garden herbs which every one can grow and use. No mention is made of the purely medicinal uses of herbs, the receipts being merely for the excellent old herbal teas, the syrups and conserves, the herbal drinks and home-made wines, the candied flowers and leaves, the sweet waters, washing-balls, pomanders, etc., which our great-grand- mothers were so skilful in preparing. I have included just a few recipes, which are, alas, of no use, in our sadly unimagi- native age! One of these will be found under the heading «Thyme ’”’: ‘“ To enable one to see the Fairies,” and I can only trust it will not fall under the eye of any severely practical person, but as William Coles says of some of the things in his Avt of Simpling : “ if there be any that are not true yet they are pleasant.” NotE.—I should like to thank Miss Canziani and Miss Alice Smail for their kind help in copying the plans for me. E.S.R: CHAPTER Il. tL IV; VIL vil. VIII. Ix. x. CONTENTS PREFACE . 5 . . eee Or Hers GARDENS Knots ror THE HousEwire’s GARDEN . Or Sunpry Hers Or SaLLETs . + . Hers PorracEs . . . . . . Hers Puppines. Herp Drinks AND HoME-MADE WINES . AppitionaL REcEIPTs . Or THE Pickinc AND Dryinc or HErgs . Or Sweet Scents : z C ‘ . AUTHORITIES. InDEX ix PAGE 20 29 140 154 160 165 187 200 206 220 225, A GARDEN OF HERBS CHAPTER I OF HERB GARDENS “ The worship of Demeter belongs to that older religion, nearer to the Earth, which some have thought they could discern behind the more definitely national mythology of Homer. She is the goddess of dark caves. . . . She knows the magic power of certain plants cut from her bosom to bane or bless . . . She is the goddess of the fertility of the earth in its wildness.”—WALTER PaTER. “ Talke of perfect happiness or pleasure and what place was so fit for that as the garden place where Adam was set to be the Herbarist.”—Joun GERARD. “ All the wide world of vegetation blooms and buds for you; the thorn and the thistle which the earth casts forth as evil are to you the kindliest servants ; no dying petal nor drooping tendril is so feeble as to have no help for you.”— Joun Rusk. “Then there are some flowers, they always seem to me like over-dutiful children: tend them never so little and they come up and flourish and show as I may say their, bright and happy faces to you.”—DouGLas JERROLD. «Death, thou’rt a cordial old and rare: Look how compounded, with what care, Time got his wrinkles reaping thee, Sweet herbs from all antiquity.” Lanter, “A GARDEN of herbs, a vineyard, a garden enclosed—all these have the gravity of use and labour, and are as remote as memory, and as familiar, secluded and secret.” But what do we know of herb gardens ?—for we use so few herbs, and those we have relegated to an obscure corner of the kitchen garden. It is a little difficult even to imagine a time when “ vegetables’’ occupied only an insignificant part of the herb garden, and a still earlier time when both the flower garden and the vegetable garden were non- existent, and the herb garden reigned supreme, We know B 2 A GARDEN OF HERBS from the greatest authority on the history of gardening that even in Tudor days only very wealthy men had separate gardens merely for pleasure, whilst all the small manors and farm-houses throughout the country still retained the old herb garden. For over seven centuries before that time, all the gardens in England were herb gardens, and very beautiful they must have been, for roses, lilies, gillyflowers, lavender, rosemary, fennel, poppies, marigolds, honeysuckle, periwinkles, peonies and violets were all used as herbs. Our ancestors ate such enormous quantities of meat, that for “ vegetables,” as we understand them, they would have had very little use, and what they needed in large quantities were all sorts of herbs, for stuffings and stewings, for decora- tions, for perfume and for medicine. Indeed, “ vegetables ” are quite newcomers in England. They declined in favour throughout Europe with the fall of the Roman Empire, and though they were reintroduced after the Renaissance, they were not in common use till at least a hundred years later We were far behind our continental neighbours in our know- ledge of them, and vegetables which figured in the old Roman menus were considered luxuries in this country in the days of the later Stuarts. Though potatoes were introduced into England in Elizabeth’s reign, they were not grown to any extent, and the working people did not eat them for another two hundred years. Gilbert White, writing late in the eighteenth century, says of them : “‘ They have prevailed by means of premiums within these twenty years only, and are much esteemed here now by the poor, who would scarcely have ventured to taste them in the last reign.”” Of Jerusalem artichokes we knew nothing till we learnt about them from the Red Indians; and they were only introduced into England in Tudor days. It was about the same time that French beans were first cultivated in this country, but scarlet runners were unknown till Stuart times. The wild carrot is an indigenous plant in the British islands, but of the cultivated carrot we were ignorant till 1 The Honourable Mrs. Evelyn Cecil, History of Gardening in England, OF HERB GARDENS 3 the Flemish immigrants in the early seventeenth century introduced them. To them also we owe our present garden spinach, which has had a long journey to reach us, for it is said to have come from Asia through Spain. The wild cabbage was used by our ancestors from Saxon days, and one of the Saxon names for March was “ sprout-kale month”; but otherwise the whole bvassica tribe were unknown to us till the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Sir Anthony Ashley, of Wimborne St. Giles, Dorset, who died in 1627, has always had the reputation of being the first to introduce the modern cabbage into England, and on his tomb there is a cabbage portrayed at his feet. His monument was seriously damaged by a fire a few years ago, but fortunately the cabbage was saved ! Mrs. Earle, in her Pot-pourri from a Surrey Garden, pointed out that even as late as 1824 there were no roses and no strawberries in our sense of the word. Samuel Hartlib, writing in 1659, says: “‘ About fifty years ago this art of gardening began to creep into England, into Sandwich and Surrey, Fulham and other places. Some old men in Surrey where it flourisheth very much at present, report that they knew the first gardeners that came into those parts to plant cabbages, colleflowers and to sow turneps and carrots and parsnips, and raith-rape peas, all which at that time were great rarities, we having few or none in England but what came from Holland and Flanders. These gardeners with much ado procured a plot of good ground and gave no lesse than eight pounds per acre; yet the gentleman was not content, fearing they would spoil his ground because they did use to dig it. So ignorant were they of gardening in those days.” The kitchen garden, therefore, as we know it, is quite modern, and during the many centuries when “ vegetables ”’ were almost unknown, our ancestors relied on the health- giving properties of herbs. Even as late as the middle of the last century the herb garden retained an honoured place, and the old-fashioned herbs were still cherished for their rare virtues. Like the wise man, described by Solomon, 4 A GARDEN OF HERBS our forefathers did not despise the God-given virtues of these humble plants. Much of the old lore has been lost, and patent medicines have been allowed to usurp the place of the herbal teas; but at last herbs are coming into their own again, and we are beginning to realise our folly in making so little use of them, and especially of the sun-loving aromatic herbs. The mere scent of them is a tonic, and even in winter their leaves give one a delicious reminder of sunshine and joyous vitality. Why waste their virtues, which since Chaldean days have been extolled by the wisest men of all ages? We have come to look upon health as the mere absence of disease—with us it is a negative thing; but the word “‘ health,” with its cognates “ holy,” “ whole,” “ whole- some,” has a positive sense, and the old herbalists were never weary of preaching the use of herbs, not only to cure, but also to keep one in perfect health. Just because it is the custom, we make use of all the showier “‘ herbs,” which now fill our kitchen gardens, not only because they are pleasant, but also because of their health-giving properties ; but why neglect the older herbs—sage, thyme, yarrow, wild strawberry leaves, violet and primrose leaves, angelica, balm, rosemary, fennel, agrimony, borage, betony, cowslip flowers and leaves, elder, tansy and many others? The old herbal teas are wonderful tonics, and some of them—balm tea, for instance—are delicious. Why have modern house- wives abandoned making rose-petal conserve? (This is far too delicate and fairy-like a concoction to be called “ jam.’’) Why do we never make strawberry wine, which was Sir Walter Raleigh’s favourite cordial? Why are our salads such dull affairs compared with the salads of Tudor and Stewart days? Why do we not flavour vinegar with gilly- flowers, rosemary and many other herbs? Why do we never serve syrups made from flower-petals (roses, violets, cowslips, etc.) with sweet dishes? Recipes for these and many others will be found in the following pages. With the substitution of foreign spices for our own English herbs in flavouring the old herbalists have little patience. “ As for fiery spices,” said Sir John Hill, “ God designed OF HERB GARDENS 5 those for the countries where they grow; with us they have continually disagreed.’”’ Like all herbalists, he was equally severe with those who preferred foreign drugs to our own medicinal herbs. “ Nature has in this country and doubtless also in all others provided in the Herbs of its own growth the remedies for the several diseases to which it is most subject, and although the addition of what is brought from abroad should not be supposed superfluous, there is no occasion it should make the other neglected.” Tea is de- scribed by Tryon as a “ pretty, innocent, harmless liquor”’ ; but he continues, “its great esteem is chiefly for Novelty’s sake, and because ’tis outlandish and dear and far fetcht, and therefore admired by the multitude of ignorant people, who have always the greatest esteem for those things they know not.” For fruits and vegetables unnaturally forced, and all other “improvements” on Nature’s methods, the old herbalists had nothing but censure. ‘“ Whether men should attempt the forcing of Nature,” wrote one, “‘ may best be judged by observing how seldom God Almighty does it Himself.” ‘ The foreign plants brought into our stoves with so much expense and kept there with so much pains may fill the eye with empty wonder; but it would be more to the honour of the possessor of them to have found out the use of one common herb at home than to have enriched our country with an hundred of the others. Why should he who has not yet informed himself thoroughly of the Nature of the meanest Herb which grows in the next Ditch ransac the earth for foreign wonders? Does he not fall under the reproach with the generality of those who travel for their Improvement, while they are ignorant of all they left at home, and who are ridiculous in their Inquiries concerning the Laws and Government of other Countries, while they are not able to give a satisfactory answer to any question which regards their own? ” But apart from the use to be made of the herbs, how beautiful an old herb garden is, and how altogether lovable. Instead of the restless activities needed in a modern garden, the very name “ herb garden ” suggests rest and tranquillity, ‘ 6 A GARDEN OF HERBS a quiet enclosure full of sunlight, and delicious scents, and plants whose peace is never disturbed; and where the humblest of newcomers can always find its own niche, and a welcome from the older inhabitants. If ever we revive the beautiful old English herb garden, it is to be hoped that it will be the garden of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries which will claim its old place in our affections, for at no time were herb gardens more beautiful. They were square enclosures surrounded by a wall or a very thick hedge, and all round was a bank of earth planted with sweet-smelling herbs. At intervals recesses were cut to serve as seats, and they were covered with turf, “ thick yset and soft as any velvet,” or camomile, This idea of a bank of earth thrown up all round was borrowed from the thirteenth-century monastic gardens, nearly all of which had them, and they were soon copied in all the gardens. How thick the hedges were may be gathered from the old poem, “ The Flower and the Leaf.” “‘ The hegge as thicke as a castle wall, That who that list without to stond or go Though he would all day prien to and fro, He should not see if there were any wight within or no,” Sometimes there was a pergola or covered way round three sides of the wall, but more commonly only on one side. Illustrations of these covered ways may be seen in the old missals. The covered-in alley of the Dutch garden in Kensington gardens is just like an illustration from The second booke of Flowers, Fruits, Beastes, Birds and Flies (1650), and would be a very good model for any one wishing to mate one of the old covered ways. There was usually a cistern or simple fountain in some part of the garden, and nearly always a “herber.” This herber, one hastens to add, bore little or no resemblance to that modern atrocity the summer-house, for herbers consisted merely of poles with rosemary or sweetbriar or dog-roses growing over them. As in Chaucer’s day the herber might have a medlar tree growing by it, and for seats inside the low-growing camomile, or just turf. Dethicke suggested that herbers OF HERB GARDENS 7 should be covered with plants “‘ of a fragrant savoure,”’ such as rosemary, and that they should be so constructed “ that the Owner’s friends sitting in the same may the freelier see and beholde the beautie of the garden to theyr great delyght.”