' WHEREON THE WILD THYME BLOWS ' 59 



It has also been called Oculus Christi. Occasionally 

 the whole young plant would be eaten, either 

 boiled or fried in sweet butter with sugar and the 

 juice of oranges or lemons. We have it on good 

 authority that George Whitefield, when at Oxford 

 (1733), lived almost entirely on Sage-tea, with 

 sugar and coarse bread. 



Thyme ! What a lovely thing to write about, 

 to think of! Lemon Thyme, so clean-smelling, 

 so fragrant, such a pleasant seasoning ; Wild 

 Thyme on the bank, ' with oxlips and the nodding 

 violet ' : Common Thyme on heath and down, 

 that spreads the softest carpet foot of man can 

 tread, and helps along with the small striped 

 snails to make the plump Down-sheep into such 

 delicious mutton. I am glad to know that there 

 are few gardens in England without a patch of 

 Thyme. The larger the patch the better. There 

 is a lovely little dwarf Thyme, too, with flowers 

 of crimson, that loves to creep about among the 

 stones. I think it is either Thymus montana or 

 Thymus Corsicus. This and the Golden Thyme 

 and the Silver Thyme and a variegated form of 

 the Lemon-scented Thyme are all desirable. 



Their culture is as easy as possible. Cuttings 

 and slips are the usual method of propagation ; 



