JULY. 157 



evil." The African marigolds appear to have 

 been introduced into this country about the 

 year 1573. They Avere named from a Greek 

 word, principaUty, on account of their splendid 

 and regal appearance. Some of the double 

 varieties of the French marigold are very hand- 

 some. 



The variegated balsams, with their clear 

 succulent stems, and spikes of delicately-tinted 

 flowers, bloom in July. The balsam grows 

 wild in India, China, Japan, and the West 

 Indies, and is used in Cochin China by the 

 ladies, who make of its flowers an infusion, 

 with which to cleanse and perfume the hair. 

 The great attention paid by the females of the 

 east to personal decoration, renders this a 

 valued flower, for they tinge their nails with 

 the deep pink dye which its petals, when mixed 

 with alum -water, will furnish. The flowers are 

 white, red, or purple, or variegated and striped 

 with aU these hues. Several of the species 

 throw their seeds, with considerable force, from 

 the seed-vessels. 



Some very pretty grasses are admitted to the 

 parterre, and are now in flower. There is the 

 large quaking grass, or, as gardeners term it, 

 the hop grass, {Briza mcwima,) so like the 

 pretty tothering grass of our fields, that every 

 one may know it. If the hop-like cones are 

 Eucked, they are found to contain a sweet juice, 

 resembling that of the liquorice root. There 

 IS also the tall reed-grass, looking almost 

 like a bamboo, which tlie Itahans call garden 



