history makes mention, was that of the
Abbaye de Saint Gall, of which Charlemagne was capitular. It was he who
selected the plants and vegetables which the dwellers therein should
cultivate.

Of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there is an abundant literary
record, and, in a way, a pictorial record as well. From these one can
make a very good deduction of what the garden of that day was like;
still restrained, but yet something more than rudimentary. From now on
French gardens were divided specifically into the _potager_ and
_verger_.

The _potager_ was virtually a vegetable garden within the walls which
surrounded the seigneurial dwelling, and was of necessity of very
limited extent, chiefly laid out in tiny _carreaux_, or beds, bordered
by tiles or bricks, much as a small city garden is arranged to-day. Here
were cultivated the commonest vegetables, a few flowers and a liberal
assortment of herbs, such as rue, mint, parsley, sage, lavender, etc.

The _verger_, or _viridarium_, was practically a fruit garden, as it is
to-day, with perhaps a generous sprinkling of flowers and aromatic
plants. The _verger_ was always outside the walls, but not far from the
entrance or the drawbridge crossing the moat and leading to the chateau.

It was to the _verger_, or orchard, curiously enough, that in times of
peace the seigneur and his family retired after luncheon for diversion
or repose.

"D illocques vieng en cest vergier
Eascuns jour pour s'esbanoier."

Thus ran a couplet of the "Roman de Thebes"; and of the hundred or more
tales of chivalry in verse, which are recognized as classic, nearly all
make mention of the _verger_.

It was here that young men and maidens came in springtime for the fete
of flowers, when they wove chaplets and garlands, for the moyen-age had
preserved the antique custom of the coiffure of flowers, that is to say
hats of natural flowers, as we might call them to-day, except that
modern hats seemingly call for most of the products of the barnyard and
the farm in their decoration, as well as the flowers of the field.

The rose was queen among all these flowers and then came the lily and
the carnation, chiefly in their simple, savage state, not the highly
cultivated product of to-day. From the ballads and the love songs, one
gathers that there were also violets, eglantine, daisies, pansies,
forget-me-nots, and the marguerite, or _consoude_, was one of the most
loved of all.

The carnati