46 A GARDEN OF HERBS 



swords with the blood of a mole and the juice of burnet 

 leaves. Burnet has a pleasant cucumber-like flavour, and 

 recently a gardening paper advocated that it should be 

 revived as a salad herb. It does not take kindly to cultiva- 

 tion, for it loves a very poor soil and chalky uplands. But 

 in districts where it grows plentifully there is no reason 

 why it should not be again used both in salads and as a 

 pot-herb. Only the young tops and leaves should be picked. 



BURNET is a perennial, putting out new pennate leaves 

 every year. Sow the seeds in shallow drills a foot apart. 

 It is best to sow them as soon as ripe in the autumn, or 

 propagate by division of the roots in the spring. Choose a 

 dry, sunny position for the bed, and if the soil is deficient 

 in lime, fork in a little before sowing. The leaves should 

 be cut when four inches long, as a fresh crop will follow. 

 Burnet will flourish for years in the same spot. 



CAMOMILE 



" Have a mind thou maythen.. 

 What thou mentionedst 

 What thou accomplishedst 

 At Alderford. 

 That never for flying ill 

 Fatally fell man 

 Since we to him maythen 

 For medicine mixed up. 



Saxon MS. Herbal (Harleian), 1585. 



" To comfort the braine smel to camomill, eate sage . . . 

 wash measurably, sleep reasonably, delight to heare melody 

 and singing." Ram's Little Dodoen, 1606. 



" All parts of this excellent plant are full of virtue." 



Sir John Hill, 1772. 



It is a pity we have so entirely given up the beautiful old 

 Saxon name " Maythen," or " maegthe," for " camomile " 

 (which is derived from a Greek word meaning " earth - 

 apples "). The Spaniards call it manzilla (little apple), and 

 this is also the name of one of their light wines which is 

 flavoured with camomile. One now rarely sees the old- 

 fashioned camomile of which Falstaff said, " the more it is 



