302 Old Time Gardens 



Notwithstanding all these tributes to sweet scents 

 and to the sense of smell, it is not deemed, save in 

 poetry, wholly meet to dwell much on smells, even 

 pleasant ones. To all who here sniff a little dis- 

 dainfully at a whole chapter given to flower scents, 

 let me repeat the Oriental proverb : 



" To raise Flowers is a Common Thing, 

 God alone gives them Fragrance." 



Balmier far, and more stimulating and satisfying 

 than the perfumes of most blossoms, is the scent of 

 aromatic or balsamic leaves, of herbs, of green grow- 

 ing things. Sweetbrier, says Thoreau, is thus " thrice 

 crowned : in fragrant leaf, tinted flower, and glossy 

 fruit." Every spring we long, as Whittier wrote 



" To come to Bayberry scented slopes, 



And fragrant Fern and Groundmat vine, 

 Breathe airs blown o'er holt and copse, 

 Sweet with black Birch and Pine." 



All these scents of holt and copse are dear to New 

 Englanders. 



I have tried to explain the reason for the charm 

 to me of growing Thyme. It is not its beautiful 

 perfume, its clear vivid green, its tiny fresh flowers, 

 or the element of historic interest. Alphonse Karr 

 gives another reason, a sentiment of gratitude. He 

 says : 



"Thyme takes upon itself to embellish the parts of the 

 earth which other plants disdain. If there is an arid, stony, 

 dry soil, burnt up by the sun, it is there Thyme spreads its 

 charming green beds, perfumed, close, thick, elastic, scat- 



