QN THE LOVE OF FLOWERS. 269 



very mucli neglected. Tournefort remarks, that the Turks take little 

 care of their gardens in general, bestowing their attention almost entirely 

 upon their melons and cucumbers. 



Wilson describes the desolate appearance even of a cottage garden 

 entirely neglected : . 



-" O'er the green, 



Once smooth before the porch, rank weeds are seen, 



Choking the feebler flowers : with blossoms hoar, 



And verdant leaves, the unprimed eglantine 



In wanton beauty foldeth up the door. 



And through the clustering roses that entwine 



The lattice window, neat and trim, before. 



The setting sun's slant beams no longer shine. 



The hive stands on the ivied tree. 



But murmurs not one single bee. 



Frail looks the osier seat, and gray, 



None hath sate there for many a day ; 



And the dial, hid in weeds and flowers. 



Hath told, by none beheld, the solitary hours." 



To an attentive observer of their habits, flowers may be made to 

 answer the purposes of the clock, the calendar, and tiie barometer. 

 Some persons have calculated, to a day, the time of the year when 

 certain trees resume their foliage in a given situation ; the same calcu- 

 lations may be made as to tlie blowing of flowers, and the hour of tlie 

 day is indicated by many. " Those who are but in a small degree ac- 

 quainted with botany," says Thunberg, "need not be told that, by the 

 opening and closing of flowers, one may frequently know with certainty, 

 as from a watch, what hour of the day it is, as well as if the weather 

 will be fine or rainy. Plants of this kind are common on the African 

 hills. The Moraa undulata never opens before nine in the morning ; 

 and before sunset, at four in the afternoon, it closes again. The Ixia 

 cinnamoneu opens every evening at four, and exhales its agreeable 

 odours during the whole night. The approach of rain is announced by 

 various bulbous plants, such as the Ixias, Morceas, Irises, and Galaxias; 

 tlie tender flowers of which do not open in the morning, if rain is to be 

 ex^jected soon ; and if a shower is to fall in the afternoon, they close 

 some time before." 



" The Hottentots," says the same author, " do not seem to have any 

 knowledge, neitlier do they take the least account of the course of 

 nature. The only thing tliey remark is, that every year they see the 

 bulbous plants push out of the ground, blossom, and decay ; and accord- 

 ing to this almanack they reckon their own ages." 



Nor is it only from the bulbous plants that we take these warnings 

 of weather, or learn the hour : the Marvel of Peru is called the Four- 

 o'clock-flower, from its opening regularly at that time. Many of the 

 species of Convolvulus and Campanula, also, have their stated hours of 

 rest ; and a variety of other plants too numerous to mention. It lias 

 been observed of a species of broom, that it may witli propriety be 

 termed an American clock, because it grows tliere in every pasture, 

 begins to display its yellow flowers every morning at eleven, is fully 

 open by one, and closes again at two. 



