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Spray Plantation, Near the St. Mary's River, Maryland, l661 Sue Freienmuth for Montgomery County Public Schools, MD, Oct. 25, 2000
Herb and Vegetable Garden A step outside the house is the garden. Herbs, flowers and vegetables grow in the neatly-spaced raised beds.
Herbs and flowers are used for medicine, flavoring food, repelling insects and making teas and for promoting pleasant dreams at night. The soft leaf of lamb's ear, a medicinal herb, is put on cuts and bruises to promote healing.
Some herbs are dried and used as scents to keep the house and people smelling pleasant. Sweet-smelling herbs are crushed to sprinkle on the hall floor.
Both men and women wear small cloth bags filled with herbs and spices around their neck. The mixture masks unpleasant body odors. The Sprays and their servants rarely wash their clothes and bathe only two or three times a year. They fear that bathing is unhealthy.
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