HOW TO OBTAIN HERBS 



19 



mine of homely wealth, and exchanges can be 

 made — a pleasant way of adding to our store. 

 For the rest, there are the fields and hedgerows to 

 ransack. Luck is the only assistance that remains 

 to be noted ; it generally comes to the enter- 

 prising. 



Enclosed and special gardens are now a fashion 

 of the day. We hear of Blue Gardens, of White 

 Gardens, of Wild Gardens, even of Cactus Gardens. 

 It is the Herb-garden that is generally left out. 

 Is it not a pity ? ' The garden,' says the writer 

 we have quoted at the head of this chapter, * should 

 be something without and beyond nature, a page 

 from an old romance, a scene in fairyland, a gate- 

 way through which imagination, lifted above the 

 sombre realities of life, may pass into a world of 

 dreams.' More than any other kind of garden does 

 the Herb-garden lead us into a region of romance, 

 of mystery and sweet remembrance, yet withal 

 there is a common-sense side to it whose usefulness 

 is not to be denied. 



Whichever side appeals to us, there will be 

 charm. One thing is certain, however. If we 

 want our Herb-garden to be really interesting, to 

 be something more and better than a mere adjunct 

 to the kitchen-garden, we must be prepared to 



