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"Yet, though thus respected,

By and bye

Ye do lie,

Poor girls, neglected."

HERRICK.

The beautiful drooping of this lovely flower gives occasion to W. Browne to represent it as mourning the death of one of his friends, in the same way as Milton brings in the daffodil, &c. in his Lycidas:

"Behold our flowrie beds;
Their beauties fade, and violets
For sorrow hang their heads."

"The violet in her greenwood bower,

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Where birchen boughs with hazels mingle,

May boast itself the fairest flower

In glen, or copse, or forest dingle.

Though fair her gems of azure hue

Beneath the dew-drops' weight reclining,
I've seen an eye of lovelier blue

More sweet through watery lustre shining.

"The summer sun that dew shall dry,
Ere yet the day be past its morrow;
Nor longer in my false love's eye

Remain'd the tear of parting sorrow."

SIR W. SCOTT.

Mr. Moore, in his notes to Lalla Rookh, quotes some passages to inform us that the Sweet Violet is one of the plants most esteemed in the East, particularly for its use in sherbet; which they make with violet sugar. "The

sherbet they most esteem, and which is drank by the grand signor himself, is made of violets and sugar.TAVERNIER."

Mr. H. Smith, in his Amarynthus, speaks of this flower as being of short duration.

." the trembling violet, which eyes The sun but once, and unrepining dies,”

The North American Violets are mostly void of scent, with the exception of the Dog's-violet, with which we are also familiar in our own hedges, as a successor to the Sweet-violet. With this exception too, the North American Violets best succeed in loam and bog earth, and should be housed in the winter.

VIPER'S BUGLOSS.

ECHIUM.

BORRAGINEE.

PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

This plant has been supposed to cure the bite of the viper: it is also called cat's tail.-French, la viperine; l'herbe aux viperes [viper's wort].-Italian, viperina.

THE Cretan species is the handsomest of the genus: its flowers are of a red-purple: the plant produces them but once. This kind is a native of the Levant: its stalks are trailing, and about a foot in length. The top of a wall is the best place to sow it; if in a pot, it must be in a gravelly soil it should be sown about the middle of October, and in hard frost covered with a little sawdust, straw, or oak-leaves. It will flower in July and August ; and if on a wall, will scatter its own seeds, and so maintain its own continuance.

The other species must be housed in the winter: they do not produce their flowers till the second year after sowing. They must be sparingly watered, in winter particularly; the stems being succulent.

The Common Viper's Bugloss (Echium Vulgare) is a splendid flower, of which the colours are deep blue, and bright scarlet; they are set very closely upon the stalk, in long spikes. On the Surrey bank of the Thames, immediately beyond Teddington Lock, it grows in great pro

fusion, in thick clumps: the foliage is coarse and unsightly, but the blossom is magnificent: it is not, however, easy to gather a sprig with impunity, the flowers being almost covered with bees,

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French, gyroselle de Virginie.

THIS is a perennial plant, with purple flowers, or inclining to the colour of the peach blossom.

It is very ornamental when in flower, which is in April and May.

This plant is more impatient of heat than of cold: it will endure our most severe winters; but two or three days' exposure to a hot sun will entirely destroy the young plants. It may be increased by offsets from the roots, which should be taken off, and transplanted in August, after the leaves and stalks have decayed, that they may have time to gain strength before the frost comes on.

WALLFLOWER.

CRUCIFERA.

CHEIRANTHUS.

TETRADYNAMIA SILIQUOSA.

French, giroflier jaune; violier jaune [both signifying yellow stock]; le baton d'or [gold stick]; la ravanelle; le rameau d'or [golden branch]; le garranier jaune.-Italian, viola [stock]; viola gialla [yellow stock]; cheiri.

THE Wallflowers are, in fact, Stocks; since they not only belong to the same genus, but are properly named

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Wallflowers, or Stocks: but some of the species having been distinguished by custom as Wallflowers, entirely dropping the other name, they are here placed under that head.

Herrick tells us the origin both of the name and flower :

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Why this flower is now called so,

List, sweet maids, and you shall know.
Understand this firstling was

Once a brisk and bonny lass,

Kept as close as Danäe was,

Who a sprightly springal loved ;
And to have it fully proved,
Up she got upon a wall,
Tempting down to slide withal:
But the silken twist untied,
So she fell, and bruised, she died.
Love, in pity of the deed,
And her loving, luckless speed,
Turned her to this plant, we call

Now the flower of the wall."

Of all the species so named, the common Wallflowers are by far the finest ; their colours are extremely rich, and, as the artists express it, warm; and their fragrance very delicious: they are apt to have a ragged appearance, looking sometimes at a little distance like a number of beautiful petals hung accidentally together; but when their form is preserved, they are in every respect elegant. There are single and double varieties; red and yellow of all shades, and pure white. The flower is too well known to make further description necessary.

"The common Wallflower," says Mr. Martyn, "is a native of Switzerland, France, Spain, &c.; and is common on old walls and buildings in many parts of England. It is one of the few flowers which have been cultivated for their fragrancy time immemorial in our gardens."

Some prefer the Alpine Wallflower for appearance, the

flowers being usually larger, and closer together; but they have not so fine a scent as the common Wallflower.

If raised from seeds, they should be sown in April, two or three seeds in a middle-sized pot; and in a poor rubbishy soil. If the soil be poor, they will bear the winter abroad; and will flower the following June.

The double varieties are increased by slips, about three inches long, planted in the spring; they should be slipped off with a sharp knife, and one-third inserted in the earth, the leaves being stript from the lower half.

Early in September the seedlings should be transplanted into separate pots. Some persons sow them where they are to remain; but transplanting is generally supposed rather to benefit than to injure them.

"Fair handed Spring unbosoms every grace;
Throws out the snow-drop, and the crocus first,
The daisy, primrose, violet darkly blue,
And polyanthus of unnumbered dyes;

The yellow wallflower, stained with iron brown;
And lavish stock, that scents the garden round."

THOMSON'S SPRING.

NYMPHEACEE.

WATER LILY.

NYMPHÆA.

POLYANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

Called also water-rose, water-can.-French, lis des étangs, [pond lily], volet, plateau, jaunet d'eau [water yellow-flower].-Italian, nenufaro, ninfea, blefera.

THE Water-lilies cannot be grown but in a cistern of water, which should be lined with lead; and such plants are only adapted for persons having even a superfluity of garden ground. For such persons they are very desirable, for they are delicate and elegant plants:

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