74 ESCAPED FROM GARDENS 



them count as landscape flowers, the mint per- 

 fume, when liberated by pressure or moisture, gives 

 them distinctive place. 



Wild Marjoram, of dry, waste places, is one of 

 these, Calamint another, and Clear -eye, a cousin 

 of the Salvia or Scarlet Sage, a plant that claimed 

 a corner in the garden because it yielded a sticky 

 juice that was prized for clearing the eyes of dust. 

 Scarlet Bee-Balm, or Oswego Tea, though really a 

 native plant, judging from locality, owes its pres- 

 ence hereabouts to garden care, from which it has 

 escaped again. 



Then come the true Mints themselves, profuse in 

 growth as the wildest natives, yet all escapes. Of 

 these Spearmint takes the lead as lender of juices 

 for sauces and cooling drinks. Being a seeker after 

 moisture, Spearmint delights in roadside runnels, 

 and sometimes appropriates whole lowland pastures, 

 giving no little trouble and bringing before one 

 practically the ancient minstrel query: " 'Rastus, if 

 a cow feeds on mint, what does she gib, milk or 

 mint sauce, sah?" 



"Neever, sah! she doan' gib neever. She gib 

 milk julep! " 



From still moister soil comes one of the most 

 valuable medicinal plants of modern as well as of 



