344 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



rally drink milk, take mint with it, for fear it 

 should coagulate or curdle in their stomachs. 



The most useful kind of garden-mint is the 

 Viridis (green), commonly called spear-mint, 

 on account of its leaf being narrower, and 

 more like a spike or spear, than the other 

 varieties. M. Valmont Bomare, calls it Eng- 

 lish mint, and says it originally grew in this 

 country only. 



The leaves and tops of spear-mint are used 

 in spring salads, as also in acid sauce with 

 roasted lamb, &c. It is boiled with green 

 peas, and generally used in pea soup on ac- 

 count of its carminative quality : it has the 

 virtue also of being a warm stomachic. In 

 loss of appetite, nausea, and continual retch- 

 ing, there are few simples of equal efficacy 

 to this. In colic pains, to which children 

 are subject, this plant is found of great ser- 

 vice: it likewise proves beneficial in many 

 hysteric cases. For some purposes, such as 

 languors, &c. an infusion of the dried herb 

 is better than the green, or extract prepared 

 with rectified spirits : the former possesses 

 the whole virtues of the mint ; the essential 

 oil and distilled water contain only the 

 aromatic part ; the expressed juice, only the 



