302 AN HOUR WITH THE HOLLYHOCK. 



flax. In the process of manufacture it was discovered that 

 the plant yields a fine blue dye, equal in beauty and 

 permanence to the best indigo." 



This historical notice will, perhaps, be thought suffi- 

 ciently extended, and we proceed to lay before our readers 

 a brief account of the culture of this flower. In passing, 

 we may, perhaps, be allowed to state our views of the 

 purposes to which the Hollyhock may be applied in 

 garden-decorating, and the positions it is best suited to 

 occupy. 



We do not remember that we were ever more struck 

 with the value of this flower for producing effect in garden 

 scenery than by the sight of a round clump planted among 

 groups of trees, shrubs, and dwarf-flowering plants, at 

 Haddo House, Aberdeenshire, a seat of the Earl of 

 Aberdeen. It was in October, and the foliage of the trees 

 was surpassingly beautiful, the leaves had assumed the 

 tints peculiar to that season, and, " touched by autumn, 

 seemed as they were blossoming hues of fire and gold/' 

 The flower-beds beneath were in dazzling glow, scattered 

 like so many separate pictures over the lawn, whose 

 verdant and smoothly-shaven surface grouped them in a 

 neat but agreeable frame. Beautiful as were these 

 features, viewed individually, we felt a want of continuity, 

 a sense of incompleteness, until the eye fell upon a group 

 of Hollyhocks, which, towering aloft, blended harmoniously 

 with trees' and flowers, producing a perfect w r hole. In this 

 instance various colours were placed in the same bed, 

 which was in good taste ; but we can conceive of circum- 

 stances in which several small clumps slightly dispersed, 

 each filled with a single colour, would be more striking 

 and equally effective. 



The Hollyhock is a capital plant for the borders of 

 plantations or shrubbery walks ; it forms a finer distant 

 object in such situations than the Dahlia, is less lumpish, 

 and continues blooming to a later period of the year. 

 Again, it may be planted to advantage in the background 



