coLUMinxi:. 121 



ihc following IMay the young plants may be placed 

 out in a bed at about nine inches apart, where they 

 nill obtain strength by the autumn sufficient for 

 transplanting into the spots where they are intended 

 to flower in the following summer. It is, however, 

 more desirable that they should be suffered to blos- 

 som in the nursery-bed, as by this means the bLSt 

 varieties may be selected and clumps formed of dif- 

 ferent colours, agreeable to the taste of the planter, 

 or as may best harmonize with the neighbouring 

 flowers. 



The virtues of this plant for many malignant dis- 

 orders have been highly extolled by old medical 

 writers — every part of the plant from theroot to the 

 seed was thought efficacious for some particular 

 complaint ; but as Linnams tells us that he has 

 known children lose their lives by an overdose of 

 it, we shall forbear giving medical extracts, that 

 might mislead the ignorant : and as to the Faculty 

 of the present day, they need not our hints as to the 

 authors who have written on the properties of this 

 plant ; and were we to tell them that it was con- 

 sidered a cure for the plague, it might induce them 

 to reply, ** No wonder it is become the emblem of 

 folly!" 



VOL. II. 



