82 FLORA HISTORICA. 



dually become paler, until they are nearly blanched 

 white ; after which they change to a purple tint, so 

 that the top flowers are yellow, those in the middle 

 white, and the lower blossoms of a lilac or purple 

 hue. This variety is perfectly hardy, but not per- 

 manent, as in some instances it has changed to a cop- 

 per colour, and in others to a plain yellow or white. 

 It appears to us a mixture of the Yellow Wall- 

 flower with its kindred the White and Purple Stock. 

 We possess but few flowers that ornament the 

 garden so gaily and so sweetly as the W all-flower : 

 the green of its foliage is of the most agreeable 

 tint, and endures through the winter, often treating 

 us with its fragrant and showy petals, amongst the 

 earliest and latest flowers that blossom ; and when 

 planted in clumps of six or ten plants each, the 

 effect is both gay and agreeable. By cutting off 

 the branches of seed pods, they will blossom a 

 second time, and we have often kept them for several 

 years by this means, which also insures flowers 

 early in the spring. 



The yellow Wall-flower is the most conspi- 

 cuously gay in the shrubbery, but the dark iron- 

 brown is the most esteemed on the border of the 

 florist. It frequently happens that some plants, 

 when growing upon rich soil, produce flowers with 

 five petals ; it is the seed of these that should be 

 principally saved, as they frequently produce double 

 flowers. 



