30 A GARDEN OF HERBS 



till cold and then strain. In France this is drunk as an 

 ordinary beverage when Agrimony is in flower, and the 

 peasants have a great belief in its health-giving properties. 



ANGELICA 



" The whole plante, both leafe, roote, and seede, is of an 

 excellent comfortable sent, savour and taste." John 

 Parkinson, Theatre of Plants, 1640. 



There is an old legend that the wonderful virtues of 

 Angelica were revealed by an angel to a monk during a 

 terrible plague, and hence its name. From earliest times 

 Angelica has enjoyed a great reputation for its powers 

 against witchcraft, and it is the only herb for which Gerard 

 claims this quality. 



The leaves steeped in hot water were largely used to allay 

 any sort of inflammation, and it was one of the ingredients 

 in the famous old French Eau d'Arquebusade. To " bite 

 and chaw " a root of Angelica was much recommended 

 during the Great Plague of 1660. In Stewart days the best 

 dried roots were imported from Spain, but Sir John Hill 

 tells us that those from Bohemia were superior to any other, 

 and that English Angelica was second only to the Bohemian. 

 Amongst the Laplanders Angelica was held in high repute, 

 and they used to crown their poets with it in order that they 

 might be inspired by the scent of it. Formerly they used 

 to make an incision in the stems and crown of the root at 

 the beginning of spring, and collect the musk-flavoured 

 resinous gum which came out. 



Angelica likes moisture, but it is almost as adaptable as 

 forget-me-not in accommodating itself to any fairly good soil. 

 Abercrombie speaks of it as an annual-perennial, i. e. it is 

 best to take it up and replant yearly. The seed is slow and 

 capricious in germinating. It is best to sow the seed in 

 August as soon as it is ripe. Sow thinly, and when six 

 inches high, thin them to at least three feet apart. They 

 flower in June of the second year and must then be cut 

 down, as if allowed to run to seed they soon perish. 



