The Indianapolis journal., 1902-03-30
Irhaps familiar to her great-great-great-

perhaps familiar to her great-great-great-
grandmother.
One of the noblest ladies OF England says
that her herb garden is her greatest prlde,
and many other women have taken up the
idea with enthusiasm. In one OF the most
ma gnifcent homes of England a wild gar
den overrun with tangled sweetness leads
by a terrace TO a lavender garden given
over wholly 10 sweet scented lavender that
perfumes all the air and makes the reading
bench under a spreading tree a nook In
Araby the blest.
Beyond the lavender garden is the herb
garden. and the adding of a new herb TO
that garden gives its mistress more pleas
ure than the adding of a gem TO her jewel
CaSket. She is wildly enthusiastic on the
subject and versed in the lore of herbs 10
degree that would make old Culpepper him.
self. high priest OF English herbalism, hang
his head
Neither she nor her sister herbalists go
TO the extent of compromising decoctions.
ointments and philtres, according 10 the old
herb formulas. but they know all the old
superstitiOns about the various herbs, the
sentiment and poetry and romance connect
ed with them, the parts many Of them have
played in the making of history Some OF
the enthusiasts can go out into the WOODS
and fields and track the herbs TO their lairs.
There are a host of foreign herbs that
can be transplanted. and the fair herbalist
already referred TO has a fiourishing lot of
East Indian herbs whose names and tra-
ditiOns she has pat upon her tongues end.
She bemOans the fact that she hasn't faith
in herb remedies and says she longs TO
have an old-fashioned still-room built. and
to go in for distiling her herbs in the true
Old-fashl0ned style of what poetic French
herbalist called Ia pharmacie du cel.
one New York woman has a famous herb
garden at her summer place in New Eng
land and is becoming almost enthusiastic
over the fad as the English gardener. The
garden was there when she bought the un-
pretentious old place, and through sheer
ennui, several years ago, she started IN 10
study herb lore.
Now she has an interesting library Of
herb books many of them quaint and curl
Gus. Her garden has broadened far beyond
its original boundary and the pursuit of the
herb is one of her favorite summer amuse-
mentS.
A year ago last summer zeal and long
ing for a rare swamp root led her into
bog where she stuck fast and howled dis
mally for more than an hour; but, though
her clothes were ruined, her enthusiasm
wasn't even damDened.
THE USES OF HERBS.
There was a time when herbalism was
astronomical, when each plant was
thought 10 be under the direct influence of
some certain planet. Each planet had spe-
cial control over some one part Of the hu-
man body. The herb belonging to the
planet would cure any disease of the or
gans controlled by that same planet.
The enthusiastic herbalist can tell you
scores of anecdotes and traditions con-
nected with that phase of her science.
Then there was the herb cure by sig
nature. 1t was a fOrerunner OF homoe-
opathy, an Illustration of like cures like,
and its efficacy was vouched for by a null
titude of believers.
Vervain, with it's likeness to the human
eye, was invaluable for eye wash Certain
spotted herbs were infallible in frecke
lotions. Yellow herbs cured jaundice.
But il is the broad general herb tradition
that Is most, entertaining. What woman
can afford TO ignore cowslip water when
it is warranted to produce beauty? Peri
Wrinkle tea will cure any. husband whose
affections wander and a bed of periwinke
should grow under the windows of every
happy home.
Rue will quicken the inventive faculty and
should be fed TO all writers of fiction. Sage
will strengthen the memory and do so much
all-around beneficial work that, as one old
English herbalist sighed: THE wonder
lyeth in that a man who groweth sage in
hys garden can dye at all
y dose of mugwort will insure one against
lightning. Ground ivy, which the English
drive away the bluest melancholy, thing
assured by the fact that it is really an ex-
cellent dyspepsia remedy.
Solomon'S seal heals broken bones. There
are many historic cases to prove its merits.
Plantain and rue make a dose that will in
sure immunity from poison for twenty-four
hours.
King Mithridates so say the ancient
herbalists, used an antidote of this kind
daily until, when at last he tried to commit
suicide by poison the poison wouldn't
work. He had made himself permanently
immune.
Basil, ill-omened plant of romance and
poetry. deserves its bad reputation, for all
authorities agree that if bruised it breeds