A BUNDLE OF HERBS. 



105 



I should like to mention Burnet (Poterium Sanguisorba), wild 

 thyme, and water-mints. Burnet is grown in some gardens, especially 

 where the owner has lived in France : it is wild in some districts of 

 England ; its leaves are used in salads, and give to them a peculiar 

 cucumber flavour. Let me quote from Bacon, where he speaks of these 

 herbs : " But those that perfume the air most delightfully, not passed by 

 as the rest, but being trodden upon and crushed, are three — that is, 

 burnet, wild thyme, and water-mints. Therefore you are to set whole 

 alleys of them, to have the pleasure when you walk or tread." And 

 again, from " A Midsummer Night's Dream," we almost catch the 

 fragrance : 



" I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, 

 Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows." 



Marjoram {Origanum vulgar e). — There are three varieties, one an 

 aromatic pot herb, native of Portugal, used largely both in France and 

 England for flavouring soups. It is sometimes represented in gardens 

 by a wilding form. It should be planted in a sandy soil and divided in 

 March. It likes a hot sunny spot, and runs rampant on chalk hills, being 

 the best beloved of butterflies. It may be planted in patches in gardens 

 or shrubberies, where bees are kept, for the fragrance of the flowers and 

 the delight which the bees appear to have in them. Sweet marjoram 

 (0. Mar j or ana), though really a perennial, is always treated as an annual, 

 as it will not stand frost. 



Tarragon. — Its leaves are used for flavouring soups, and just a 

 suspicion of it is a great improvement to salad. It is also used exten- 

 sively in making the piquant Tarragon vinegar our French friends are 

 so fond of. It is a somewhat delicate plant and cannot always brave 

 our cold winters ; therefore wise gardeners will make a little new 

 plantation every spring, if needed. 



Marigold {Calendula officinalis), pot marigold. — An interesting old 

 hardy biennial ; one of the best for autumn and winter flowering in 

 almost every garden. The petals were formerly used to flavour dishes 

 in old English cookery, hence its name. A number of varieties are now 

 offered by the seed houses. For late blooming, seed should be sown in 

 July. The plants usually sow themselves freely, and may be sown in 

 the open ground in spring and autumn. Canaries are very fond of the 

 blossoms, and it greatly improves and deepens the colour of their plumage. 

 Shakespeare speaks of it in " A Winter's Tale " thus : 



" Here's flowers for you ; 

 Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram, 

 And marigold that goes to bed with the sun, 

 And with him rises weeping : these are flowers 

 Of middle summer, and I think they are given 

 To men of middle age." 



Before I conclude I should like to add my mite, by way of an ex- 

 pression of gratitude, to the memory of the monks of old — those grand 

 old gardeners who loved their gardens, and who brought to England so 

 many plants the benefit of which we are all of us reaping in these 

 twentieth-century days. They give us a fascinating peep into the past 



