LUPINE. 231 



their leaves are by no means destitute of beauty, growing 

 in a kind of starry form, and, in most of the species, being 

 of a downy velvet softness. The flowers are blue, white, 

 rose-coloured, pale or deep yellow. 



The Blue Lupines have usually more flowers ; but the 

 Common Yellow Lupine is often preferred for its sweet 

 scent. The flowers of this Lupine are of very short 

 duration, especially if the season be warm ; therefore, to 

 have a succession of them, the seed should be sown at 

 several times ; for they will continue to flower until checked 

 by frost ; and those which blow in the autumn will last 

 longer than the earlier ones. 



Lupines may be sown from the beginning of February 

 to the end of June : they may be sown six or seven in a 

 pot of as many inches diameter. Towards the end of 

 June they will begin to flower. It is safer to keep such 

 as are sown in February, in the house, until the frosts are 

 securely over ; but this precaution will not be necessary if 

 the season be mild. They should be watered three times 

 a week in the spring ; but, as the weather becomes warmer, 

 they may, when there is no rain, be watered every evening. 

 About sun-set the leaves will droop as if dying, in the 

 same manner as those of the balsam. This must not be 

 mistaken for a want of water, as with the hydrangea : 

 they will again display their starry foliage in the morn- 

 ing sun. 



" Virgil calls Lupines tristes lupini" says Mr. Martyn, 

 " because their bitterness contracts the muscles, and gives 

 a sorrowful appearance to the countenance." One might 

 rather have suspected it to have been from the drooping 

 of the leaves, since the poets have always taken advantage 

 of these peculiarities in flowers, to make them expressive 

 of a sentiment, imputing a conscious timidity to the violet ; 

 and even the cowslip has, from its gentle drooping, been 

 called in by Milton as a mourner for Lycidas. The in- 



