^ FLORA HISTORICA. 



to fill vacant spaces amongst shrubs, that require 

 a gay contrast, as their brilliancy of colour give 

 a great cheerfulness to such scenes. 



The choice varieties of this plant may be in- 

 creased and preserved, by slips, layers, or cut- 

 tings, which should be planted about Michaelmas, 

 in a soil neither too light or too heavy or stiff, 

 dunged ground should also be avoided for this 

 plant as it occasions it to rot. 



The Sweet- William is too formal a flower to 

 grace the alabaster or china vase, and its want 

 of perfume also unfits it for the saloon, yet it is 

 a favourite in country bough-pots, from the long 

 duration of its flowers, which continue to give 

 fresh blossoms in the water, and which being 

 generally of a paler colour than those which had 

 expanded in the open air, the umbel becomes a 

 mottled mass of variegated petals. 



