192 FLOR.V IIISTORICA. 



assisted to produce. AVe have before noticed that 

 to secure the Balsam in a double state, the seed 

 should be kept for some years before it is sown. 



The common Corn Poppy, where it abounds, 

 denotes a light and shallow soil, and it is singular 

 that when such land is broken or ploughed up in 

 the spring, when there can be no Poppies to scatter 

 their seed, and although it be where none have ever 

 been seen, yet it is a great chance that such land 

 shall not be covered with these plants during the 

 summer. We have frequently observed this phe- 

 nomenon on the South Downs of Sussex, when 

 lands have been first broken up ; and even in situa- 

 tions distant from other corn-lands, we have seen 

 the plains glow with the red petals of the Wild 

 Poppy. 



The ancients thought the Rhooas, Corn-Rose, so 

 necessary for the prosperity of their corn, that the 

 seeds of this Poppy were offered up in the sacred 

 rites of Ceres, whose garland was formed with 

 barley or bearded wheat interwoven with Poppies. 

 An antique statue of this goddess, at the Louvre, 

 at Paris, (No. 235,) represents Ceres as holding 

 Poppies in her hand mixed with corn, as well as 

 having them braided in her hair. And in the same 

 collection, (No. 593,) Sabina holds a cornucopia 

 filled with Pomegranates, Grapes, and Poppy- 



