severe weather. The seed is sown indoors
during March, and if crowding, pricked out 2 inches asunder. When the
ground has become warm, the plants are set in the open 15 to 20 inches
asunder. It delights in a sunny situation, and is most fragrant on poor
soil. Rich soil makes the plant larger but the flowers poorer in
perfume.

_Uses._--The plant is sometimes grown for a condiment and an addition to
salads, dressings, etc., but its chief use is in perfumery, the flowers
being gathered and either dried for use in sachet bags or distilled for
their content of oil. In former years no girl was supposed to be ready
for marriage until, with her own hands, she had made her own linen and
stored it with lavender. And in some sections the lavender is still
used, though the linen is nowadays purchased.

In southern France and in England considerable areas are devoted to
lavender for the perfumery business. The flower stems are cut in August,
covered at once with bast matting to protect them from the sun and taken
to the stills to obtain the thin, pale yellow, fragrant oil.
Four-year-old plants yield the greatest amount of oil, but the product
is greater from a two-year plantation than from an older one, the plants
then being most vigorous. Two grades of oil are made, the best being
used for lavender water, the poorer for soap making. In a good season
about one pound of oil is obtained from 150 to 200 pounds of the cut
plants.

=Lovage= (_Levisticum officinale_, Koch.), a perennial, native of the
Mediterranean region. The large, dark-green, shining radical leaves are
usually divided into two or three segments. Toward the top the thick,
hollow, erect stems divide to form opposite, whorled branches which bear
umbels of yellow flowers, followed by highly aromatic, hollowed fruits
("seeds") with three prominent ribs. Propagation is by division or by
seeds not over three years old. In late summer when the seed ripens, it
is sown and the seedlings transplanted either in the fall or as early in
spring as possible to their permanent places. Rich, moist soil is
needed. Root division is performed in early spring. With cultivation and
alternation like that given to Angelica, the plants should last for
several years.

Formerly lovage was used for a great variety of purposes, but nowadays
it is restricted almost wholly to confectionery, the young stems being
handled like those of Angelica. So far as I have been able to learn, the
leaf stal