PREFACE 



" Were it not for the sake of Custom, which has made it as 

 unfashionable for a Book to come abroad without an introduction 

 as for a Man to appear at Church without a Neckcloth or a Lady 

 without a Hoop -petticoat, I should not have troubled you with 

 this." E. SMITH, The Compleat Housewife, 1736. 



NOWADAYS every one who writes a book, especially a 

 small book, offers an apology for doing so. But this book 

 is so unpretentious that an apology for writing it would be 

 absurd. There is an immense wealth of literature, both 

 learned and charming, on the subject of herbs, but there is 

 no small practical handbook for those who are going to 

 create an old-fashioned herb garden, and who want to know 

 how to use these herbs as our great -grandmothers did. The 

 fashion for " blue," " grey," " white " or Japanese gardens 

 has died out ; the rock garden still fascinates, but, unless 

 made and maintained by skilful hands, it is apt to look 

 ridiculous, so let us hope that the herb garden is to be 

 restored to its former pride of place. Even those of us 

 with the smallest suburban plots can make a delightful 

 herb garden, and no matter how tiny it is a perpetual joy. 

 Herbs ask so little and they give so much. All that the 

 majority of our common herbs want is a fairly poor soil (the 

 poorer the better for the aromatic herbs) and plenty of sun- 

 light. People who know nothing of herbs imagine that it 

 might be a dull garden consisting of only foliage plants. 

 But there is no blue more beautiful than that of borage, 

 whilst valerian, mallows, marigold and the stately mullein 

 (to mention only a few examples) make lovely splashes of 

 colour. There need be no limit to the size of the garden, 

 for, as one eminent herbalist tells us, there are on an average 

 about seven hundred different remedies for most of the 



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