08 A GUIDE TO FLORICULTURE. 



uted to Germany ; although its having been found in a wild 

 state in some parts of England, is not sufficient proof, 

 as the seed may have been dropped by accident. There 

 are more grounds to suppose at this date that little is known 

 of its wild state, for the first notice to be traced of this 

 flower is that it was imported from Poland in 1597; even 

 in that country it cannot be traced ; Germany being the 

 nursery bed of so many beautiful flowers, I have no doubt 

 that country is the origin of it, from whence it found its 

 way to Poland, from thence to England. From the first 

 introduction, this plant established an unrivalled merit as a 

 first class flower, and may be considered one of the great- 

 est gifts for the flower garden, notwithstanding there are 

 many productions which nature has created for the enjoy- 

 ment of mankind ; their fragrance is a gratification unsur- 

 passed, to our senses ; the graceful appearance of the flow- 

 ers is all that is dignified, giving unlimited satisfaction to 

 the eye in their beautiful arrangement of colors which are 

 so diversified in their floral greatness. There are features 

 in this flower not enumerated in many others, whether we 

 consider it a garden plant that is in the bed or border, or 

 even the parlor, during the blooming season, from its long 

 duration in developing, and after the flower be fully ex- 

 panded, that impresses the beholder with a sense of its 

 magnitude. Yes! commissioned, as this flower is, to charm 

 the amateur with fragrance, grace, beauty, and all the attri- 

 butes appertaining to the choicest flower in cultivation, it 

 matters not so much whether this country or that has the 

 honor of its patronage, the florist must feel grateful, on re- 

 flection, that we really possess it. To propagate this beau- 

 tiful perennial from seed, is by no means a pleasing task ; 



