168 SPEAR-MINT. 
x When cultivated to any extent, lavender should be 
planted in rows two or three feet apart, and the sets 
should be about two feet from each other. It is usually 
propagated from slips. During dry weather, in the 
month of July, the flowers should be gathered, by 
cutting off the heads close to the stem ; after which 
they must be tied in bundles to be distilled. 
When distilled with water, ihefaxvers of lavender, if 
in a mature state, yield an essential oil ; generally in 
the proportion of about one ounce of oil to sixty 
ounces of flowers. This oil is of a bright yellow colour, 
and possesses the perfect fragrance of the lavender. 
But, if distilled with rectified spirit, the virtues are 
more completely extracted. From the leaves a very 
small proportion of oil can be obtained. 
The preparations of this plant that are used in medi- 
cine are, the essential oil, a simple spirit, and a com- 
pound tincture. Lavender, however, is much more 
frequently and more extensively employed as a perfume 
than medicinally. The flowers are deposited in chests 
and wardrobes among linen, not only on account of 
their fragrant smell, but also from an opinion that their 
odour will prevent the depredations of moths and other 
insects. The perfume called lavender water may be 
prepared by mixing three drachms of oil of lavender, 
and one drachm of essence of ambergris, with one pint 
of spirit of wine. 
Lavender is supposed to have been first cultivated in 
England about the year 1558. 
179. COMMON or SPEAR-MINT (Mentha viridis), 
one of our most frequent garden, herbs, is a native British plant, 
and grows wild in watery places, and near the banks of rivers, m 
several parts of England. 
The ancients ascribed many virtues to different kinds 
of mint, but it is not now possible to ascertain cor- 
rectly the respective species, though there can be 
little doubt that spear-mint was one of the most im- 
portant of them. Its flavour is to many persons pe- 
