46 THE GARDEN 



poppy give a more or less attractive appearance to the plant, with its 

 acanthus-shaped deeply cut leaves. These pods need not be left on the 

 stem until they ripen, but may be pulled off, and the whole globe laid away 

 in a safe spot to ripen. When the pod is ripe, the shell has become as thin 

 as rice paper, breaking almost with a breath, disclosing the shiny snowy 

 seeds. 



But for a dream of fairy-like beauty, pick a branch of the seeding 

 nigella or "love-in-a-mist." I am sure the attempt at description will 

 result in a nightmare — ^but — 



You will remember that nigella Is covered with foliage more like green 

 hair than like leaves. Instead of leaves made up of leaflets, and veins 

 and ribs, and so on, negella covers its stalk with leaves composed of short 

 thick green bristles attached to the main ribs. One might also say they 

 are skeleton leaves. You will remember that the double starry blue 

 flower is buried, tangled in this green mist that surrounds it. And sud- 

 denly, when or how, no one seems to know, there — instead of the star, is a 

 globe-like vessel of palest green, buried in the tangles of igreen bristles. 

 This globe is rathr longer, up-and-down-ways, than across. Crowning 

 the globe, is a five-pointed star-like formation, from which rises five upright 

 green ihorns an inch long. The globe is soft to the touch as if distended 

 with air. ^ ' 



Breaking open the vessel, each compartment contains two piles of 

 oblong pale green seeds, piled closely side by side, reaching from floor to 

 roof. These flat seeds soon ripen. Each compartment contains about 

 forty seeds. 



A seeding branch of nigella is very decorative, because each branch 

 bears all its pods at once — that is, you will not flnd a pod and a flower on 

 the same branch. So that there are little balloons and big ones, all look 

 ing ready to fiy away at the least touch. 



THE SAVORY CORNER 



What is the finest sauce or soup without its seasoning? Alas' 

 nothing !but an insipid preparation, unfit to tickle the palate or satisfy the 

 most unexacting gourmand. Every housekeeper knows the peculiarly 

 delightful feeling of superiority that comes over her, when she is able to 

 go out into her own "savory" corner, tucked away happily in some hidden 

 but sunny spot of the garden, and pick a crinkly handful of vivid 

 parsley, a pungent spray of mint, or a smelly, sniffy leaf of sage, with which 

 to add the final touch to her "piece de resistance." 



For ther are no "savorys" like those taken fresh and dewy from one's 

 own carefully-tended herb garden. They are one and all so much more 

 savory when gathered a few minutes before they are needed. Under such 

 conditions they do not lose any flavor, not the least whiff of their aromatic 

 pungency. Nor can there be any mixture with foreign substances. 



No ordinary cook would think of serving spring lamb without its 

 classic accompaniment of mint. And who would dare the Thanksgiving 

 dinner with no hope of securing sage or summer savory? Vegetable soup 

 without parsley would be a despair, and lamb broth with no rice, some- 

 thing to shudder at. One might as well try to think of the summer linens 

 packed away without lavender or sweet clover as a mint-julep without mint. 

 And so the iherb plot should really be in existence in every well-ordered 

 garden. 



Now let us see! Parsley should be sown in the spring. Unless con- 

 ditions are unusually favorable the plants will not be very large the first 

 year, altho it will be guite possible to gather some few tasty sprigs for 

 o—^sioual use. If the plants are covered during the winter with some 



