HERBS 



But the immediate value of this wonderful gar- 

 den is in the clue it gives to the most ignorant, 

 enabling any one, no matter how unlearned, to 

 identify the flower that delighted him or her, it 

 may be, years ago, in far-away field or copse. 

 Walking up and down the green paths between 

 the beds, you are sure to come upon it presently, 

 with its scientific name duly attached and its 

 natural order labelled at the end of the patch. 



Had I only known of this place in former days, 

 how gladly I would have walked the hundred miles 

 hither ! For the old folk, the aged men and 

 countrywomen, have for the most part forgotten, 

 if they ever knew, the plants and herbs in the 

 hedges they had frequented from childhood. Some 

 few, of course, they can tell you ; but the majority 

 are as unknown to them, except by sight, as the 

 ferns of New Zealand or the heaths of the Cape. 



Since books came about, since the railways and 

 science destroyed superstition, the lore of herbs 

 has in great measure decayed and been lost. The 

 names of many of the commonest herbs are quite 

 forgotten they are weeds, and nothing more. 

 But here these things are preserved ; in London, 

 the centre of civilisation and science, is a garden 

 which restores the ancient knowledge of the monks 

 and the witches of the villages. 



Thus, on entering to-day, the first plant which 



