294 MY GARDEN 



ago nearly every plant was used for meat, for magic, or 

 for medicine. It is rather confusing, but when one is 

 deeply interested a sort of sense of what is fitting devel- 

 ops within one, and of course there is no reason why for 

 each of us the herb garden should not have a special 

 meaning and manifestation. 



For myself, I have decided that my herbs must pos- 

 sess beauty in some form, of flower, of leaf, or of scent, 

 and such as Docks, Sowthistles, Ragweed, and Plan- 

 tains, be they ever so virtuous, are rigidly excluded from 

 the garden. Such plants as grow freely in our neigh- 

 bourhood, as several sorts of Mints, Yarrow, Betony, 

 Selfheal, Boneset, Catnip, Agrimony, the Mustards, 

 Pennyroyal, and Vervain, are also debarred, as space is a 

 consideration and I like to have fair-sized patches of 

 each kind and not specimens only. Nearly all plants 

 of aromatic foliage are included and such garden 

 flowers as are of important medicinal value; such of the 

 pot and salad plants as are good to smell or to look upon 

 and old-fashioned Roses, for is it not written that "the 

 Rose besides its beauty is a cure?" And the old books 

 teem with recipes of things curative, soothing, or cos- 

 metic, which may be made from the petals of those 

 Roses of other days. 



Herbs important in our present-day cooking, which it 

 is good to have fresh, are: Chervil, Chives, Sweet and 

 Pot Marjoram, Sage, Tarragon, Parsley, Mint, the 

 Savories, Coriander, Caraway, Thyme, Sweet and Bush 



