SWEET HERBS. 



492 



SYRINGA. 



built wholly of flint or stone, and fitted up 

 accordingly. 



Of garden seats the variety is infinite. 

 In the wilder portions of the plantations 

 and shrubberies the more simple and rustic 

 these seats are the better. The stump of a 

 tree or the stem placed lengthways may be 

 fitted up for the purpose. Seats shaped like 

 large mushrooms placed here and there 

 under trees are not only very comfortable, 

 but they have the great advantage, from 

 their peculiar shape, of always being dry. 

 Of late years cast-iron garden furniture has 

 been introduced, and very good imitations 

 of oak chairs and tables are made in this 

 material ; but preference should be given 

 to wood. The price, however, of this cast- 

 iron furniture is so moderate that many 

 persons may be inclined to adopt it, 

 especially as it is so durable that, unless 

 broken by a sudden brow or fall, it will 

 last for ever. For gardens and pleasure 

 grounds near the house, what is called the 

 Leicester garden seat is well adapted. It 

 is a combination of wood and wrought 

 iron, and forms by no means an uncomfort- 

 able seat. It is light, and being fitted with 

 bolts and nuts, it can readily be taken to 

 pieces and put away during the winter. 

 The garden seats and chairs made by Bar- 

 nard and Bishop, of the Norwich Iron 

 Works, are excellent, not only as regards 

 make, but also for design. These chairs 

 have frameworks of wrought iron, and 

 seats of a chain or network of galvanised 

 wire. They are very elastic, and almost as 

 comfortable and soft as a stuffed cushion. 

 They are made of various shapes and sizes, 

 and the single chairs can be folded up, and 

 are so light that a child can carry them. 



Sweet Herbs. Set Herb Garden. 



Sweetwilliam (not. or<i. Caryophy- 



la'cese). 

 The Sweetwilliam, or Dianthus Barba- 



tus and its varieties, is a hardy perennial, 

 a splendid free-flowering garden favourite, 

 producing an unusually fine effect in flower 

 beds, borders, and shrubberies. Amongst 

 these the varieties known as auricula- 

 flowered are remarkable for their rich, 

 varied, and beautiful colours and immense 

 heads of bloom, which surpass in effect 

 even the handsomest of the perennial 

 phloxes. They thrive in any good garden 

 soil, and are propagated by seeds or by off- 

 sets and layers from the parent plant. 



Syringa (nat. ord. Olea'cese). 



The name of a genus numbering about 

 ten or a dozen species of hardy deciduous 

 shrubs, better known under the name of 

 " Lilac," which is commonly applied to 



SWEETWILLIAM. 



them. Lilacs bear highly fragrant spikes of 

 blossom, generally pale bluish-purple, of a 

 lighter or darker shade, or white. They are 

 well known as the sweetest and prettiest of 

 the flowering shrubs that adorn the garden 

 in spring. They thrive in any fairly good 

 soil, and are propagated by suckers chiefly. 

 Special-named varieties are kept true to 

 sort by crown or cleft-grafting done in 

 March. Syringa vulgaris, with red, blue, 

 or white flowers, is the Common Lilac of 

 our shrubberies and borders. There are 

 many varieties, of which Charles XII. is 

 darkest in colour. The white varieties are 

 attributed to an absence of colour caused 

 by blanching when undergoing the process 

 of forcing for early blooms. 



