26 



THE HERB-GARDEN 



slanes — the Green Purslane, Portulaca oleracea ; 

 and the Golden Purslane, Portulaca sativa. 



The tender annuals will repay the trouble of 

 sowing in a hot-bed about the end of March, and 

 removing to a warm border in May, when they 

 should be set out — the Marjoram and Summer 

 Savory about six inches apart, and the Sweet and 

 Bush Basils about a foot or a little less. Some 

 people grow these from the first in the open, but 

 this, as a rule, will only answer in warm and 

 sheltered gardens. Sometimes, however, they do 

 well — provided the soil is kind, and they are given 

 the very sunniest spot — in a cold garden such as 

 my own. We sow about the last week of April or 

 first week of May. Old-fashioned herbalists counsel 

 the sowing of all seeds while the moon is waxing, 

 not waning. We follow this advice, which may 

 account for our seedlings doing so well. Sweet 

 Marjoram, it may be added, seldom gets enough 

 warmth anywhere in England to ripen its seeds ; 

 they have to come fi-om abroad. 



Sweet Basil likes a rich soil and Sweet Marjoram 

 a sandy one. A rich, light earth suits Summer 

 Savory. As regards shading, watering, and thin- 

 ning out, all the seedlings want the usual treat- 

 ment of tender annuals, which is so well known to 



