USEFUL HERBS 171 



may be given to promote luxuriant growth, but this will 

 be unnecessary if fair plants are considered suitable. 

 Plenty of water is necessary in dry weather to prevent 

 the leaves becoming brown. In autumn, cut away 

 all the portions of the plants showing above the surface, 

 well cover the ground with good earth and leave till next 

 spring. Beds require reforming every two or three years. 



The great trouble with mint is not to promote growth 

 but to arrest it, as every gardener knows. The root 

 formations are particularly active and multiply with 

 much rapidity, encroaching upon the neighbouring 

 plots to their serious detriment. In order to check this 

 spread of the rootlets, it is a good plan to take four wide 

 planks, each two feet long, and to bury them in the 

 ground in such a way that they form a frame around 

 the mint bed. The roots do not travel much below the 

 surface and, therefore, this wooden framework serves 

 to keep them within bounds. 



It is usual to dry the leaves of mint just before the 

 flowers form in order to have a supply of seasoning for 

 winter use. A better method is to lift a few plants in 

 October, place them in a fair-sized box, and stand in a 

 warm greenhouse. Shoots will rapidly appear if water 

 be applied regularly. 



Marjoram. There are more than twenty-four kinds 

 of this plant ; sweet or knotted marjoram, however, is 

 the variety used for seasoning. It may be grown as an 

 annual by sowing seeds very lightly on fine soil, during 

 March, along a sunny border. Gathering is performed 

 when required or, for winter use, just prior to the opening 

 of the flowers. Another form of propagation is by means 



