CAMOMILE, THE PLANTS' PHYSICIAN 85 



fair to look on as the grass of a lawn. Pieces of it, 

 when first planted, are not very happy, but soon 

 recover, and then spread fast. I am glad to know 

 that the Camomile we are speaking of is a native 

 of Britain. 



We grow another Camomile in the Herb-garden 

 for its beauty ; it has finely cut grey-green foliage 

 and abundant daisy-like flowers. This is the 

 Rock Camomile, Anthemis Cupaniana. One of 

 our illustrations shows it very well. It has but 

 little of the Camomile bitter. 



There is one remarkable property about the 

 Camomile which some still believe in implicitly — 

 that it is the plants' physician. Nothing is thought 

 to keep a garden so healthy as plenty of Camomile 

 about ; it will even revive drooping and sickly 

 plants if placed near them. Some of our villagers, 

 in spite of having let the Camomile die out of 

 their gardens, declare that their parents considered 

 Camomile the best medicine they had. Besides 

 making tea and poultices, it was smoked in the 

 men's pipes to cure asthma. Bags stuffed loosely 

 with the flowers and steeped in boiling water 

 relieve neuralgia and have a pleasant aromatic 

 smell that does one good. The following is a good 

 recipe for making CamomUe-tea : Pour half a pint 



