1282 



AUBOUmUM AND FIIUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



apart every way. All the culture which is required afterwards is, keeping the 

 soil free from weeds. In a few years the plants will have grown sufficiently to 

 touch each other ; and in this state they will remain from fifteen to twenty 

 •years, according to the nature of the soil: they are tiien taken up, and the 

 ground cropped for two or three years with turnips and other field crops; 

 alter which the lavender plantation is renewed. The flowers are obliged to 

 be either sold to a rcgularl^^- licensed distiller, or 

 distilled on the premises, on account of the excise 

 laws. The oil from the plantation here is said to 

 be of the best quality ; doubtless from the cal- 

 careous nature of the soil." (Gard. Mag., ix. 

 p. 601.) Miss Kent, in her Flora Domcstica, 

 mentions that the stalks of lavender, when 

 stripped of their flowers, form an agreeable sub- 

 stitute for pantiles, and burn very well in the 

 little vessels made for burning jiastiles in. (p. 219.) 

 The poets have not quite neglected the lavender. 

 Shenstone, in his Schoolmistress, says, — 



" And lavender, whose spikes of azure bloom 



Shall be erewhile in arid bundles bound, 



To lurk amidst her labours of the loom, ^^ 



And crown her kerchiefs clean with mickle rare perfume. 



«. A' ri/)ws gravL'o/ens 'Link, and A. rolumUfoUu '^^^^^ 



Pers., the former a native of the Crimea, and the -^^ ^ • i • u 



latter of Spain, are small thyme-like shrubs, seldom exceeding 1 ft. in height, 

 which might be placed on rockwork. , 



Gardoqum Ho6kcri Benth., Swt. Brit. FL Gard., 2. s. t. 271., is a small 

 upright-branched shrub, with obovate pointed leaves; a native of boutli 

 Carolina, where it was discovered by Mr. 

 Alexander Gordon, a collector sent out 

 by Mr, Charlvvood, and was introduced in 

 1831. It is a delicate, but showy, little 

 shrub, with brilliant scarlet flowers, and in 

 all probability is half-hardy. 



IVtstringia xosmarinifirmis Sm., Bot. Rep., 

 t. 21-i., is a native of New South Wales; 

 introduced in 1791, and producing its pale 

 blue flowers from May till August. It is a 

 very eligible shrub for a conservative wall, 

 from the rosemary-like character of its ever- 

 green foliage. In the conservatory of the 

 Cambridge Botanic Garden, it is 9 ft. high 

 in a pot, and will doubtless grow much higher^ 

 when trained against a wall. 



B. S«/wa officimdis L., N. Du Ham., 6. t. 25., 

 and our/g.l l-il., is a well-known suffiuticose 

 plant, which, though seldom seen above 2 ft. 

 in height, ^et, in deep sandy soil, will grow to 

 the height of 5 ft. or G ft., and produce a 

 stem as thick as a man's leg. We have seen 

 plants of this size in Donald's Nursery, at 

 Goldsworth, in Surrey; and we have seen 

 hedges of sage on chalky soils, between .3 ft. 

 and + ft. high. It is a native of the south of Europe, and has been known 

 in British gardens from time immemorial, and when grown in masses, and 

 abounding in racemes of flowers, it is very ornamental. The virtues of sage 

 have been celebrated from time immemorial. The Latin name of the plant,Salvia, 

 is derived from salvcre, to heal ; and one of the Latin poets asks, "Why should 

 a man die who has sage in his garden ?" According to Gerard, " No man needs 



