THE HERB GARDEN 301 



charming plant with small dark foliage and bright-blue 

 flowers which last a long time. The little bushes should 

 be cut over in spring to keep them shapely. In the 

 same bed with it grows a pretty aromatic-leaved herb of 

 which I am very fond Cedronella cana, sometimes 

 called Balm of Gilead, with spikes of wine-red blossoms 

 with blue stamens and a neat, bushlike form. Berga- 

 mot (Monardd) is here, too, both the wine-coloured and 

 the white with its scented foliage, than which nothing is 

 more delicious. It is still used in the manufacture of 

 "sweet waters." 



Tansy and Costmary are two old-fashioned plants, 

 nearly related but differing widely in appearance. 

 Tansy, Tanacetum vulgare, is a tall plant with beautiful 

 foliage and flat, dull gold flower heads borne in the late 

 summer. It has escaped from cultivation and, with 

 other free spirits, decorates the roadsides in many lo- 

 calities, where it is eagerly sought by those who know 

 the efficacy of Tansy Tea in spring, or wish to hang 

 branches of it near the doors and windows of their 

 dwellings to attract flies from the rooms. Costmary 

 (Tanacetum balsamita), also called Alecost and Bible- 

 leaf, the latter from the use made of the long leaves 

 as marks in the Bible, is so entirely out of use and 

 fashion that it is well nigh impossible to get it. My own 

 came to me through a dear Quaker lady, from an old 

 garden in Germantown, and is one of my most prized 

 possessions. It has a tuft of long green leaves, snipped 



