The stems are numerous, woody, branching and rising more than afoot high; the leaves are ovate and 
obtuse, entire, petiolate, and downy. The flowers are usually white, with numerous bractes, and are col- 
lected into small roundish heads; from which last circumstance it is called knotted marjoram. The calyx is 
tubular, with five acute teeth. The corolla is funnel-shaped, with the upper lip erect and roundish, and the 
under divided into three acute teeth. The flowers appear in July. When it is cut and dried for winter 
use ; it must be renewed by seeds annually, for which purpose the seed is imported from France and Italy 
into England. 
Qualities. — The leaves and tops have an agreeable aromatic odour, and a moderately warm, bitterish 
taste. In distillation with water, they yield a considerable quantity of essential oil, amounting, according 
to Baume, to 1 xvi. from 150lbs. of the plant. This on being long kept assumes a solid form. 
Medical Properties and Uses. — Sweet marjoram is aromatic and tonic, its virtues residing in its 
essential oil. It is seldom used medicinally ; but is a good deal employed for culinary purposes to give 
relish to soups, omelets, stuffings, &c. The powder of the dried herb is sternutatory, and like the com- 
mon marjoram enters as an ingredient into the composition of some cephalic snuffs. Murray, in his Appa- 
ratus Medicaminum, speaking of this plant, says, “Tumores mammarum dolentes, scirrhosos, herba recens, 
viridis, per tempus applicata, feliciter dissipavit.” 
The Germans retain many of the annual customs peculiar to themselves before the Roman conquest. 
Whether a ceremony described in the “ Athenaeum,” as having been observed in Germany of late years, is 
derived from the victors, or from the ancient nations, is not worth discussing. 
The approach of spring was there commemorated with an abundance of display, its allegorical character 
was its most remarkable feature. It was called Der Sommers-gewinn, the acquisition of summer ; and 
about forty years ago was celebrated at the beginning of spring by the inhabitants of Eisenach, in Saxony, 
who, for that purpose, divided themselves into two parties. One party carried lointer under the shape of a 
man covered with straw, out of the town, and then, as it were, sent him into public exile ; whilst 
the other party, at a distance from the town, decked spring, or, as it was vulgarly called, summer, in the 
form of youth, with boughs of cypress and May, and marched in solemn array to meet their comrades, the 
jocund executioners of winter. In the meanwhile national ballads, celebrating the delights of spring and 
summer, filled the skies ; processions paraded the meadows and fields, loudly imploring the blessings of a 
prolific summer; and the jovial merry-makers then brought the victor-god home in triumph. In the course 
of time, however, this ceremonial underwent various alterations. The parts, before personified, were now 
performed by real dramatis personae ; one arrayed as spring, and another as winter, entertained the spec- 
tators with a combat, wherein winter was ultimately vanquished and stripped of his emblematical attire ; 
spring, on the contrary, being hailed as victor, was led in triumph, amidst the loud acclamations of the mul- 
titude, into the town. From this festival originated a popular ballad, composed of stanzas each of which 
conclude thus : 
Heigho ! heigho ! heigho ! Summer is at hand ? 
Winter has lost the game, 
Summer maintain’d his fame ; 
Heigho ! heigho ! heigho ! Summer is at hand. 
The day whereon the jubilee takes place is denominated der Todten sonntag, the dead Sunday. The 
reason may be traced perhaps to the analogy which winter bears to the sleep of death, when the vital 
powers of nature are suspended. The conjecture is strengthened by this distich in the ballad before quoted : 
Now we’ve vanquish’d Death, I Were Death still unsubdued, 
And Summer’s return ensured : | How much had we endured ! 
But of late years the spirit of this festival has disappeared. Lately, winter was uncouthly shaped of 
wood, and being covered with straw, was nailed against a large wheel, and the straw being set on fire, the 
apparatus was rolled down a steep hill ! Agreeably to the intention of its inventors, the blazing wheel was 
by degrees knocked to pieces, against the precipices below, and then — winter’s effigy, to the admiration of 
the multitude, split into a thousand fiery fragments. This custom too, merely from the danger attending it, 
quickly fell into disuse ; but still a shadow of the original festivity, which it was meant to commemorate, is 
preserved amongst the people of Eisenach. "Although ” says the writer of these particulars, “ we find 
■winter no longer sent into banishment, as in former times, yet an attempt is made to represent and conci- 
liate spring by offerings of nosegays and sprays of evergreen, adorned with birds or eggs, emblematical of 
the season.” Probably the latter usages may not have been consequent upon the decline of the former, but 
were coeval in their origin, and are the only remains of ancient customs peculiar to the season. 
