306 MY GARDEN 



other, serving for many sorts of compositions both 

 cordial and cooling, both binding and loosing. The 

 White Rose is much used for the cooling of heate in the 

 eyes; divers doe make an excellent yellow colour of the 

 juice of white Roses, wherein some Allome is dissolved." 

 And so we may properly have Damask and Provence 

 Roses and sweet Rosa alba, and, besides these, the early 

 authorities attribute virtues to the Musk Rose and the 

 Sweet Brier. As closely allied to the Provence and 

 Damask Roses, we include the lovely Moss Roses and 

 the quaint old York and Lancaster, and I am sure they 

 grow among the herbs of old, they look so at home 

 among ours. 



Many of the sweet-smelling leaves of the herb garden 

 may be dried and sewed up in little "taffety" or muslin 

 bags to place among linen, and, of course, one wishes to 

 preserve the leaves and seeds useful in the kitchen. 

 Pleasant indeed it is to make one's way about the nar- 

 row paths, one's skirts at every step invoking clouds of 

 aromatic incense from the crowding plants, culling here 

 and there one kind at a time, the most promising shoots 

 or flower heads, and piling them in fragrant heaps in the 

 broad shallow garden basket. The old books teem with 

 quaint rules and instructions, largely superstitions, for 

 the harvesting of herbs, but we have not room here to be 

 aught but brief and practical. A breezy, sunny day is 

 the best for this agreeable task; just before they flower 

 is the proper time for cutting plants wanted for their 



