Chap. 41.'1 PLANTS SOWir rOE BEES. 339 



capervinca,^^ it is an evergreen, the branches from which run 

 out like so many strings, the leaves surrounding the stem at 

 each of the knots : though more generally used for the pur- 

 poses of ornamental gardening, it is sometimes employed in 

 chaplets when there is a deficiency of other ilowers. Prom the 

 Greeks this plant has received the name of " chamsedaphne." 



CHAP. 40. — THE DrUATION OF LIFE IX THE VAEIOUS KINDS OF 

 FLOWEES. 



At the very utmost, the white^ violet never lasts longer 

 than three years : should it exceed tliat period, it is sure to 

 degenerate. The rose-tree will last so long as five years with- 

 out being pruned or cauterized,^ methods by which it is made 

 to grow young again. "\Ve liave already stated^^ that the na- 

 ture of the soil is of the very greatest importance ; for in 

 Egypt, we find, all these plants are perfectly inodorous, and 

 it is only the myrtle that has any particular smell. In some 

 countries, too, the germination of all the plants precedes that 

 in other parts of the world by so long a period as two months 

 even. The rose-beds should be well spaded immediately after 

 the west winds begin to prevail, and, a second time, at the 

 summer solstice : every care, however, should be paid, between 

 these two periods, to keeping the ground well raked and 

 cleaned. 



CHAP. 41. (12.) — PLANTS WHICH SHOULD BE SOWN A2I0NG 

 FLOWEES FOE BEES. THE CEEIXTHA. 



Bees and beehives, too, are a subject extremely well suited 

 to a description of gardens and garland plants, while, at the 

 same time, where they are successfully managed, they are a 

 source, without any great outlay, of very considerable profit. 

 For bees, then, the following plants should be grown — thyme, 

 apiastrum, the rose, the various violets, the lily, the cytisus, 

 the bean, the fitch, cunila, the poppy, conyza,^' cassia, the me- 



6i Linnaeus and other authorities identify this with the Clematis of 

 Dioscorides, theVinca major and minor of modern botany, our periwinkle. 

 Fee, however, is inclined to identify it with the Chamaedaphue, or ground- 

 laurel of B. xv. c. 39, the Rusciis racemosus of Linnaeus. 



61 See c. 38 of this Book. 



6^ This method of cultivation, also mentioned by Theophrastus, is never 

 employed in modern horticulture. 



^ lu c. 10 of this Book. 67 gee B. xix. c. 50. 



Z 2 



