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put in pots. Moist weather is the most suit- 

 able tor this business, but in other circum- 

 stances a Jit tic water should be given immedi- 

 ately after the earth has been closed round their 

 roo'.s, as well as in future when it may be ne- 

 cessary. 



But when the sowing is not made at an early 

 period, the best practice is to let it be done in 

 the situations where the plants are to grow, 

 which should be rather warm and dry7 the 

 mould being made fine by a rake in the spots 

 where they are to he put in, as in this way 

 their growth is less checked than when trans- 

 planted. 



In either method of sowing, care should be 

 taken that the seed he only covered in a very light 

 manner, and that the mould be made very fine. 



The only further culture which they require, 

 is that of keeping the plants perfectly free from 

 weeds, and well supported in the time of 

 flowering. 



The whole of the hardy American sorts as 

 well as the Italian species may be readily in- 

 creased by parting the roots. In the former 

 it is best performed in the autumn, the parted 

 roots being immediately planted out in the 

 places where they are designed to flower. 



The latter or Italian sort should have the 

 roots parted and replanted as soon as the flowers 

 begin to decline, as, when the business is de- 

 ferred till late in the autumn or the spring, the 

 plants neither grow so strong nor flower so com- 

 pletely. The roots in this kind should not be 

 taken up oftener than once in three or four years, 

 where a full display of flowers is the principal 

 object. 



This sort has not been so much attended to 

 since the introduction of the American species; 

 but from the plants creeping less by the roots, 

 and requiring less support in the stems, they 

 are equally deserving of regard for the purpose 

 of cultivation. 



As this sort is not, however, capable of in- 

 creasing fast by dividing the roots, it may be 

 readily multiplied by planting cuttings from the 

 young shoots in the later spring months, in situ- 

 ations where the mould is light and fine, being 

 well shaded from the effects of the sun till they 

 are perfectly established in the soil. 



The last or shrubby sort must be propagated 

 by setting the cuttings of the young shoots, 

 in pots of light earth, in the spring or sum- 

 mer months, which should be plunged in a 

 hot-bed to promote their striking root. They 

 may then be placed out in the open air during 

 the summer season, but in the autumn and win- 

 ter they require the protection of a green-house. 



The first sort, or China Asters, arc elegant 



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plants for the purpose of variety, in t! ■ inn 

 and common borders of gardens, or plea 

 grounds. In saving the seeds, they si 

 selected from the best coloured flowers of the 

 most perfect plants, in October, when they 

 are fully ripened, and he gathered when quite 

 dry. 



The perennial sorts have likewise a showy 

 appearance, in large clumps and borders, when 

 judiciously distributed among other hardy shrub'! 

 and herbaceous plants; some of the species 

 continuing to flower to a late period in the au- 

 tumnal season. 



The shrubbv kind affords variety among other 

 green-house plants, both in the summer and 

 winter season. 



ASTRAGALUS, a genus containing plants 

 of the herbaceous biennial, perennial, flowery, 

 and shrubby kinds. The Milk Vetch and 

 Goat's-thorn. 



It belongs to the class and order Diadelpkia 

 Drct/'irfri'i, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Papilionacece, or Luguminosce. 



The characters of which are: that the calyx 

 is a one-leafed, tubular, five-toothed, acute 

 perianth; lower toothlets gradually less. The 

 corolla is papilionaceous : the banner longer 

 than the other petals, reflex on the sides, emar- 

 ginate, obtuse, and straight : the wings oblong, 

 shorter than the banner : the keel the length of 

 the wings, and emarginate. The stamina 

 consist of diadelphous filaments, simple and 

 novemfid, almost straight: the anthers are 

 roundish: the pistillum is a germ nearly colum- 

 nar: the style subulate, and ascending: the stigma 

 obtuse : the pericarpium is a two-celled legume; 

 the cells bent to one side, having a longitu- 

 dinal bifid septum, parallel to the valves: the 

 seeds are kidney-shaped. 



The species cultivated for the purpose of or- 

 nament are: 1. A. ahpecuroides, Fox-tail Milk 

 Vetch: 2. A. Christ iamts, Great Oriental Yel- 

 low Milk Vetch; 3. A. galegiformis, Great 

 Oriental Hue-leaved Milk Vetch; 4. A. Traga- 

 cantha, Common Tragacanth Shrub or Goat's 

 Thorn. 



The first is biennial, and rises with an up- 

 right hairy stem about two feet high, having 

 long pinnate leaves, with eighteen or twentv 

 pairs of ovate leaflets: the flowers are produced 

 in large close obtuse spikes from the axillas; 

 their colour is yellow ; the legumes are shut up 

 in the woolly calyxes, and have two cells, con- 

 taining three or four square seeds in each. It 

 flowers in June or July, and is a native of Siberia. 



The second species is perennial, and has the 

 steins rising nearlv three feet in height, which are 

 large at bottom, and gradually diminish to the top 



