441 pp "The seventeenth century housewife had to produce a host of household aids - flavorings, drinks, tonics, insect repellents, candies, narcotics, medicine, and laying out the dead. In pithy language and amusing detail, the author describes these early American gardeners whose influence is still strong in our daily lives. In an indispensable appendix Miss Leighton lists 200 of the common plant names, the names of those who used them, and brief descriptions from their own books of reference recording what they believed or expected of each plant. "