92 



THE HERB-GARDEN 



hollow, like tiny rushes, and do not so much taste 

 of Onion as suggest it. They must be used when 

 fresh, and the great delicacy of their flavour makes 

 them invaluable in fastidious cookery. Sydney 

 Smith said of the Onion that * scarce suspected it 

 should animate the whole.' He would have ap- 

 preciated Chives. The Hon. Mrs. Evelyn Cecil, 

 in her History of Gardening, tells us that they are 

 mentioned in a list of Herbs at the beginning of a 

 cookery book of the fifteenth century ; but for the 

 last hundred years they have been out of fashion. 

 This is really a loss to the English public. Anyone 

 wishing to make a sandwich that is sure to be 

 liked has only to put a few of the green spikes 

 of Chives between thin slices of bread and butter. 

 Nothing could be more wholesome, tonic, or enjoy- 

 able. 



The flowers are blue and the plant altogether 

 attractive ; there is a quaintness about it which 

 makes it look at home among the Herbs. Chives 

 can be propagated by division. When the leaves, 

 or rather spikes, are wanted for use, they should 

 be cut close to the ground, when they will soon 

 spring up again. 



Squills, that charming wild-flower which looks 

 so lovely in spring-time on the steep and wind- 



