MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 101 
a native of the Mediterranean region, but the oil obtained 
from plants grown at Mitcham, near London, is considered 
the finest and demands the highest price. During the pick- 
ing season, thousands of men and women leave London to 
assist in harvesting the crop. The dried spikes are frequently 
sold on the street, both in this country and abroad, and in 
London peddlers attract attention to their wares by the 
famous lavender song: 
“Here’s your sweet lavender, 
Sixteen sprigs a penny, 
Which you will find, my ladies, 
Will smell as sweet as any.” 
Lavender-water was formerly used as a toilet article and 
many old recipes for its preparation are in existence. That 
of Richard Briggs, for many years cook at the Globe Street 
Tavern, Flint Street, London, is as follows: ‘‘Put two pounds 
of lavender pips in two quarts of water, put them into a 
cold still and make a slow fire under it. Distil it off very 
slowly into a pot until you have distilled all the water. Then 
elean your still well off, put your lavender-water into it and 
distil it off slowly again. Put it into bottles and cork it 
well.’’ Another recipe from the still-room of Mrs. Charles 
Roundell, for making lavender-water without distillation, 
reads as follows: ‘‘Mix one pint rectified spirits, four ounces 
distilled water, three drams oil of lavender, three drams 
orange-flower water, five minnins attar of roses. Allow this 
mixture to stand for a fortnight then filter through carbonate 
of magnesia and bottle. Keep for three months before using.’’ 
Lavender tea was made by pouring boiling water on the 
sprigs of dried lavender, and the cook to Queen Maria, in 
1655, gives the following recipe for a conserve of the flowers: 
‘(Take the flowers, being new, as many as you please, and 
beat them with three times their weight of white sugar, after 
the same manner as rosemary flowers. They will keep one 
vear.”’ 
According to tradition, Marjoram was a youth in the serv- 
ice of King Cimyras of Cyprus. One day, while carrying a 
vase of perfumes, he stumbled and fell and, in his terror, 
