248 



years' experience, I have found to produce flowers accord- 

 ing to the label. The very double varieties produce seed 

 very sparingly ; sometimes, from a large plant, hardly a 

 single capsule with perfect seed can bo gathered. The 

 seed of the Balsam will germinate when four or five years 

 old, and perhaps when much older. Gardeners prefer old 

 seed, believing that more double flowers can be raised 

 from it. To have fine plants, the seed should be sown in 

 the hot-bed in March. As soon as the plants are furnished 

 with two to four leaves, they should be transplanted into 

 small pots ; and, if there is a good bottom heat, they will 

 soon fill the pots with roots, when they should be shifted 

 into those a size larger, and thus shifted from time to time 

 into larger pots. By the first of June, they will generally 

 begin to show the character of their flowers ; the best be- 

 ing selected, they should be planted out in rich garden 

 soil, in beds, or in the border, at least two feet apart. If 

 the soil is rich and rather moist, the plants will attain a 

 monstrous size, flowering from the middle of June to the 

 middle of September. The Balsam is a general favorite 

 for the number, beauty, and sweetness of its flowers, and 

 the uprightness and transparency of its stem : 



"Balsam, with its shaft of amber" 



says the poet. 



The Balsam is a native of the East. The Japanese are 

 said to use the juice prepared with alum to dye their nails 

 red. By cultivation this beautiful flower has been much 

 enlarged, and the numerous varieties have been produced, 

 which form a striking contrast with the very inferior 

 single ones formerly seen in our gardens. 



Mr. Martyn, in his edition of Miller's Dictionary, speaks 

 of having seen one, " the stem of which was seven inches 

 in circumference, and all the parts large in proportion, 

 branched from top to bottom, loaded with its party-col- 



