42 GARDENS OF ENGLAND 



and is sometimes mistaken for borage, of which it 

 is a very poor imitation. 



The best time to start a herb garden is early 

 spring, having prepared the plots beforehand. All 

 herbs that are wanted for storage should be picked 

 before they flower. " Dry them in the shade," says 

 one of om- old advisers very quaintly, " so that the 

 sun draw not out their vertue, but in a clear air 

 and breezy wind that no mustiness may taint 

 them." 



Wandering in the herb garden it is a pretty 

 pastime to look closely at the plants and observe 

 the signs, or signatures as they were called, which 

 betray their several virtues. The stem of the 

 viper's bugloss is speckled like a snake, so it is a 

 remedy against poison or the sting of a scorpion. 

 Heart-trefoil, or Calvary clover, by many reckoned 

 a herb, has heart-shaped blood-stained leaves, and 

 defends Ihe heart. St. John's wort is pierced with 

 tiny holes like the pores of the skin, and is a 

 sovereign remedy for cuts. In other herbs their 

 common names express their qualities, as in self- 

 heal, clary (clear-eyes), or horehoimd, which cures 

 a barking cough or a dog's bite. 



