THE HERB GARDEN 295 



Basil, and Anise and in the French cook books many 

 more sorts are deemed desirable. 



It is not easy to procure roots or seeds of a great many 

 herbs, for the nurserymen and seedsmen carry very few 

 as a rule. French, German, and English catalogues are 

 better stocked with them than ours, as the plants are 

 more in use in those countries. However, in the vege- 

 table section of most seedsmen's catalogues may be 

 found a fairly generous list under "Sweet, Pot, and 

 Medicinal Plants," and a few roots also. And then, if 

 we are really interested, roots and seeds will find their 

 way to us, sometimes through friends, often through 

 kindness of a chance visitor to the garden, or from some 

 country neighbour who knows where choice things grow. 

 Frequently we may cull a plant from some old, de- 

 serted garden and find another which has thrown off 

 the conventions of garden life and is thriving in the 

 dust and questionable company of the open roadside. 

 "How I got my herbs" would make a chapter in itself, 

 absorbing to me, if to no one else. 



After a good deal of experimenting I have come to 

 the conclusion that a poor, gravelly soil is the best for 

 herbs in general. Many which are not hardy in the 

 heavy soil of the flower garden come safely through in 

 the light soil of the herb garden. Of those are Sweet 

 Marjoram, Lavender, and Cedronella. Roses, Mallows, 

 Aconites, and Mints must be provided with some- 

 thing a little richer, but when the garden is made up of 



