6 THE BOOK OF HERBS 



neatness and prettiness about our thyme, and sage, and 

 mint and marjoram, that might yet, we think, transfer 

 them from the patronage of the blue serge to that of 

 the white muslin apron. Lavender and rosemary, and 

 rue, the feathery fennel, and the bright blue borage, 

 are all pretty bushes in their way, and might have a 

 due place assigned to them by the hand of beauty and 

 taste. A strip for a little herbary half-way between 

 the flower and vegetable garden would form a very 

 appropriate transition stratum and might be the means, 

 by being more under the eye of the mistress, of re- 

 covering to our soups and salads some of the compara- 

 tively neglected herbs of tarragon, and French sorrel, 

 and purslane, and chervil, and dill, and clary, and others 

 whose place is now nowhere to be found but in the 

 pages of the old herbalists. This little plot should be 

 laid out, of course, in a simple, geometric pattern ; and 

 having tried the experiment, we can boldly pronounce 

 on its success. We recommend the idea to the con- 

 sideration of our lady-gardeners." 



