AMARANTH. 237 



in wicUh ; it was thick and full, and of a most 

 intense purplish red colour. 



In producing this singular plant, the first object 

 was to retard the protrusion of the flower-stalk, so 

 as to give it as much strength as possible. " The 

 compost emjiloyed was of the most nutritive and 

 stimulating kind, consisting of one part of unfer- 

 mented horse-dung, fresh from the stable, and with- 

 out Utter, one part of burnt turf, one part of de- 

 cayed leaves, and two parts of green turf, the latter 

 being in lumps of about an inch in diameter, in 

 order to keep the mass so hollow, that the water 

 might have free liberty to escape, and the air to 

 enter." 



The seeds were sown in spring, rather late, and 

 the plants put first into pots of four inches diameter, 

 and then transplanted to others a foot in diameter, 

 the object being not to compress the roots, as that 

 has a tendency to accelerate the flowering of all 

 vegetables. The plants were placed within a few 

 inches of the glass, in a heat of from 70^ to 100'' ; 

 they were watered with pigeon-dung water, and 

 due attention paid to remove the side branches 

 when very young, so as to produce one strong head 

 or flower. — Hort. Trans, iv. 322. 



There are varieties of the Cock''s C omb with heads 

 of an orange-yellow, bright-red, purple, and white; 



