AVENA BARTONIA. 165 



year, produce early flowers ; but they come too early in bloom, 

 and are not so perfect as those coming into flower about the 

 first of September. 



My practice is to sow the seeds the last of May, in patches, 

 and transplant to a bed well prepared the last of June. The 

 plants should stand a foot apart ; but there being some uncer- 

 tainty as to the character of the flower, although the seed may 

 have been the very best, I put out two or three plants near 

 each other, and when they begin to flower, cut out those that 

 are inferior, and leave those only that are perfect. In this way 

 alone can the character of the flower be kept up. Otherwise, 

 they will soon degenerate into inferior flowers. 



AVENA. 



Avena steralis, or Animated Oat, is sometimes grown as 

 an object of curiosity, on account of its singular hygrometrical 

 properties. After the seeds have fallen off, their strong beard 

 is so sensible of alternation in the atmosphere as to keep them 

 in apparently spontaneous motion, when they resemble some 

 grotesque insect crawling upon the ground. 



BARTONIA. 



Bartonia aurea. Golden-flowered. A very pretty flow- 

 ering annual, the flower-stem rising a foot high. The plant 

 produces a profusion of showy flowers, of a fine golden-yellow 

 color. Each blossom is about two inches and a half across. 

 The plant is a native of California. It delights in a sheltered, 

 sunny situation, and it is to be grown in a rich soil, where it 

 will bloom profusely. The plant requires to be raised as a 

 frame annual, and to be planted in the border in May. 



