736 



J AS 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



J AS 



MX or eight weeks after sowing, the plants will appear above 

 srround, at which time it will be necessary to remove the pots 

 into another fresh hot-bed, of a moderate temperature, in order 

 to bring the plants forward ; water them as often as is neces- 

 sary, and in the great heat of the day the glasses should be 

 tilted pretty high, and shaded with mats, to prevent the 

 plants from being scorched with beat. About the middle 

 of May begin to harden them to the open air, by taking off 

 the glasses when the weather is warm : but this must be 

 cautiously done, for exposing them at first to a very hot sun 

 would greatly injure them. The glasses should be taken off 

 first in warm cloudy weather, or during gentle showers, and 

 so gradually inure them to bear the sun. In June take the 

 pots out of the hot-bed, and remove them to some well shel- 

 tered situation ; where they may remain until the beginning 

 of October; at which time they must be carried into the 

 green-house, observing to place them where they may enjoy 

 as much free air as possible when the windows are opened, 

 as well as stand clear from the branches of other plants. 

 During winter they will often require watering sparingly; 

 and in March should be each removed into a separate pot, 

 observing not to take the earth from their roots. If they be 

 then plunged into a fresh moderate hot-bed, it will greatly 

 facilitate their rooting again : when rooted they must have 

 plenty of air; for if too much drawn, they will become weak 

 in their stems, and incapable of supporting their heads, which 

 is a great defect in these trees. In the middle of May re- 

 move them into the open air, to harden; observing, as before 

 directed, to place them in a situation that is defended from 

 strong winds. In winter, house them as before, and con- 

 tinue the same care, with which they will thrive very fast, 

 and annually produce great quantities of flowers. They arc 

 pretty hardy, and only require to be protected from hard 

 frosts in winter : and as they are much hardier than the 

 Spanish, would probably live in the open air if planted 

 against a warm wall ; but there is this difference between the 

 two plants, that these have large, thick, evergreen leaves, so 

 that if they were covered with mats, as is directed for the 

 Spanish Jasmine, the leaves would rot and decay the shoots, 

 but as these will only require to be covered in extreme frost, 

 it their roots are well mulched, and a mat or two hung over 

 them in ordinary frosts, it will be sufficient; and these mats 

 being either rolled up or taken quite off in the day, there 

 will be no great danger of their being hurt. In the spring 

 they should be pruned, and have all their decayed branches 

 removed ; but none of the other branches must be shortened, 

 as is directed for the Spanish sort, for the flowers of this 

 kind are produced only at the extremity of the branches ; 

 hence if the branches be shortened, the flowers will be cut 

 off, and as the branches are of a more ligneous substance 

 than the other, they will not produce shoots strong enough 

 to flower the same year. To propagate this plant from 

 layers, lay down the shoots in March, and if you give them 

 11 little cut at the joint, as is practised in laying Carnations, 

 it will promote their rooting, observing to refresh often with 

 water when the weather is dry; and the plants will be rooted 

 by the succeeding spring, fit to be transplanted; when they 

 must be placed in pots filled with light earth, and managed 

 as was before directed for the seedlings. This sort is fre- 

 quently propagated by inarching the young shoots into 

 stocks of the Common Yellow Jasmine, but the plants so 

 raited do not grow so strong as those which are upon their 

 own stock; besides, the Common Yellow Jasmine is very 

 apt to send out a great number of suckers from the root, 

 which renders the plants miM-luly, and, if not taken off as 

 fast as t'ley are produced, will rob them of their nourishmect. 



13. Jasminum Officinale; Common White Jasmine. Leaves 

 opposite, pinnate; leaflets acuminate; buds almost upright. 

 Stem shrubby, weak, climbing, round, smooth, branching; 

 leaflets usually seven, broad-lanceolate, quite entire, smooth, 

 dark green, the end one larger and more pointed than the 

 rest; peduncles few-flowered; corolla white, odorous : they 

 arc the only part of the plant used in medicine. An infusion 

 of five or six ounces of them picked clean from the leaves, in 

 a quart of boiling water, being strained off and boiled into 

 a syrup, with the addition of a sufficient quantity of honey, 

 is an excellent medicine in coughs, hoarsenesses, and other 

 disorders of the breast. There is also an oil, or, as it is 

 commonly called, an essence, prepared from these flowers, 

 which is used in perfumes, but seldom applied to any medi- 

 cal purposes. We are not certain as to the native country 

 of our Common White Jasmine : though it has been long 

 inured to our clime, so as to thrive and flower extremely 

 well, yet it never produces any fruit in England : it is pro- 

 bably a native of the East Indies. The name Jasmine, has 

 been corrupted into Jessamine, Gelsemine, Jcssmia, Jessamy, 

 an.d Gesse. The Germans call it Jasmin, Jesmin, Schasmin, 

 Schelsemine, Violreben; the Dutch, Jasmin; the Swedish, 

 Danish, and French, Jasmin; the Italians, Gelsomino; the 

 Spaniards, Jazmin ; the Portuguese, Jasmim, Jesmim, Jasmi- 

 neiro; and the Arabians, Jasmin, Kajan. This is easily pro- 

 pagated by laying down the branches, which will take root 

 in one year, and may then be cut from the old plant, and let 

 where they are intended to remain. It may also be propa- 

 gated by cuttings, which should be planted early in autumn, 

 and in severe winters the surface of the ground between 

 them should be covered with tan, sea-coal ashes, or saw- 

 dust, which will prevent the frost from penetrating deep into 

 the ground, and preserve the cuttings: or pease-haulm, or 

 other light covering, should be laid over them, where the for- 

 mer cannot be procured; but these coverings must be remov- 

 ed when the weather is mild, as they will keep off the air, and 

 occasion damps, which often destroy them. When these 

 plants "are removed, they should be planted where they are 

 designed to be continued, which should be either against 

 some wall, pale, or other fence, where the flexible branches 

 may be supported ; for although it is sometimes planted as 

 a standard, and formed into a head, yet it will be very dif- 

 ficult to keep it in any handsome order; or if you do, you 

 must cut oflT all the flowering branches, for the flowers are 

 always produced at the extremity of the same year's shoots, 

 which, if shortened before the flowers are blown, will en- 

 tirely deprive the trees of flowers. They should be permit- 

 ted to grow rude in the summer, for the reason before given : 

 nor should you prune or nail them until the latter end of 

 March, when the frosty weather is past, for if the frost 

 should set in after their rude branches are pruned off, and 

 the stronger ones be exposed to it, they will hardly escape 

 being killed: but on the other hand, as this plant is very 

 backward in shooting, there will be no danger of injuring it by 

 late pruning. There are two varieties with varegated leaves, 

 one with white, and the other with yellow stripes, but the 

 latter is the most common : these are propagated by bud- 

 ding them on the plain Jasmine ; and it often happens that 

 the buds do not take, but yet communicate their gilded 

 miasma to the plants, so that in a short time after, many of 

 the branches, both above and below the places where the 

 buds have been inserted, have been thoroughly tinctured ; 

 and in the following year, very distant branches, which had 

 no other communication with those which were budded than 

 by the root, have been as completely tinged as any of the 

 I nearer branches, so that the juices must have descended 



