34 THE GLORY OF THE GARDEN 



person fierce and quarrelsome. There is a legend 

 of a hangman who could never bring himself to 

 perform his office until he had partaken of this 

 herb. Cats are most astonishingly fond of the 

 plant, and will seldom fail to dig up a newly-planted 

 specimen if they chance to come across it, from 

 which fact sprang the couplet: 



" If you set it, the cats will get it ; 

 If you sow it, the cats won't know it." 



Rats, on the other hand, have a great and shudder- 

 ing aversion for the cat mint, and will go nowhere 

 near it. Corn Mint has quite a different use, as it 

 was said to prevent milk from curdling, and that 

 the milk of cows who fed on this herb could not be 

 turned into cheese. 



Fennel seems to have served many purposes, and 

 to be the worker of many good deeds. 



In the time of Edward I. we read that the poor 

 ate it when hungry and it satisfied them, the fat 

 ate it to make themselves thin, and the blind to 

 restore their sight. 



" Above the lowly plant it towers. 



The Fennel with its yellow flowers, 

 * And in an earlier age than ours. 



Was gifted with the wondrous powers 

 Lost vision to restore." 



Dill was of old a very favourite herb for use in 

 magic : 



" Here holy Vervain and here Dill, 



'Gainst witchcraft much availing." 



Pennyroyal was another herb with equally good 

 virtues, as it was said to counteract the evil eye. 



