The obvious answer is to prevent the soil’s rape by artificial chemical additives, and to grow the produce organically in the first place, trying to duplicate Nature wherever possible. Food crops, so grown are no danger to health, and contain many times more nutritional value.

Many publications are available to the keen gardener or commercial grower, setting out various methods of composting. One available free from the Department of Agriculture in New South Wales is Building up Fertility in the Garden; and although it does not follow the organic method closely its wealth of proven factual field experience by qualified ag-gronomists and agriculturalists gives much food for thought. Fertility without Fertilizers, a book issued by the Henry Double-day Research Association, Bocking, Braintree, Essex, goes much farther into the making of the organic compost so necessary for natural growth. Here you will find much more thought-provoking research into the use of herbs and other natural agents for speeding up the process of composting.

Read as much as you can on organic gardening methods. It should be the far-sighted aim of farmers and gardeners not only to produce an immediate crop of better vegetables and fruit, or blooms the size of soup-plates for the annual horticultural show, but to build up in the soil the natural reserves of fertility that in a matter of a few seasons will not only make less work for them (a rich soil needs little or no attention), but will save them money normally spent on chemical fertilizers and sprays, as the crops’ resistance to disease and insect attack is increased when grown under natural conditions. The humus and organic matter thus returned to the soil brings with it the “helpers”, the earthworms, the micro-organisms and bacteria that keep the soil healthy and alive and break down the decomposing vegetable and animal matter into an easily assimilable form which the plants can then use.

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In Britain, the real Golden Age of herbs and herb gardens began in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, when the wars of the barons and knights ended and relative peace descended. With increased security, the peasants returned to cultivate the land, and the lords set out to keep up with the Joneses. Rivalry between noble families no longer flourished on the battlefield, but each now sought to outstrip the other in the size and opulence of his home and the imagination and ingenuity of his gardeners and cooks. The formal herb garden evolved from those same monastery gardens, which were often planted in the form of a cross or diagonally-crossed square. Now the wealthy set their gardeners to constructing all manner of intricate designs, seeking to please the eye by art as well as nature. Sometimes the gardens were laid out in the form of heraldic animals, or the owner’s coat-of-arms, or even his initials. Francis Bacon wrote very scathingly of these practices “. . . images cut out in juniper or other garden stuff, they be for children. As for the making of knots or figures, they be but toys. . . .” And indeed they were, as the herbs grown were more for ornament than use. But the herbs grown in the kitchen gardens, and the gardens of the peasants, were most certainly for use, and were often the only physic available.

As the herbs from other lands came to be better known and more widely used, interest in the health values of British native plants was also stimulated. William Turner (1510-68) has been called the father of British botany for his work in the classification and naming of many native British plants found in the ditches and hedgerows and woodlands. These plants were now to come under scrutiny as sources of readily available herbal preparations. Nicholas Culpeper (1616-54) one of the best-known of the British herbal healers, became a physician after studying ancient Greek and Arabian medicine at Cambridge. He was a rebel—a man with a fierce antagonism towards the orthodox schools of medicine, which ridiculed his methods and beliefs. He remained poor and died penniless, having never refused help to any sufferer. The doctors criticized him not for his lack of skill or knowledge, but for the amazing number of cures he effected, claiming he must have used witchcraft: it was not possible to cure so many patients! How familiar that must sound to the many practitioners of natural medicine, even today!

Culpeper’s predecessor, John Gerard (1545-1612), another British herbalist, was, though dedicated, somewhat fanciful in many of the properties he attributed to herbs. He often cribbed from other writers (not always accurately), and many of his more far-fetched remedies are quoted by those opposing the use of herbs in health or sickness.

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A delightful tobacco substitute can be made from dried sage leaves, the slight lessening of the fresh flavour being an advantage, since sage can be rather overpowering in its strength. Sage cigarettes would not be so revolutionary: the herb was inhaled in snuff when this habit was fashionable.

Sage tea has a long history of therapeutic use: for rheumatic complaints, and more especially to strengthen the brain and heart and quicken the memory and senses. Sage leaves on bread and butter are still eaten regularly in northern England and Scotland, and the Chinese credit their longevity to liberal use of the herb. Rub the leaves on gums under dentures, too, to stimulate and harden them. The tea is made by adding 1 cup of boiling water to a dessertspoon of fresh (or a teaspoon of dried) sage leaves. Cover and leave 5 minutes. Sip slowly. It also calms excitement, so make a pot straight away if you win the lottery.

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Horseradish is very effective in the treatment of sinus and antrum congestion. Taken internally in concentrated form, it helps to purify the bloodstream and rid the body of mucous wastes. It is a seasoning that can be used safely by diabetics. It is also a valuable addition to a dog’s diet. The leaf, chopped small, helps to rid the animal of worms and build up the general body tone.

If you have a tendency to sinus congestion, add horseradish freely to your diet. There are many appetizing ways of using it in sauces and dressings for meat and vegetable dishes.

Almond Horseradish Sauce

2 tablespoons grated horseradish 1 oz. skinned almonds, chopped 1 oz. butter 1 cup cold milk

1 oz. wholemeal flour

1 teaspoon raw sugar Seasoning to taste

Make a white sauce with the butter, flour and milk, boiling until thickened. Add the other ingredients. Heat through and serve at once with boiled beef or a dish of whole steamed vegetables.

Cold Horseradish Sauce

4 tablespoons grated horseradish Pinch of paprika

2 teaspoons dry mustard 1 teaspoon wine vinegar

4 tablespoons yoghurt or thick cream

Mix first four ingredients together, then add the yoghurt or cream. Blend till creamy and smooth. Serve with a salad, cold meat or smorgasbord platter of vegetables.

It has been discovered recently that a clump of horseradish at each end of the potato rows can improve the health and resistance to disease of the potato tubers. This is another old farmer’s tale that has been confirmed by controlled experiments in testing plots, both in Britain and the United States. Organic gardeners are ever seeking natural methods of improving crops and maintaining the fertility of the soil. It seems horseradish can give plants as well as humans the benefit of its natural antibiotic properties.

One word of warning: don’t plant horseradish among the flower beds or the herbaceous border. Each piece of root broken off when digging will start another plant, and you will find yourself eliminating horseradish unto the third and fourth generation. Give it a spot at the far end of the garden where it can grow and multiply freely.

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Cichorium intybus COMPOSITAE

Strictly speaking, chicory is a pot-herb, almost a vegetable, but I have included it here because of its wonderful store of vitamins and minerals, and that liver- and gall-regulating substance, choline. It is very rich in calcium, copper and iron. It is such an easy trouble-free plant to grow, decorative if grown for its flowers in the herbaceous beds, useful as a winter vegetable if cooked, and a source of many essential body needs when eaten raw in a salad.

The variety known as Belgian or Brussels Chicory is the herb used very extensively in Europe. It is even grown as a rich fodder-crop for cattle in some parts of France and northern Italy. It grows rapidly, is a perennial, and is a very nutritive diet addition for man or beast.

Some people have probably heard of chicory only in “coffee and chicory”; and you may think, as I once did, that it is a cheap adulterant to add to coffee essence to bring down its price. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The canny French learnt from the Italians and Greeks, who learnt from the Asiatics: that heavy coffee drinking can have a very bad effect on the liver. So what more simple to those wise early “nutritionists” than to add a substance that helped the liver and gall action of the body—chicory. The roots are the parts used for the beverage, being roasted and ground at the end of the growing season, and either added to coffee or used instead of it, to make a very palatable drink.

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