454 GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



liorto? " " Why should a man die while sage is growing 

 in his garden? " It grows about two feet high, with 

 wrinkled ashy green leaves, and terminal blue flowers 

 in long spikes. It has a fragrant smell and a warm, bit- 

 terish aromatic taste. 



Culture. — Sage is raised from seed, slips, or cuttings. 

 It likes a dry, fertile soil. How the seeds on a gentle hot- 

 bed, or in the open ground early in spring, in shallow 

 drills, eight inches apart. Press the earth upon the seed, 

 covering them not over half an inch deep. Thin the 

 plants, when well up, to half a foot apart, planting those 

 taken up at a similar distance. Keep the soil light and 

 free from weeds. In the autumn, or the next spring, 

 plant them out in rows eighteen inches each way. Layers 

 and rooted offsets may be set out at once at this distance. 

 Cuttings of the outward shoots of the current year's 

 growth, planted out in a shady border, in moist weather, 

 readily take root; set them in rows six inches apart. In 

 autumn or spring, take them carefully up and set them 

 out in their final stations. Trim the plants to a round, 

 bushy head. Gather and dry the leaves for winter use, 

 but do not trim the plants too closely, especially in 

 autumn or winter. 



Use. — The leaves are used for seasoning stuffings, 

 sauces, and many kinds of meat, as well as to improve 

 the flavor of various other articles of cookery. Medici- 

 nally, its infusion is given warm as a sudorific, or mingled 

 with vinegar and alum, is an excellent gargle in sore 

 throat. It is stated by Bomare that it was exported 

 formerly by the Dutch to China, and it was so much pre- 

 ferred by the Chinese to their own tea, that they will- 

 ingly exchanged two boxes of it for one of sage. 



Southernwood (Artemisia Abrotanum) is a hardy ever- 

 green, with fragrant, finely-divided leaves, nearly allied 

 to wormwood, both being species of the same genus, and 



