“½ lb. bay salt, ¼ lb. salt-petre and common salt, all to be bruised and put on six baskets of rose-leaves, 24 bay leaves torn to bits, a handful of sweet myrtle leaves, 6 handfuls of lavender blossom, a handful of orange or syringa blossoms, the same of sweet violets, and the same of the red of clove carnations. After having well stirred every day for a week, add ½ oz. cloves, 4 oz. orris root, ½ oz. cinnamon, and two nutmegs all pounded; put on the roses, kept well covered up in a china jar and stirred sometimes.” The recipe of a delicious _Pot Pourri_ made in a country house in Devonshire has also been very kindly sent me:--
“Gather flowers in the morning when dry and lay them in the sun till the evening.
Roses. Orange flowers. Jasmine. Lavender. Thyme. } Marjoram.} Sage. } In smaller quantities. Bay. }
“Put them into an earthen wide jar, or hand basin, in layers. Add the following ingredients:--
6 lbs. vi. Bay Salt. ℥ iv. Yellow Sandal Wood. ℥ iv. Acorus Calamus Root. ℥ iv. Cassia Buds. ℥ iv. Orris Root. ℥ ii. Cinnamon. ℥ ii. Cloves. ℥ iv. Gum Benzoin. ℈ i. Storax Calamite. ℥ i. ℈ Otto of Rose. ʒ i. Musk. ℥ ss. Powdered Cardamine Seeds.
“Place the rose-leaves, etc., in layers in the jar. Sprinkle the Bay salt and other ingredients on each layer, press it tightly down and keep for two or three months before taking it out.”
The following herbs are those which are chiefly valued for their perfume or for their historical associations.
It is extraordinary how little comment has been made on the handsome red flowers and fragrant leaves of Red Bergamot, or Bee-Balm--a name which Robinson gives it. Growing in masses, it makes a lovely bit of colour, and a very sweet border. Bergamot was a favourite flower in the posies that country people used to take to church, as Mrs Ewing observes in her story “Daddy Darwin’s Dove Cot.” The youthful heroine loses her posy of “Old Man and Marygolds” on the way to Sunday school, and is discovered looking for it by an equally youthful admirer. He at once offers to get her some more Old Man. “But Phœbe drew nearer. She stroked down her frock, and spoke mincingly but confidentially. ‘My mother says Daddy Darwin has red bergamot i’ his garden. We’ve none i’ ours. My mother always says there’s nothing like red bergamot to take to church. She says it’s a deal more refreshing than Old Men, and not so common.” A note gives the information that the particular kind of Bergamot meant here was the Twinflower _Monarda Didyma_. There are several varieties of Monarda.