Camomile Or Chamomile
Description
This section is from the book "A Dictionary Of Modern Gardening", by George William Johnson, David Landreth. Also available from Amazon: The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses.
Camomile Or Chamomile
Camomile Or Chamomile; (An-themis nobilis).
Varieties
There are two varieties, the common single and the double flowering.
Soil And Situation
They require a poor dry soil, otherwise they grow very luxuriant, and become not only less capable of withstanding severe winters, but also less powerful in their medicinal qualities. They will grow in any situation almost, but the more open the better.
Time And Mode Of Propagation
It is generally propagated by parting the roots and by offsets, which may be planted from the close of February until the end of May; the earlier, however, it is performed the better. This is the most favourable season, but it may be practised in the autumn. It is also raised from seed, the proper time of sowing which is in any of the early spring months, but as parting the roots gives much less trouble it is generally pursued, but after a lapse of several years raise fresh plants, the old ones often declining in production after such lapse of time.
Cultivation
They should not be planted nearer to each other than eighteen inches, as that also gives an opportunity to employ the hoe. Water must be given moderately at the time of planting, if dry weather. If raised from seed they require no further cultivation than to be kept free from weeds in the seed-bed; and when three or four inches high, to be thinned to about six inches apart, and may remain thus until the following spring, then to be thinned and remain, or to be removed to the above-mentioned distance apart. A very small bed will supply the largest family.
Gathering
In July, the flowers are generally in perfection for gathering; the period for performing it, however, must be governed by the flowers themselves, as the best time is when they are just opened. Particular care must be taken to dry them thoroughly before they are stored, otherwise they will not keep. If seed be required, the only attention necessary is to leave some of the first opening flowers ungathered; the seed will ripen early in September, when it may be dried and rubbed out.
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