AN ORNAMENTAL GARDEN PLANT 



By Willard N. Clute. 



IN every well-appointed garden, there is sure to be a clump 

 of chives in some out-of-the-way corner, for no' cook 

 worthy of the name would forego the added picjuancy which 

 the tender green leaves of this plant add to the salads and 

 stews of early spring. But not to the taste, alone, does this old- 

 fashioned and long-domesticated little plant appeal. Almost as 

 soon as the snow is gone, certainly as soon as the ground is 

 thawed, the innumerable slender g'reen spears begin to push up, 

 making lively splotches of color on the brown earth and 

 prophesying spring long before the daffodil dares, to say 

 nothing of the swallow. 



Again in late May or early June the plants assume a new 

 attractiveness when the clumps put forth large numbers of 

 slender stems tipped with globular tufts of rosy-lilac blossoms. 

 All who^ view it then are of the opinion that it is much too 

 pretty to be considered a mere vegetable fit only to be eaten, 

 and not a few, prompted by this feeling, have moved it into the 

 society of choicer spirits whose main claim to consideration is 

 the possession of beauty. In many situations it is an ornament 

 to the flower garden. It is a clean, trim, compact, little plant 

 with a good natured air about it that goes far to make one for- 

 get its plebeian origin. 



Chives still grow wild in the colder parts of both Europe 

 and America. On this side of the world the plant extends 

 southward to the Great Lakes and the mountains of northern 



