THE AROMATIC HERBS OF THE FARM 247 



public gatherings in hall, chancel and theater to make 

 pleasing unobtrusive appeal to the senses. "English litera- 

 ture is redolent of all the sweetest leaves and flowers of 

 English gardens" (Barbidge). 



Herbage-scents are not transient and effusive, like the odors 

 of the flowers. They last through the life of the plant itself, 

 and are often sweetest in the dried herb. They are faint and 

 ethereal, like the delicate scent of sweetbrier leaves distilling 

 into the motionless air of a summer evening after rain. Or 

 they may not be noticeable at all unless the foliage producing 

 them be rubbed or bruised. 



It was for this reason that our grandmothers planted 

 lavender and rosemary and balm close beside the garden 

 paths, where their leaves would be brushed by the clothes of a 

 person passing, liberating the fragrance. They prized 

 these for the garden in summer, and such sweet things as 

 lemon-verbena and rose-geraniums for the window-garden in 

 winter. It is because herbs yield their fragrance most 

 abundantly when crushed or bruised, that they were used of 

 old as "strewing herbs." They were scattered in the path of 

 a bridal or other procession, to raise a pleasing perfume when 

 crushed by passing feet. 



Aromatic herbs are mainly such as secrete essential oils in 

 leaves or seeds or roots. They belong mainly to two families 

 of plants: the mints and the umbelworts. Well-known, 

 often cultivated members of the mint family are sage, thyme, 

 spearmint, peppermint, sweet majoram, summer savory, 

 balm, basil, catnip, pennyroyal, bergamot and horehound. 

 The garden umbelworts include anise, coriander, caraway, 

 parsley, etc. Single representatives of other plant families 

 are ginger, orris-root, sweet-flag, sweet-fern, musk-mallow, 

 dill and wintergreen. 



Such names as those just mentioned at once suggest many 

 uses these have served. The flavoring of foods may well have 



