CHAPTER V 



THE HERB GARDEN 



" To have nothing here but Sweet Herbs, and those only choice 

 ones too, and every kind its bed by itself." 



— Desiderius Erasmus, 1500. 



N Montaigne's time it was the 

 custom to dedicate special chap- 

 ters of books to special persons. 

 Were it so to-day, I should dedi- 

 cate this chapter to the memory 

 of a friend who has been con- 

 stantly in my mind while writing 

 it ; for she formed in her beautiful garden, near our 

 modern city, Chicago, the only perfect herb garden 

 I know, — a garden that is the counterpart of the 

 garden of Erasmus, made four centuries ago; for 

 in it are " nothing but Sweet Herbs, and choice 

 ones too, and every kind its bed by itself." A 

 corner of it is shown on page 108. This herb 

 garden is so well laid out that I will give direc- 

 tions therefrom for a bed of similar planting. It 

 may be placed at the base of a grass bank or at 

 the edge of a garden. Let two garden walks be laid 

 out, one at the lower edge, perhaps, of the bank, 

 the other parallel, ten, fifteen, twenty feet away. 

 Let narrow paths be left at regular intervals running 



107 



