84 GLEANINGS FROM OID AUTHORS. 



" We sow the Sun-flowers of the great sort, but those we call 

 hardy are multiplied by their roots, by slitting of the tufts that 

 produce these plants, and of which they always have a quantity 

 sufficient to store us. 



" This plant being of two sorts, take notice, that the first sort of 

 'em is that which grows extreamly high, and that produces but 

 one stalk ; and that the second is that which is lower ; that shoots 

 many more stalks, and that are much fuller of branches. 



" The first of them is almost laid aside at present ; and if there 

 be any in our gardens, it is generally in a by-place, or at the ends 

 of some borders ; for they would look very ill planted in borders, 

 and would do harm to the flowers that grow near 'em. 



" In regard to the second, you must by no means plant it in 

 any part of your garden : for if the first grows too high, this spreads 

 too much on all sides, and consequently is apt to stifle many 

 flowers that grow round it. The places most proper for them, are 

 great walks, set all along with trees : between which, if we plant 

 these Sun-flowers according to art, and at the distance of at least 

 three foot from one another, they will then look very graceful^'. 



" We may likewise place 'em in the middle of the little knots 

 of parterres, but in company with no other flower : supposing 

 always that in this, as well as in all the other works and contri- 

 vances relating to gardening, we observe a symmetry, that never 

 fails to give pleasure to the sight. 



" Sun-flowers arc contented in all sorts of earths ; good or bad, 

 they know no difference ; and when their roots are slit for increase, 

 they must be put three inches deep in the earth. 



" When the Sun-flowers of the second sort are grown to a mid- 

 dling height, before they have attain'd their full growth we clip 

 with gardning-shears all the branches that grow too much out- 

 ward, that shoot too far from the main stalk, or that mount too 

 high. The discretion of the workman must guide his hand in 

 taking more or less away, and in giving it the figure that agrees 

 / best with it; which is, in a manner, that of a round bush. The 

 gardner need not give himself much trouble about the culture of 

 this plant ; for without his assistance, Nature alone cultivates it so 

 well, that it produces its flowers in perfection. 



" Sun-flowers, as I have said already, are of two sorts ; one of 

 which shoots out a stalk of at least five or six foot high, very strait 



