302 MY GARDEN 



about the edges and giving forth a most tantalizingly 

 familiar but illusive fragrance, and its tall stem, "spread- 

 eth itself into three or foure branches, every one bear- 

 ing an umbell or tuft of gold-yellow flowers." In 

 the old days it was used to give zest to ale, but the dried 

 leaves were more in demand for tying up in little bags 

 with "lavender toppes" to "lie upon the toppes of 

 bedds and presses, &c., for the sweete sent and savour it 

 casteth." 



We grow two of the Salvia family here and sometimes 

 three, for the annual Horminum called "Red Top or 

 Purple Top," according to the colour of its gay leaf- 

 bracts, is pretty and in order. S. officinalis, the Sage of 

 stews and stuffings, is the one herb to be found in nearly 

 every kitchen garden. It makes a spreading bush with 

 beautiful velvet leaves and spikes of blue-purple flowers 

 greatly appreciated by bees. It loves a sunny corner 

 in well-drained soil. A less known Salvia, and one diffi- 

 cult to find, is S. sclarea, Clary, or Clear-eyes, a very 

 tall plant, with broad, soft foliage, once used to flavour 

 certain kinds of beer, but mainly relied upon as a cure 

 for all troubles of the eye. It is a biennial, so we start 

 the seeds in the nursery and set the plants in the herb 

 garden at the beginning of their second season, allowing 

 them plenty of room. 



Mints belong here, of course, but several kinds are so 

 plentiful in a wild state that we grow only two a varie- 

 gated form of the Apple Mint, Mentha rotundifolia, and 



