House and Garden 
large enough and the plants will bloom the following 
spring. 
English violets make an attractive border for a 
bed of hardy perennials, although their season of 
bloom is confined to the spring months. They may 
be purchased of the florist in the spring or started 
from seed sown in the fall in the house or cold 
frame. 
As violet seed cannot be depended to come up the 
same season that it is sown it is, perhaps, better to 
purchase a dozen plants of the florist and by repeated 
root division increase them to the desired number. 
Violets are heavy feeders and should be supplied 
during the growing season with abundant moisture 
and liquid manure. To yield large and abundant 
blooms during the flowering season they must not be 
neglected during the remainder of the year and for 
this reason are to be recommended as a border for a 
bed of plants requiring abundant moisture as in this 
way they are apt to receive the attention they might 
be deprived of were they in a bed by themselves. 
One of the very daintiest plants for the hardy bor¬ 
der in spring is the hepatica or liverwort. Although 
its blossoms remain for but a few days the foliage, 
which comes after the blossoms, is very attractive 
and drooping, suiting well for a border plant. If one 
is fortunate enough to be in the secret of their haunts 
one may bring from the woods these firstlings of the 
spring and establish them where they may be en¬ 
joyed as it is difficult to catch these early bloomers. 
No matter how early one visits their haunts in 
the first warm days of spring we are apt to find the 
treasures flown and only the empty calyx held aloft 
to greet us. In the garden all this is changed and we 
may watch the lifting of the first little downy head 
and the unfolding of the dainty cups of pink and 
white and lavender. They make very desirable 
borders for beds of ferns or wild flowers, and may 
be increased by root division or propagated from 
seed. 
The golden yellow saxatile is a very desirable 
plant where a yellow border is desired, blooming 
freely the second season from seed, and afterwards 
may be increased by root division. It is own 
cousin to the sweet alyssum but blooms in the 
spring time. There is an attractive double form 
of the flower. 
The centaureas, although not of the plants which 
may be increased by root division are so easily raised 
from cuttings stuck in the ground that they may be 
considered in the same general class. 
The silver leaved and fern leaved are the best. 
Centaurea candidissuna being of a more trailing 
habit than C. gymnocarpa is more desirable, but 
should be kept closely trimmed or it will grow 
straggly. The pieces cut away may be used for cut¬ 
tings, merely sticking them in the ground an equal 
distance apart, where they are to remain, when they 
will root and grow without further trouble. 
Seed should be started in the spring in the house 
or hotbed and transplanted to the open ground when 
the weather is warm. 
The Herb Garden 
By H. R. MORRIS 
H ERBS are rather difficult to raise. They 
require a very rich, light soil, and much 
moisture, while the seeds are in the ground. 
When the little plants are once established, however, 
they grow well, and more than repay the care spent 
on them. The seeds should be gotten from a reli¬ 
able seedsman and as they soon lose their germi¬ 
nating power, they should be fresh as possible. 
Cultural directions are on all the packets of seeds. 
Most herbs bloom late in the summer, and they 
should be gathered in the first stage of bloom. I he 
leaves of sage should be clipped and dried. The 
plant is perennial. The plants of thyme, sweet 
marjoram and summer savory should be cut at the 
root and hung up to dry. The leaves and blossoms 
may be rubbed off when they are quite dry. Parsley 
and chervil are used in fresh leaf. They are perennial, 
and grow well in boxes during the winter. A 
flourishing herb garden is more than satisfactory to 
both the family gardener and the family cook. 
1 hat the uses of herbs have been much restricted 
in these times is shown by the descriptions of some of 
our most cherished ones from “The Herball” of John 
Gerard, published in 1597 and 1633. Phis great 
folio is based on the work of the earlier herbalists, 
who were the pharmacists of their time, and to whom 
we owe the knowledge of our vegetable medicines. 
Even in Gerard’s day herbs seem to have been used 
more for physic than for the savor for which we 
prize them, and their effect on the body had 
been carefully noted, as can be seen from his 
minute accounts of the plants themselves. The 
following illustrations and descriptions are repro¬ 
duced from “The Herball” of 1633. 
158 
