Borage (Borago officinalis). Its young leaves are sometimes used in salads, or boiled as spinach. Being aromatic, its spikes of flowers are put into negus and cool tankards.

Soil And Situation

For the spring and summer sowing, any light soil and open situation may be allotted, provided the first is not particularly rich; but for those which have to withstand the winter, a light dry soil, and the shelter of a south fence, is most suitable. A very fertile soil renders it super-luxuriant, and injures the intensity of its flavour.

Times And Mode Of Sowing

It is propagated by seed, which is sown in .March or April, and at the close of July, for production in summer and autumn, and again in August or September, for the supply of winter, and succeeding-spring. These sowings to be performed in shallow drills, six inches asunder. When of about six weeks' growth, the plants are to be thinned to six inches apart, and the plants thus removed of the spring and autumn "sowing, may be transplanted at a similar distance; but those of the summer seldom will endure the removal, and at all times those left unmoved prosper most. At the time of transplanting, if at all dry weather, they must be occasionally watered moderately until established: water must also be frequently applied to the seed bed of the summer sowing, otherwise the vegetation will be slow and weak.

To Obtain Seed

To save seed, some of those plants which have survived the winter must be left ungathered from. They will begin to flower about June; and when their seed is perfectly ripe, the stalks must be gathered, and dried completely before it is rubbed out.