INTRODUCTORY 



9 



England. Sometimes they send me a dainty 

 basket filled with packets or bunches of different 

 Herbs, all ready for use, to make a certain kind of 

 soup. There are Ciboule, Cerfeuil^ Oseille^ and a 

 tiny bunch of Parsley and Mint. These, with a 

 little milk, a morsel of butter, a pinch or two of 

 salt and pepper, and a thin slice of bread to each 

 person, make a potage fit for a Prince. 



It is rather amusing that of late years the best 

 Herb-borders I have met with in England have 

 been in the kitchen-gardens of people who keep a 

 chef. This personage simply will have certain 

 Herbs when he wants them for his cooking. Though 

 not grown in any way for ornament, many of these 

 unpretending Herb-borders look quite fascinating ; 

 bees and butterflies hover over them, and spicy 

 fragrances are wafted from them that remind one 

 of the Maritime Alps. 



Now a word about our pictures. It will be seen 

 that they are not all done after one style. We 

 could not very well help this, for the plants had to 

 have their likenesses taken just at the moment 

 when they were ready for it. It was necessary to 

 paint them on the spot, and the same artist was 

 not always forthcoming. In some cases the flower 



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