THE HERB GARDEN 291 



each plant well separated from its fellows which was 

 common in that day. And it seems to me very pleasant 

 and fitting to recall in our herb gardens of to-day those 

 much used enclosures of long ago, for I feel very certain 

 that however wild, or natural, or irregular we may care 

 to be hi our flower gardens, in the herb garden we have 

 no precedent for being aught but prim and tidy and 

 geometrical. I am sure that even in our great grand- 

 mothers' days herbs were never grown in wavy-lined 

 borders or in clumps and patches just anywhere; they 

 were too precious for this, and were undoubtedly set out 

 neatly in little rectangular beds with paths between that 

 they might be the more easily cared for and harvested. 



The pattern of our herb garden is taken from a figure 

 in John Rea's "Flora, Ceres et Pomona," 1676. It lies 

 directly behind the stone garden house and is enclosed 

 within a white trellis fence against which is a hedge of 

 Damask Roses. Opposite the garden-house door it ex- 

 tends out and up to form a bay or arbour, which shel- 

 ters a comfortable seat. The paths between the beds 

 are of brick, the joints of which provide a home for 

 many a mat of fragrant Thyme or Musk spilled over 

 from the little beds. These latter are raised and edged 

 with boards after the manner of those at Friar Park, 

 and are filled with all sorts of sweet and homely things, 

 arranged with some attempt at comely association. 



It is a pleasant spot. Here are sober tones of leaf 

 and flower, soothing and invigorating odours and the 



