AUGUST. 169 



inl? made from the juice of this plant, without 

 having first taken the precaution of fixing it 

 witli alum. The epistle from the far country 

 reached its destination, but the ink had faded, 

 and the writing become illegible ; and the 

 friend who had anxiously longed for the intel- 

 ligence which it was to convey, had to wait 

 some months before a more permanent liquid 

 should record the good news, which the Scrip- 

 ture has described as in its effects like cold 

 water to a thirsty soul. 



The tribe of rudbeckia are annuals of great 

 beauty, but their large size excludes them from 

 the smaller gardens. This is exclusively a 

 North American genus. They have all starry 

 blossoms, and are yellow or purple. The pur- 

 ple rudbeckia, {Rudbeckia purpurea,) which was 

 known to our gardeners as early as 1G99, and 

 is very hardy, is a singular looking flower. 

 Phillips observes of it, that its petals being 

 pendulous, and curling inwards, have the ap- 

 pearance of so many pieces of narrow ribbon, 

 notched at the end. The colour of this flower 

 is of a purplish crimson. One or two of the 

 species are fragrant. This genus was named in 

 honour of Rudbeck, an enthusiastic botanist of 

 Sweden, who, having just completed a work 

 entitled " The Elysian Fields," was so distressed 

 at witnessing the destruction by fire of this 

 cherished production of his mind, that lie died 

 of grief, in 1702. During his last days, how- 

 ever, his son laboured diligently to re-write 

 this woik, and it was published in the course 



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