OF SUNDRY HERBS 37 



tea also, with its delicate lemon flavour, is not only most 

 wholesome, but quite unlike any other summer drink. The 

 plant grows wild nearly everywhere in the south of England, 

 and in a garden it is a rampant grower, but it is impossible 

 to have too much of it. No wonder it was a favourite 

 strewing herb in the days when the delightful custom 

 prevailed of strewing rooms with scented herbs. Gerard 

 tells us that if bee-hives are rubbed with balm " it causeth 

 the bees to keepe together and causeth others to come unto 

 them." He also tells us that besides being good for tooth- 

 ache, " it is good for those that cannot take breath unlesse 

 they hold their neckes upright ! " The famous Balm of 

 Gilead in which the Ishmaelites, to whom Joseph was sold, 

 trafficked, and of which Jeremiah speaks, was the true 

 balsam of Judaea, which at one time grew only at Jericho. 

 There is an old legend that it was necessary to pick it whilst 

 instruments of music were played, this being the only way 

 of distracting the attention of the asps who guarded it. 

 When the Turks took the Holy Land they transplanted 

 large quantities of the plant to Grand Cairo, where janis- 

 saries guarded it during the time the balsam was flowing. 

 Our English balm has always been extolled by herbalists 

 as " sovereign for the brain." One of them says : " It is 

 an hearbe greatly to be esteemed of students, for by a special 

 property it driveth away heaviness of mind, sharpeneth 

 the understanding, and encreaseth memory/' 



BALM is a hardy herbaceous perennial, and is a terribly 

 rapid spreader. It likes a clayey soil, but it should never 

 be given manure. Propagate by root division (the smallest 

 pieces will grow) any time during the spring and autumn 

 or by slips taken in May. The latter must be inserted in 

 a shady border in May or June, and removed to permanent 

 quarters in September. 



HOW TO MAKE THE WATER WHICH IS USUALLY CALLED 



BALME-WATER. To every gallon of Claret wine put one 

 pound of green balme. Keep that which cometh first, and 

 is clearest, by itself e, and the second and whiter sort, which 



