FRAGRANCE 



71 



sadly neglected, the places they would so fittingly occupy 

 being encumbered with gloomy evergreen thickets. No- 

 where more than in the small garden is there need of 

 brightness and colour ; nowhere would a change from the 

 old order of things be more welcome and appropriate. 



In our garden of sweet odours will be many plants 

 whose fragrance is distilled, not from their flowers, but 

 from their stems and leaves. To such belong the old- 

 fashioned herbs, true cottage plants, whose perfume 

 clings still to the presses and oaken chests handed down 

 to us from long ago. Sweet "Woodruff, Rosemary, the 

 Common Balm (Melissa), Balm of Gilead (Cedronella), 

 Bee Balm (Monarda), Sweet Verbena (Aloysia) (needs a 

 covering of ashes above the roots in winter), Dutch 

 Myrtle, often known as Sweet Gale (Myrica), and best 

 of all, the Sweet Brier — their rightful place is surely in the 

 Cottage Garden. A warm, sheltered position is desirable 

 for most of them, but they are in no sense delicate, and 

 with a little care increase in strength and beauty yearly. 

 Nor are we likely to forget a bush or two of bee- 

 beguiling Lavender, truly a typical plant for our purpose. 

 A well-kept lavender hedge is a thing of joy, its tones 

 of grey and silver contrasting admirably with the regal 

 scarlet of poppies, or the soft damask of the Tea Roses. 



Yet even now we have not exhausted half the treasures 

 of Nature's perfumed storehouse, nor sampled the won- 

 drous essences that are distilled for us in the hearts of 

 the Lilies, the Carnations, or the blood-red Wallflowers. 

 Not all the odours of the East can surpass in richness 

 the fragrance of the hardy border plants which may be 

 grown with ease in our English Cottage Gardens. Not a 

 day need pass that finds them bereft of sweetness 5 even 

 in mid-winter there are shrubs and flowers waiting only 

 to be planted to fill the air with perfume. 



What memories are loosened by the mere names 

 of the scented favourites which since childhood we 



