52 Gleanings in Old Garden Literature. 



there must have been some good in it ; but 

 it dealt with a progressive science, and very 

 much of the paper on which it was made 

 visible to the public has long " suffered a 

 change." 



Besides the physic-gardens at Chelsea and 

 elsewhere, considerable acreage has, from the 

 middle of the last century, been dedicated at 

 Mitcham, in Surrey, to the cultivation of 

 medicinal herbs and plants, especially pepper- 

 mint, lavender, liquorice, aniseed, camomile, 

 and rhubarb. The peppermint, however, is 

 used in the preparation of a species of dram, 

 and in the time of Lysons (1792) one hundred 

 acres were given up to the growth of this plant 

 alone, for the purpose of distillation as well as 

 for the use of the apothecary. 



The somewhat extended notice of herbals 

 in these pages, as well as the list of others, 

 which will be presently given, will require an 

 explanation only, I think, from such as are 

 not aware that this description of book em- 

 braces a wider category than the mere title 

 seems to import, and cannot well be neglected 

 by floricultural inquirers. 



