Green Enchantment

Abstract

REALLY good enchantresses have always had more than one string to their bow, though those who escape their snares would probably put it the other way about. When they were young, enchantresses could afford to rely entirely on their charms for the bewitching of man ; but as they began to grow old and their charms began to fade, they took to casting spells. For that they had to go to the fields and hedgerows and gather green plants in the moonlight for the raw material out of which all the best spells are made. If enchantresses werel ucky and escaped a watery grave, their increasing years turned them into witches. Bent double by bending over ditches and riding broomsticks, they could no longer go far afield to find the herbs that specialized in being magical. That did not stop the witches, however, for they could find all the magic herbs they needed in the garden. From being used so often for spells, the plants grew more potent, and presently the garden itself became still more the home of magic than it had been before-a place of green enchantment.

Green Enchantment

The Magic Spell of Gardens. By Rosetta E. Clarkson. Pp. xx + 328. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1940.) 12s. 6d. net.