THE HERB GARDEN 299 



The Artemisias also make valuable contributions to 

 our herb garden, the best beloved of which is A. Abro- 

 tanum Southernwood, Old Man, or Lads Love, as it is 

 variously called, a woody bush, some two feet tall, with 

 hoary, feathery foliage and a strong, bitter smell, at once 

 balmy and exhilarating. Steeped in oil it is good to rub 

 limbs benumbed by the cold, and I can well imagine its 

 warming and stimulating effect. A. argentea and 

 Stellariana are pretty, silvery foliaged varieties about 

 a foot tall. A. vulgaris is tall with whitish leaves. 

 This is the Mugwort and is much in demand in rural 

 neighbourhoods for all sorts of homely uses. A. 

 absinthium, which gives its name to the famous French 

 liquor, should be included, and, of course, Tarragon, 

 which belongs to this family and is one of the most use- 

 ful and piquant of herbs. Parkinson says that this plant 

 was supposedly created by "putting the seeds of Lin or 

 Flax into the roote of an onion and so set in the ground, 

 which when it hath sprung, hath brought forth the 

 herbe Taragon." He adds, however, lest we waste our 

 time in experiment, that "this absurd and idle opinion 

 hath by certain experience been proved false." 



The two Lavender Cottons Santolina incana and S. 

 chamaecyparissus are both nice shrubby little plants 

 with silvery foliage and a strong, pungent smell. Many 

 herbs wear sober grayish coats. Hoarhound is one of 

 these, though it is not otherwise very pretty, and the 

 lovely Nepeta Mussini with its continuous spikes of 



