OLD GARDEN LORE. 



207 



well at all ; while all thrive in places suited to them, all 

 will not do equally well in the same soil and situation. 

 Plant such as are congenial to the place you have for 

 them, and these will embrace at least a majority of the 

 species. 



Platycodon grandiflorum. This genus has Ijeen, 

 and still is listed under a variety of names, campanula, 

 wahlenbergia, etc. ; but it has no superior in the border. 

 Its flowers are about two inches across, of purple or 

 white, and of both double and single forms. It is read- 

 ily propagated by division or from seed, 



Spir.ea. There are several herbaceous spiraeas worthy 

 a place in any border. The best is S. Japouiai, known 

 also as astilbe and hotiea, which grows about two feet 

 high, with branching spikes of pure white, feather-like 

 flowers. .S". lohata (Queen of the Prairie), a native spe- 

 cies, is one of the most stately of the spiraeas. The flow- 

 ers are very handsome, of a deep peach color, and pro- 

 duced in clustered panicles on long, naked peduncles. 



Tricyrtis hirta (the Japanese Toad Lily) is an indis- 

 pensable plant for the hardy border, as its flowers are the 

 culmination of the season, appearing with the first frost. 



which, if not severe, does not injure them. They are 

 axillary, produced in panicles about six inches long, 

 bearing from their peculiar markings the appearance of 

 orchids. The plants may be taken up when the flowers 

 first appear and put in pots or boxes, and they will de- 

 velop their flowers perfectly in the house, after which 

 they may be returned to the border. 



Trillium (American Wood Lily, Indian Shamrock, 

 Three-leaved Nightshade). A deep, well-drained bed 

 of peaty soil, in a somewhat shady position, is the most 

 suitable for these plants. Plenty of water is essential 

 in summer. The varieties grandiflorum (see illustra- 

 tion, page 213), erectum, cernuum and sessile are all de- 

 sirable and can be readily cultivated in the north. 



Yucca filamentosa (Adam's Needle) is an evergreen 

 perfectly suited to the herbaceous border. The flowers 

 are produced on an erect, branching spike from four to 

 six feet high, proceeding from the heart of the plant. It 

 is not uncommon for a single spike to furnish 300 blos- 

 soms, which are creamy-white and three inches in diam- 

 eter. The variety is propagated by offsets or from seeds, 

 the plants of vi'hich flower the second year. 



OLD GARDEN LORE. 



^•\^\ N Gerarde's quaint old Herbal, jDub- 

 lished in 1597, we find someamus- 

 in,g descriptions of our well-known 

 plants, together with a table of 

 "virtues," that are, to say the 

 least, interesting reading. As an 

 example, we quote his description of Indian corn 

 and its "virtues," corn being known at that 

 time as "turkey wheate." He says: "Turkey 

 wheate doth nourish far less than either wheate, 

 rie, barly or otes. The bread which is made 

 therof is meanly white ; it is hard and dry as 

 bisket is, and hath in it no clamminus at all, and 

 for which cause it is of hard digestion, and yieldeth to 

 the body little or no nourishment. We have as yet 

 no certaine proofe or experience concerning the vir- 

 tues of this kind of corn, although the barbarous 

 Indians which know no better, are constrained to 

 make a virtue of necessitie, and think it a good 

 foode ; whereas we may easily judge that it nour- 

 isheth but little, and is of hard and evil digestion, a 

 more convenient foode for swine than for men." 



Of garden radishes he says : " Radish are eaten 

 raw with bread instead of other foode ; but being 

 eaten after that manner, they yield very little 

 nourishment, and that faultie and ill. But for the 

 most part, they are used as a sawce with meats to 

 procure appetite, and in that sort they engender 



blood less faultie, than eaten alone or with bread 

 onely ; but seeing they are of harder digestion, they 

 are also many times troublesome to the stomacke ; 

 nevertheless, they serve to distribute and disperse 

 the nourishment, especially taken after meate, and 

 taken before meate, they cause belching, and over- 

 throw the stomacke." 



It is \'ery important to know that " the roote 

 stamped with hony and the powder of a sheepe's 

 hart dried, causeth the hair to grow in short space ;" 

 also, "that the roote stamped with darnel and a lit- 

 tle white wine vinegar, taketh away all blue and 

 blacke spots, and bruised blemishes of the face." 



The virtues of the I^iliuiii Martagon having not 

 then been discovered, Gerarde says : "There hath 

 not been anything left, in writing either of the na- 

 ture or vertues of these plants ; notwithstanding 

 we may deeme that God which gave them such 

 seemly and beautiful shape, hath not left them 

 without their peculiar vertues ; the finding out 

 whereof we leave to the learned and industrious 

 searcher of nature." 



He cautions us against the use of leeks, saying : 

 " It heateth the bodie, engendreth naughtie blood, 

 causeth troublesome and terrible dreams, offendeth 

 the eies, dulleth the sight, hurteth those that are by 

 nature hot and cholericke, and is noisome to the 

 stomacke." 



