§ty The Scented Qarden $£ 



And the prettiest recipe in the English language is, I 

 think, one in which thyme, picked ' from the side of a 

 fairy throne,' is the chief ingredient. ' To enable one to 

 see the fairies. A pint of sallet oyle and put it into a vial 

 glasse : and first wash it with rose-water and marigolde 

 water ; the flowers to be gathered towards the east. 

 Wash it till the oyle becomes white, then put into the 

 glasse, and then put thereto the budds of hollyhocke, the 

 flowers of marygolde, the flowers or toppes of wilde 

 thyme, the budds of young hazel, and the thyme must 

 be gathered near the side of a hill where fairies used to 

 be ; and take the grasse of a fairy throne, then all these 

 put into the oyle in the glasse and sette it to dissolve three 

 dayes in the sun, and then keep it for thy use.' 



Rue (Ruta graveolens) is at last coming back into favour. 

 On a chalk soil it is one of the most pleasing of the small 

 shrubs, especially the variegated kind, but it is invariably 

 poor where chalk or lime is lacking. The tiny R. 

 padavina, which grows only 6 inches high, is charming for 

 the rock garden. The glaucous green leaves of R. 

 graveolens are attractive at all times, and especially when 

 set off by the corymbs of little yellow flowers. It flowers 

 from July onwards. The variegated kind is especially 

 attractive in early summer. Rue is one of those plants 

 which give one an impression of age and mystery, and its 

 scent is unlike any other leaf-scent. From time immemor- 

 ial it has been used in medicine, and was probably intro- 

 duced into this country in Roman days if not before. 

 It is frequently mentioned by Shakespeare, and both 

 Ophelia and the gardener in King Richard II speak of it as 

 ' herb of grace.' According to some authorities it derived 

 this name from the fact that the holy water was sprinkled 

 150 



