c 
February, 1914 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
103 
too. Its pods, from the dawn of time, have been an important 
article of fodder in Palestine, and they were unquestionably “the 
husks that the swine did eat,” to which the Prodigal Son of the 
Scripture parable was reduced in his extremity. Then here I 
have a young Italian stone pine, grown from a seed sent me by a 
friend from the famous grove at Ravenna. Its ancestors gave 
shade to Dante in his walks. It has not got its flat-topped crown 
j'et, but it will — that 
takes time. This other 
young conifer is one 
of our native South- 
westerners—a nut 
pine or pihon, espe¬ 
cially connected with 
the vanishing wild 
life of our country. 
It has seeds about as 
big as peas, capital to 
eat. They were a fa¬ 
mous item of food 
with the desert In¬ 
dians, and the har¬ 
vesting of them was, 
until quite recently, a 
picturesque feature 
of aboriginal life. 
And here is another 
Indian plant—this 
shrub Cowania, or 
Mexican cliff rose. It 
bears a charming, 
creamy little single 
rose of a flower, but 
I cherish it particu¬ 
larly for personal rea¬ 
sons; for it was 
grown from seed 
gathered on the rim 
of the Grand Canon 
of the Colorado in 
Arizona, and so is 
linked with the mem¬ 
ory of a certain note¬ 
worthy outing. It is 
interesting, too, in a 
more general way, be¬ 
cause of the fact that 
Navajo mothers 
from time immemo¬ 
rial have employed 
the shredded bark of 
the plant for padding 
their baby cradles.” 
Here Jenkins stooped to pinch off a leaf from a shiny little 
bush at his feet. 
“Smell that,” said he. “That’s true myrtle, sacred to love since 
the babyhood of the race, and still twined into wreaths to crown 
Bavarian brides. And here is Shakespeare’s rosemary, herb of 
remembrance, good in old wives’ medicine to make the old young 
again. It blooms all winter here, and our California year never 
grows old. This clump of rue is from a plant that grew in the 
garden of the old Spanish rancho Camulos, the real home of 
Ramona. Over yonder, that tall, feathery plant with the flat 
umbels of yellow flowers, is fennel. Romulus and Remus no 
doubt knew it well. In ancient days it had a great vogue as a 
strength builder; gladiators mixed it with their food, and its 
leaves were woven into crowns for the victors in Roman games. 
Here is the classic acanthus. You know the story of how its 
decorative leaves thousands of years ago suggested the design of 
the Corinthian capital. And here are some stalks of hemp, one of 
the most beautiful plants in the world as to foliage, and with a 
history that makes it an aristocrat. Its fiber supplied cordage for 
the argosies of King Hiram of Tyre and Cleopatra’s barges, and 
its narcotic juice'was 
the basis of hashish, 
with which the Old 
Man of the Mountain 
held dominion over 
the wills of his assas¬ 
sin followers.” 
We were now be¬ 
side a young oleander 
starred with white 
bloom. 
“I’m rather proud 
of this specimen,” 
Jenkins observed, “as 
I am inclined to think 
it is the only one in 
its class. I raised it 
from a slip taken by 
permission from an 
old tree in the Padres’ 
garden of San Juan 
Capistrano Mission, 
and, since then, the 
parent, which was no 
doubt of the Francis¬ 
can Fathers’ planting, 
has perished. It is 
thus a link, especially 
rare, with a romantic 
past. These old mis¬ 
sions, you know, are 
California’s most fa¬ 
mous antiquities, and, 
if I had room enough, 
I’d go in for a little 
mission garden with 
plants slipped from 
all the missions that 
are left. As it is, I 
have made a start. 
That tamarisk by the 
fence is a slip from 
an old tree that stands 
in front of the Mis¬ 
sion San Antonio de 
Padua, and the big 
cactus yonder is from the remnant of a hedge planted by the 
Padres around another of the missions ; and the vines covering the 
arbor here are mission grapes of the stock planted by the Fran- 
ciscans at all their California establishments. 
It would be tedious to continue the catalogue; but enough has 
been said to illustrate the plan of this little garden, which im¬ 
pressed me as not only replete with beauty, but imbued with sound 
sentiment and associations worth preserving. To be sure, its loca¬ 
tion being in Southern California, it is favored with a soil and a 
climate exceptionally hospitable to introduced plants from what¬ 
ever part of the globe. Nevertheless, the principle, with appro¬ 
priate changes, is readily applicable to any part of our country. 
It is, of course, not the sort of garden that can be made all at once; 
A cactus bed at the right contains a plant from a hedge set out by the Franciscan Fathers a century or 
more ago, and other specimens gathered from the desert 
A white oleander from San Juan Capistrano Mission occupies the right center, while myrtle grows at the 
foot of the Italian cypress 
