preserve it very well. Unless the summer prove warm and fine, it must not be set abroad even then; for, if exposed to much wet or cold, it will soon perish. Very little water will suffice this plant.

Chaucer repeatedly mentions the Perwinkle: it makes one of the ornaments of the God of Love:

"His garment was every dele

Ipurt-raied, and wrought with floures,
By divers medeling of coloures;
Floures there were of many gise
Iset by compace in a sise;

There lacked no floure to my dome,

Ne not so moche as floure of brome,
Ne violet, ne eke pervinke,

Ne floure none that men can on thinke;

And many a rose lefe full long
Was intermedlid there emong;

And also on his hedde was set

Of roses redde a chapilet."

THE ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE.

Again in the same poem, the poet, in describing a garden where flowers of all seasons are met together, gives a place to the Perwinkle :

"There sprange the violet al newe,

And fresh pervinke, rich of hewe,
And flouris yellowe, white, and rede ;
Such plente grew there ner in mede :
Ful gaie was all the grounde and queint,
And poudrid as men had it peint,

With many a freshe and sondry floure,
That castin up fol gode savour."

Rousseau has, to his admirers, given the Perwinkle a double interest. He tells us, that walking with Madame Warren, she suddenly exclaimed, "There is the Perwinkle yet in flower." Being too short-sighted to see the plant on the earth without stooping, he had never observed the Perwinkle he gave it a passing glance, and saw it no more

for thirty years. At the end of that period, as he was walking with a friend, "having then begun," he says, "to herborize a little, in looking among the bushes by the way, I uttered a cry of joy: Ah, there is the Perwinkle!' and it was so." He gives this as an instance of the vivid recollection he had of every incident occurring at a particular period of his life. The incident is so natural, and told with so much simplicity, that, trifling as it is, it cannot fail to interest; especially as the Perwinkle is in France esteemed as the emblem of sincere friendship, in their mystic language of nosegays, when sent as presents between lovers and friends. The country people in Italy make garlands of it for their dead infants, for which reason they call it fior di morto [death's flower].

It has also been used on very different occasions; for we are told it was named Vinca, because girdles were made of it at weddings. The botanists formerly called it Pervinca: Miller says from the Latin pervincere, to overcome thoroughly, because it resists the winter's cold: it has also been called Clematis, for the same reason as the Clematis, now so called, bears that name-its tendency to climb upon neighbouring plants. Some have called it Chamædaphne, or Little Laurel, from the form of its leaves.

RHAMNEÆ.

PHILLYREA.

CASSINE CAPENSIS.

PENTANDRIA TRIGYNIA.

THIS is a shrub, bearing white blossoms, which blow in July or August. It should be housed in September, and placed abroad again in May. It must be sparingly watered.

This name is sometimes given to the Alaternus, and likewise belongs to a genus of evergreens very similar to that shrub.

The Alaternus is not well adapted for pots, on account of its far-spreading roots; or it would be particularly desirable to a lover of plants, as being one which the tasteful Evelyn prided himself upon bringing into proper notice.

POLEMONIACEE.

PHLOX.

PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

Called also Lychnidea.—Italian, flosside.

THESE plants are chiefly North American, and most of them tolerably hardy. They are small, the blossoms purple; blowing at different seasons, from April to September, according to their species. They like a moist soil, and must be liberally watered: should be housed in October, and placed abroad again early in May. The usual colour of the blossoms, called by the gardeners purple, is in truth rather purple-tinged flesh-colour, like that of Venus's Lookingglass. They are numerous and handsome.

In Captain Franklin's Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, he speaks of a species of Phlox, which, from his unfortunate friend Lieutenant Hood, he names Phlox Hoodii. "This beautiful species," says he, "is a striking ornament in the plains of the neighbourhood of Carlton House, forming large patches, which are conspicuous at a distance.”

ΡΙΝ Κ.

DIANTHUS.

CARYOPHYLLEA.

DECANDRIA DIGYNIA.

The name Dianthus is of Greek origin, and signifies the flower of Jove: which noble name is, according to some, bestowed upon the flower for its beauty; others say from its fragrance. That distinction is surely just, which excites a doubt only for which of its good qualities it is conferred.-French, œillet.—Italian, garafano: gherosano ; garofolo.

THE Bearded Pink, or Sweet-William-French, œillet de poete*-is a native of Germany. Gerarde mentions it as being, in his time, highly esteemed "to deck up gardens, the bosoms of the beautiful, garlands, and crowns for pleasure." The narrow-leaved kinds are called Sweet-Johns: the broad-leaved, unspotted kinds are, by some named Tolmeiners and London-tufts; and the small speckled kind, London-pride.

There are many varieties of the Sweet-William, single and double-flowered, varying in colour from a pale blushcolour to a deep crimson: some are entirely white. They blow in June: they must be sparingly watered, but never left dry.

Of the Clove-pink-in Italian, garofano ortense—the varieties are endless: the larger kinds are called Carnations-in French, œillet des fleuristes :-the smaller, Clovegilliflowers. Some suppose this latter name to have been corrupted from July-flower, July being its flowering time. Drayton so names it :

"The curious choice clove July-flower,

Whose kinds hight the carnation,

* This is also called, in France, Eillet de la Regencé (Regency pink); in Italy, Garofanini (little cloves), Violine a mazzetti (little cluster pinks.) The Italian word viola is used for the violet, the stock, or the pink.

For sweetness of most sovereign power
Shall help my wreath to fashion;
Whose sundry colours, of one kind,
First from one root derived,

Them in their several suits I'll bind,
My garland so contrived."

FIFTH NYMPHAL.

It is more generally believed to be from the French name, giroflier, which is also the name of the Clove-tree, from the similarity of the perfume: Besides the names already mentioned, Gerarde gives several others, Horse-flesh, Blunket, and Sops-in-wine.

Modern florists have, by their careful culture of these flowers, increased the varieties beyond enumeration. Pinks also, commonly so called, are infinitely varied. Pinks, Carnations, and Sweet-Williams are increased in various ways; but, as their culture demands much attention and experience, the better way of securing handsome varieties will be to purchase them in the pot, which may be done at a small expense; and, as they are chiefly perennial, even that need not often be incurred.

These plants, when in blossom, should be sheltered from the noon-day sun; but suffered to enjoy it in the early part of the day. In dry weather, they should be watered every evening. If the buds on the sides of the stalks are removed, and the top ones only left to blow, they will be much handsomer: should they incline to break through the pod on one side in an unsightly manner, it should be notched in two other places, at equal distances, with a pair of fine scissors, to give them freedom.

When the bloom is past and the leaves decay, the stalks should be cut down; water should then be given but twice a week, observing by no means to use raw spring water. They should be sheltered from frost, and in the spring will again shoot forth in full beauty: they must not be placed