CHAP. IV. ORNAMENTAL ANNUALS. 301 



Crotalaria. 



RATTLEWORT. 



There are many species natives of this country, for the most 

 part weedy-looking plants, bearing yellow Lupin-like flowers. 



C. juncea. From which the common fibre called Sunis manu- 

 factured : is one of the prettiest, and when in bloom in the cold 

 weather much resembles the Broom of the English gardens. 



Clianthus. 



C. Dampieri. Native of Australia, a small shrub, with hoary 

 pale green pinnate foliage : bears large handsome scarlet and 

 black parrot-beak-formed flowers. It is very liable to die off if 

 much disturbed. Treated as an annual it has been found to succeed 

 admirably in India, and specimens of it in flower are now usually 

 exhibited at the Calcutta shows. Dr. Beaumont of Indore says : 



" In October or November it should be sown in an open border 

 freely exposed to the sun, and if not transplanted or interfered with, 

 flowers freely and to a certainty. The roots are so fine and easily 

 broken, that to transplant is to kill the seedlings." 



Lathyrus. 



1. L. odoratus SWEET PEA. In the Upper Provinces the 

 Sweet Pea, raised from imported seed, blossoms freely ; but in 

 the vicinity of Calcutta, though the plants continue to flourish 

 vigorously till the approach of the Hot season, they die off then, 

 without having produced a single blossom. This I have expe- 

 rienced again and again. In the latter locality, therefore, none 

 but acclimated seed, when procurable, should be sown, as this 

 never fails of flowering abundantly. The seed should be sown 

 in October in the places in the border where the plants are to 

 blossom. Draw a circular drill with the forefinger about ten 

 inches in diameter, into which drop the seeds an inch apart. 

 When the plants are half a foot high, sticks must be stuck in 

 the ground for their support. A writer in the ' Gardeners' 

 Chronicle ' states : 



" There are several varieties of Sweet Peas : many years of ob- 

 servation has shown that the white-flowered Sweet-Peas seldom, 

 if ever, vary ; but that in proportion as the flower becomes darker 

 in colour so is the liability to vary greater." * 



* 'Gardeners' Chronicle,' No. 21, for 1860. 



