SAGE. 423 



Green-leaved, and the most tender of all the sorts. It is 

 principally cultivated for its variegated foliage, the leaves 

 being striped, or variegated with white. 



Like the Gold-striped, it can only be propagated by slips, 

 or by dividing the roots, and must be well protected during 

 winter. 



SAGE. 



Salvia. 



Sage is a low-growing, hardy, evergreen shrub, originally 

 from the south of Europe. Stem from a foot and a half to 

 two feet high, the leaves varying in form and color in the 

 different species and varieties ; the flowers are produced in 

 spikes, and are white, blue, red, purple, or variegated ; the 

 seeds, of which seven thousand are contained in an ounce, 

 are round, of a blackish-brown color, and retain their power 

 of germination three years. 



Soil and Propagation. Sage thrives best in light, rich, 

 loamy soil. Though easily grown from slips, or cuttings, it 

 is, in this country, more generally propagated from seeds. 

 These may be sown on a gentle hot-bed in March, and the 

 plants set in the open ground in June, in rows eighteen inches 

 apart, and a foot asunder in the rows ; or the seeds may be 

 sown in April, where the plants are to remain, thinly, in 

 drills eighteen inches apart, and three fourths of an inch 

 deep. When the plants are two inches high, thin, them to a 

 foot apart in the rows, and, if needed, form fresh rows by 

 resetting the plants taken up in thinning. 



If grown from cuttings, those from the present year's 

 growth succeed best. These should be set in June. Cut 

 them four or five inches in length, remove the lower leaves, 

 and set them two thirds of their length in the earth. Water 

 freely, and shade or protect with hand-glasses. By the last 



