76 



THE HERB-GARDEN 



And when that you have read the same, 



Consider well my woe — 

 Think ye then how to recompense 



Even him that loves you so f 



Cat-Mint is the last of our ten different Mints, 

 and hardly seems as if it were in its right place 

 even at the end, for it is not a mere pot-herb, like 

 the other Mints. So many people grow it in their 

 gardens for the sake of its pretty blue flowers, that we 

 forget to reckon it as a Herb at all ; yet there was a 

 time, before the use of tea from China, when our 

 English peasantry were in the habit of brewing 

 Cat-Mint tea, which they said was quite as pleasant 

 and a good deal more wholesome. Perhaps it 

 was. Anyhow, Ellen Montgomery of The Wide, 

 Wide World made Cat-Mint tea for Miss Fortune 

 when she was ill. Certainly it is stimulating. 

 The root, when chewed, is said to make the most 

 gentle person fierce and quarrelsome, and a legend 

 is extant of a certain hangman who could never 

 screw up his courage to the point of hanging any- 

 body till he had partaken of it. That such a meek 

 and gentle-looking Herb should be possessed of 

 such alarming qualities is surprising. 



Cats are much too fond of this plant. Not for 

 nothing is it called by the English Cat-Mint, and 

 by the French Herbe aux chats. In the Chelsea 



