The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1899-08-04
Sage as a Market Cron.

Almost all farmers grow SOME sage for
home use in making dressing for roasted
turkey and chickens. In the olden time,
when cheese-making for home use was
common, sage was usually put in one or
more of the cheeses to improve the flavor
and make variety. There is no more
wholesome seasoning than sage. Most
others, especially the boughten spices,
pepper; allspice and the like. brought
from the tropics, are too constituting for
health. Sage is not so, or at most only
in very slight degree, and as it is al
ways used as cond iment with fresh
meat which is laxative, it does good
rather than harm. Those farmers who
grow. sage have generally an active de-
mand about holiday time from their
nelghbors who have been less provident.
ana they have enough demand in their
own neighborhood to take all their sur
plus: Sometimes, however, the well-to-do
ne!ghbors are ashamed to take so little a
MES they give for sage much more than
pays the expense of caring for the bed.
The market gardeners grow celery as
an annual, and by taking the thriftiest
plants and allowing them to seed, they
have developed several varieties of large
leaved sage, which it is always better to
use as seed when setting out new planta-
tons. Sage, however, may be spread
from the root. This requires no annual
the large-leaved variety pure. though at
ter being grown in clump the plant will
be less vigorous and have smaller leaves
The layered sage stem, with it's lower
leaves stripped off and covered, roots
very quickly, and this can be done any
time in midsummer and secure a we'll
rooted plant next year. Most of the old
sage beds in the country are grown from,
layers. This is why they grow in clumps,
as the layer has some dormant buds
which send up shoots the following sea-
son. The sage plant is best grown from,
seed which may be sown now, and get
growth enough to live through the win
ter if the top is cut down in fall, pretty
close to the ground, and covered with q
forkful of manure. This winter cover
ing is important to keep the sage roots
from heaving out in winter by alternate
freezing and thawing.
There is always good demand for
sage If the leaves are large and dried in
the shade SO as to retain it's original col
or; This is important to make the sage
sell well, though it may have as good
flavor if cared for with less trouble,
Much Of the sage that farmers grow is
not harvested until it has been frosted
and then beaten with fall rains. It is
uot scou lOr mucn, ana looks even poorer
than 1t is. The extra trouble is always
what pays best. This is why market gar
deners make good profits from sage,
while if most farmers grow any surplus
there is no sale for it outside their own
neighborhood.
Hotels and restaurants in cities use a
great many herbs for dressing. It. will
hardly pay to try to induce them to buy,
unless savory, thyme, fennel and other
herbs can be supplied if required. When
farmer begins to grow for market he
should grow enough variety so as to
make the marketing easier Sage and
other herbs are rarely hawked about the
city, though if this were done about holt
daytime all of these will probably sell
we'll and return to the farmer more
money than he, usually gets for so little
labor labor as they require. american Calf,