Page 146 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

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LTHOUGH herb gardens are as old as history, the last generation in
America seems to have neglected this type of gardening entirely. Of course,
we use sage and celery salt in seasoning our cookery, but most of us have
forgotten the herbs our grandmothers and great-grandmothers knew and used
daily in their kitchens.

Recently, however, there has been a revival of interest in the herb family and
once again kitchens are giving off the delicious odors of foods seasoned with
thyme, marjoram, basil, and tarragon. While these herbs may not add to the
food value of a dish, they do give it a savory flavor. Certain herbs, notably
lavender, are also used for scenting linen closets or chests. There are also the
medicinal herbs which constitute a study in themselves.

Most herbs can be grown with little care if they are planted in good, well-
worked soil in a sunny spot. Midsummer is the time for collecting herbs from
the garden. If cut before the flowers open, all the fragrance is retained in the
dried herbs. Not only is herb gardening a pleasant way to make money, but
the study of herbs is a most fascinating subject. A woman in the East has
made an excellent living with her garden of the rarer medicinal herbs which
she sells to the pharmaceutical houses. Not only is her garden a financial
success, but she has become an authority on medicinal herbs.

One does not need a large space for an herb garden. Miss Helen Lyman of
Oakland, California, has an herb garden, approximately 25 feet in diameter
which holds 30 varieties of herbs. Her little booklet entitled, “30 Herbs Will
Make an Herb Garden,” tells others how to succeed in this interesting
enterprise.

Marshall Field & Company, Chicago, the largest department store in the
world, now has a department devoted entirely to herbs for use in cookery,
medicine and perfume. The herbs are imported from an herb farm more than
a century old which is located near Kent, England. Among the products
handled by Field’s herb department are the old-fashioned pomander balls just
like those our grandmothers hung in their clothespresses. All the well-known