184 FLORA HISTORICA. 



the plant for succeeding years, as a single flower- 

 stem will produce a sufficient quantity of seed 

 for a large garden. 



The double varieties are increased by slips 

 taken from the roots in autumn, or by cutting off 

 the flower-stalks in June before the blossom ap- 

 pears. These stalks should be cut into lengths, 

 having three or four joints to each, and planted 

 in a border of soft loamy earth, with an eastern 

 aspect ; the stalks to be planted so as to leave but 

 one eye above the earth ; they should have mo- 

 derate watering, and then be covered with a 

 hand-glass, so as to exclude the outward air, and 

 shaded with mats when the sun falls hot upon 

 them. These stalks take root in about six weeks, 

 when they m.ay be exposed by degrees to the 

 open air, and in the autumn they may be re- 

 moved to the parterre, where they are to flower 

 the following summer. If too much water is 

 given to these plants, or if planted in too damp 

 a soil, they are liable to rot and decay ; and it 

 should be observed to give the double varieties 

 a warmer and more sheltered situation than the 

 single kinds, since they are more liable to be in- 

 jured by the frost. 



The Ragged Robin, Cuckoo Flower, or Mea- 

 dow Pink, Floscumli, is a native species of Lych- 

 nis, which has been taken from our meadows into 



