THE MUCH-DISCUSSED BASIL 29 



No plant that grows, except the Apple, has pro- 

 voked so much discord and discussion as Basil. 

 This was because some said it bred serpents, and 

 you might even get a scorpion in the brain by 

 smelling it. Others could not give Basil too good 

 a character. A herb so much talked about can 

 never be put down as insipid ; there must be virtue 

 in it of one sort or another. The dried leaves, in 

 the form of snuff, are said to cure nervous head- 

 aches. In Queen Mary's and Queen Elizabeth's 

 time little pots of the Basil plant were often given 

 by the farmers' wives to their landladies and visitors, 

 a pretty conceit. 



Bush Green Basil is a smaller plant than the 

 Sweet Green Basil. No plant was ever better named. 

 From the first the seedlings, as they come up, grow 

 naturally into the most fascinating little shrubs 

 or bushes, that positively ask to be taken up and 

 potted. The strong spiciness of their small green 

 leaves is quite surprising. Ocymum Basilicum, the 

 Latin name of the Sweet Green Basil, was given 

 because ' the smell thereof is fit for a King's house.' 

 It may interest some to know that it was this herb 

 which gave the distinctive and peculiarly pleasant 

 flavour that once made Fetter Lane sausages so 

 famous. 



