416 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



The Sun-flowers are hardy plants ; the perennial kinds 

 are increased by parting the roots into small heads: this 

 should be done in the middle of October, soon after the 

 flowers are past, or very early in the spring, that they may 

 be well rooted before the droughts come on. They will 

 require watering in dry weather, particularly when in pots. 



Several of the Sun-flowers are natives of Canada, where 

 they are much admired for their beauty, and cultivated, in 

 gardens, by the inhabitants : in the United States they 

 sow whole acres of land with them, for the purpose of 

 preparing oil from their seeds, of which they produce an 

 immense number. This oil is very pure, fit for salads, and 

 for all the purposes of Florence oil*. 



Thomson supports the popular notion that this flower 

 turns ever towards the sun : 



" Who can unpitying see the flowery race, 

 Shed by the morn, their new-flushed bloom resign 

 Before the parching beam ? So fade the fair, 

 When fevers revel through their azure veins. 

 But one, the lofty follower of the sun, 

 Sad when he sets, shuts up her yellow leaves, 

 Drooping all night, and, when he warm returns, 

 Points her enamoured bosom to his ray." 



Mr. T. Moore has taken advantage of the same idea, in 

 the words of one of his Irish Melodies : 



" As the sun-flower turns to her god when he sets 

 The same look which she turned when he rose." 



" The flower enamoured of the sun, 

 At his departure hangs her head and weeps, 

 And shrouds her sweetness up, and keeps 

 Sad vigils, like a melancholy nun ; 

 Till his reviving ray appears, 

 Waking her beauty as it dries her tears." 



Clare gives a natural picture of the Sun-flower in the 

 following description of the floral ornaments of a rustic 

 cottage : 



* See Lambert's Travels hi Canada, &c. 



