A FLORAL DIAL. 217 



It opens generally at about six or seven o'clock in the 

 evening. 



And this statement induces me to digress. Where can I 

 better introduce to the reader's notice a Floral Dial? It is 

 not so complete as it might be made if I had space to enlarge 

 upon the subject. My object, however, is simply to suggest ; 

 and this brief allusion to the hours at which flowers fold and 

 unfold may induce the reader to study in more detail a 

 very pleasant branch of botanical science. He will find full 

 particulars in Mr Loudon's excellent " Encyclopaedia of 

 Gardening." 



It is generally stated that the first Floral Dial, or clock, 

 which showed the time by the opening or shutting up of 

 blossoms throughout the day, was a fancy or invention of the 

 great Swedish naturalist, Linnaeus. But there is a distinct 

 allusion to this poetical measurement of the " fleeting hours " 

 in Marvell's poem on " The Garden : " 



" How well the skilful gardener drew 

 By flowers and herbs this dial new I 

 Where, from above, the milder sun 

 Does through a fragrant zodiac run ; 

 And, as it works, the industrious bee 

 Computes its time as well as we. 

 How could such sweet and wholesome hours 

 Be reckoned but with herbs and flowers?" 



ether the idea first occurred to Englishman or Swede, 

 poet or botanist, matters but little j it is a graceful, a sugges- 

 tive, a beautiful idea, and might well be reproduced in some 

 of our large public gardens. 



