4 FLORA DOMEST1CA. 



after the flower decays. They should be planted about 

 two inches deep in the earth. 



Rapin, in his poem on gardens, speaks of the Asphodel 

 as an article of food : 



" And rising Asphodel forsakes her bed, 

 On whose sweet root our rustic fathers fed." 



GARDINER'S TRANSLATION. 



It is mentioned by Milton as forming part of the nuptial 

 couch of Adam and Eve in Paradise : 



" flowers were the couch, 



Pansies, and violets, and asphodel, 



And hyacinth, earth's freshest, softest lap." 



It was formerly the custom to plant Asphodel and 

 mallow around the tombs of the deceased. St. Pierre, 

 after dwelling with some earnestness on the propriety of 

 such customs, quotes the following inscription, engraven 

 on an ancient tomb : 



. <e Au-dehors je suis entoure de mauve et d'asphodele, et au-dedans 

 je ne suis qu'un cadavre." 



The fine flowers of the Asphodel produce grains, which, 

 according to the belief of the ancients, afforded nourish- 

 ment to the dead. Homer tells us, that having crossed 

 the Styx, the shades passed over a long plain of Aspho- 

 del*. It is singular that this plant should flourish so 

 abundantly both in Eden and in Tartarus. The latter 

 might have been supposed too warm a climate. A poet of 

 the present day informs us, upon grave authority, that the 

 spirits of the martyrs lodged in the crops of green birds 

 have their dwelling 



" In Eden's radiant fields of asphodel." 



Orpheus, in Pope's Ode on St. Cecilia's day, conjures the 

 infernal deities 



* See St. Pierre's Harmonies de la Nature. 



