There once was an Indian prince who marvelled at one of his fellow believers, a poor man, who could rejoice without envy at the beauty and gracefulness of the prince’s wife. The prince, puzzled, questioned him and the poor man explained happily: ‘Why should I not rejoice in beauty, especially if it does not occasion me any worry or responsibility? You have the burden of overseeing all your wealth and of providing for all your wife’s needs while I, on the other hand, can rejoice in just looking at her, without any worry or dismay.’

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Those who are aware of the existing problems can help by joining in the protests, which are gaining strength all the time. All of us can contribute personally by doing everything in our power to care seriously about tidiness and order with a view to preserving the beauty of the land, things that used to be automatic and taken for granted years ago.

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Now the thing is, if a mother presented her dead baby in court to prove that the poisoned carrots were responsible for her baby’s death, she would be hard pressed to find even one scientist willing to back up and prove her case. The short-sighted farmer is unable to realise the consequences of the excessive use of pesticides, or their application at the wrong time, so the question of poisonous sprays and the people’s general health is more acute and urgent than ever. It is the responsibility of our governments to do something about this danger, to subject the poison-spraying to government inspection and to see to it that the problem is judged without prejudice; after all, our governments have the power to introduce appropriate legislation and give the necessary direction whenever damaging practices come to the fore.

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During the autumn, choose several of the smaller plants from your nursery, like basil, marjoram or a young rosemary. It is best to repot them into a larger container to promote initial growth, and then stand them in a sunny corner of your kitchen or near a window. They will also grow well in a covered patio corner or enclosed sunroom, provided they get water periodically. Late summer and early autumn sowing of basil will produce young plants ready to pot out and carry you through the winter, but only if you can grow them indoors in a warm atmosphere. Basil is a frost-tender plant, and the first icy fingers will scorch and blacken it.

Herbs grown in pots indoors will remain more dwarfed than outdoor plants. But their flavour and perfume will be almost as good as if grown outside.

Window boxes are a pleasant way to grow herbs indoors. If you live in an old house with wide window-sills, get someone to make you a shallow metal tray about 1 1\2 inches deep, put in it a layer of gravel, crocks or decorative small stones, and stand your pots on top. You can water them freely and still have good drainage. A true window box made of waterproof ply and painted white looks very Mediterranean and is utilitarian as well. Suspend it with plugs into the bricks, or on chains as shown; but remember it will be fairly weighty filled with wet soil, so make your fastenings strong and secure.

Bore f-inch drainage holes spaced 5 to 8 inches apart in the bottom of the box, then put a layer of broken terracotta crocks or gravel in the bottom. Fill up with the usual potting mixture of coarse sand, loam and peat moss and compost; and in this case some blood and bone and a sprinkling of dolomite can be added as well, together with some pieces of charcoal, if available, to keep the soil sweet. Just a sprinkling of the blood and bone will do, but mix it thoroughly through, and leave the whole box for several days before putting in your plants. Just tease out the roots slightly when you up-end the nursery pot, or dip the plant briefly in warm water to free the outside roots.

Pick the sunniest window sill, and hope it is your kitchen or dining room, then you can snip off fresh leaves for your salad mixed at the table.

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It is fitting that I finish my list of herbs with yarrow. It seems to me to typify the silent strength possessed by herbs in the healing of many ills, pulling the warmth of the sun and the welcome rain down into the soil to change by Nature’s alchemy into natural minerals, vitamins and oils in the service of man. I stand beside my yarrow clump with a feeling almost of awe. The “sacred herb” of some of the earliest cultures of man, unchanged for thousands of years, grows in my garden with the same properties now as it had then. The Druids used yarrow stems to divine the weather for each coming season, and according to the ancient writings, their predictions were more accurate than those of our satellite pictures of today. Yarrow was one of the nine Anglo-Saxon sacred herbs, used in rituals and for protection from evil. Knowledge of the plant’s strengths rather than superstition or magic must have been the basis of this ritual. Yarrow tea can be taken to relieve all bodily weaknesses caused by infectious diseases like colds and flu, or any prolonged debilitating illness. It is very often mixed with other herbs to strengthen the mixture and speed up its work. What more logical, then, than to say that yarrow wards off the “evil” of illness, which was always attributed then to unknown occult powers?

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A tea made from the leaves is good for depression. The usual quantity of a small handful to a cup of boiling water is plenty. Add honey or a slice of orange to this one: it is delicious.

For a change instead of using mint or parsley, garnish parboiled or steamed tiny new potatoes with pennyroyal leaves. Add a nob of butter to the saucepan when they are cooked, then the herb leaves, and shake gently about to spread the taste. Use only a few leaves. They are quite strong in flavour.

The herb’s power as an insecticide, especially against fleas, is denoted in its name, Mentha pulegium or “Flea Mint”, so your dog could also benefit from having its coat rubbed with the crushed leaves and stems of pennyroyal, and a few leaves sprinkled on its blanket every few days should ensure flea-free bedding too.

Pennyroyal has been prescribed for everything from “the itch” to jaundice, and the old herbal writers placed great store by it wherever warming, soothing and cleansing of the body was required. It was placed under the dominion of Venus, and was also prescribed almost automatically for any female complaints.

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Recent experiments in the study of plant perfumes have shown that molecules of the plant’s substance are present in the perfume exhaled by the flowers or leaves. So sniffing a perfumed flower can be not only pleasant but therapeutic as well. The scented nosegays and posies of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century ladies could well have given them some protection from air-borne germs as well as sensory pleasure. Even the men, walking the sometimes fetid and certainly unsanitary streets of the cities, carried small bunches of aromatic herbs and spices to help disguise the rank infective air. The use of snuff was a refinement of this practice, the herbs and spices used being powdered and inhaled; and the sneezing that followed cleared the breathing passages. Many of the common ingredients of snuff have been found, through later scientific research, to have a real antiseptic action, cinnamon and marjoram being two of the strongest. Instead of that cigarette, why not start a “new” fad? Produce a tiny snuff-box from your vest pocket, take two elegant sniffs, and free into your jaded sinuses some of Nature’s natural antiseptic aromatic herbs and spices.

The leaves of scented geraniums, bruised and used as a poultice applied to cuts and grazes were often mentioned in the old herbals. They have quite pronounced antiseptic properties.

The original geranium was the single scarlet “Herb Robert” or Cranesbill from gerahus, a crane. The flower shape was said to resemble the head of this bird. This small-flowered geranium would not recognize some of the impressive large double and scented-leaved members of its family which have been hybridized for garden display. Most of the scented so-called “geraniums” are pelargoniums, and there are several very worthy of a place in your herb garden or border. Dry them for pot-pourri hung head downwards in small bunches, or laid flat on screens.

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There are two varieties of camomile, an annual {Matricaria chamomilla) and the creeping perennial (Anthemis nobilis). Both are used widely for camomile tea and for the lightening and conditioning of fair hair. The plants are extremely rich in natural calcium.

Perennial camomile is a ground cover, a feathery ferny-leaved little plant that flowers in its second year of growth. It has no particular likes or dislikes, but is best if not subjected to extremes of heat, cold or moisture. Average garden conditions suit it well and, having a prostrate habit of growth, it can be planted as a fragrant herb lawn, staying green all year round. One such lawn is still flourishing in Buckingham Palace grounds. The perfume hovers somewhere between apple and clove, and the lightest touch will release it. It is often called the “herb of humility”, because it grows best when walked on, and indeed relishes this treatment.

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