LAD'S LOVE 121 



Southernwood, so quaintly nicknamed Old Man 

 or Lad's Love, is a plant more frequently found in 

 cottage than in sophisticated gardens. Why it is 

 called Lad's Love we have often wondered, and 

 have been told that country boys think the ashes 

 of it a good thing to make the hair grow on their 

 faces, and that is why they love it. More likely it 

 is because the younger people are, the more a good 

 strong scent attracts them. Many a young child 

 has learned the alphabet of smelling in our Herb- 

 garden, and there is no plant they enjoy the smell 

 of so much as the strongly scented Southernwood. 

 This is not surprising when we remember that the 

 human race in its infancy enjoyed perfumes of a 

 much heavier kind than would be tolerated in these 

 days. 



The smell of Southernwood keeps off moths — so 

 the French say, and call it Garde-robe. The scent 

 is too individual to harmonize with any other in a 

 nosegay, yet for some it has great fascination. 



' I'll give to him 

 Who gathers me more sweetness than he'd dream 

 Without me, more than any Lily could — 

 I, that am flowerless, being Southernwood.' 



For the sake of its feathery grey-green foliage, 

 we grow another plant among the Herbs something 



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