CULINARY HERBS 73 



the plants appear they are thinned to stand 3 inches 

 apart, the thinnings being cooked like spinach, or, 

 if small and delicate, they may be made into salads. 

 Two other thinnings may be given for similar pur- 

 poses as the plants grow, so that at the final thinning 

 the specimens will stand about a foot asunder. Up to 

 this time the ground is kept open and clean by cultiva- 

 tion ; afterwards the borage will usually have possession. 



Uses. — More popular than the use of the foliage 

 as a potherb and a salad is the employment of bor- 

 age blossoms and the tender upper leaves, in com- 

 pany or not with those of nasturtium, as a garnish 

 or an ornament to salads, and still more as an addi- 

 tion to various cooling drinks. The best known of 

 these beverages is cool tankard, composed of wine, 

 water, lemon juice, sugar and borage flowers. To 

 this ''they seem to give additional coolness." They 

 are often used similarly in lemonade, negus, claret- 

 cup and fruit juice drinks. 



The plant has possibly a still more important 

 though undeveloped use as a bee forage. It is so 

 easily grown and flowers so freely that it should be 

 popular with apiarists, especially those who own or 

 live near waste land, dry and stony tracts which 

 they could sow to it. For such places it has an ad- 

 vantage over the many weeds which generally dispute 

 possession in that it may be readily controlled by 

 simple cultivation. It generally can hold its own 

 against the plant populace of such places. 



Caraway (Carum canti, Linn.), a biennial or an 

 annual herb of the natural order Umbelliferse. Its 



