92 FLO WERSAND FRUITS. 



spread and multiply rapidly, but the plants give very few flowers 

 and like most other creeping, rooted, plants, it seldom produces 

 seed when it can propagate itself" so readily by the nature of its 

 roots. From this economy of nature an observing gardener will 

 be taught to transplant many kinds of his fruit trees into poorer 

 soil, when the richness of the earth forces the tree too rapidly to 

 form its fruit. The autumn is the proper season for placing these 

 perennial roots in the ground, where they should be covered with 

 about two inches of earth, and not be disturbed oftener than every 

 third or fourth year, as they seldom flower strong or plentifully 

 after being removed. The plants will require no other attention 

 than that of keeping them free from weeds, and trimming the roots 

 about once in three or four years, according to the nature of the 

 soil and increase of the plants. The Lily of the Valley, is one of 

 the few flowers that bears forcing in pots, and as but few plants 

 are more agreeable for the house in the months of March and 

 April, it should never be omitted wherever there is an opportunity 

 of doing it. The flowers possess not only an agreeable odor, but 

 also a fragrance that is refreshing and highly medicinal against 

 certain affections and many diseases of the head. The water 

 distilled from these little corollas was formerly in such great repute, 

 that it was kept only in vessels of gold and silver, and was called 

 AQUA AUREA, golden water. It is common in Germany to make 

 a wine of the flowers, by drying them in the summer, and in the 

 time of vintage mixing them with the grapes when pressed, and 

 when fermented they use this wine in various diseases. Amongst 

 the varieties is the white with double flowers, the single and double 

 red, and a sort with larger corollas / variegated with purple. It is 

 made the emblem of a RETURN OF HAPPINESS, because it 

 announces, by its elegance and odor, the happy season of the year. 



