358 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



should be done in the middle of October, soon after the 

 flowers are past, or very early in the spring, that they may 

 be well rooted before the droughts come on. They will 

 require watering in dry weather, particularly when in pots. 



Several of the Sun-flowers are natives of Canada, where 

 they are much admired and cultivated by the inhabitants, 

 in gardens, for their beauty : in the United States they 

 sow whole acres of land with them, for the purpose of 

 preparing oil from their seeds, of which they produce 

 an immense number. This oil is very pure, fit for salads, 

 and for all the purposes of Florence oil*. 



Thomson supports the popular notion that this flower 

 turns ever towards the sun : 



" Who can unpitying see the flowery race, 

 Shed by the morn, their new-flushed bloom resign, 

 Before the parching beam ? So fade the fair, 

 When fevers revel through their azure veins. 

 But one, the lofty follower of the sun, 

 Sad when he sets, shuts up her yellow leaves, 

 Drooping all night, and, when he warm returns, 

 Points her enamoured bosom to his ray." 



Mr. T. Moore has taken advantage of the same idea, in 

 the words of one of his Irish Melodies : 



" As the sun-flower turns to her god when he sets 

 The same look which she turned when he rose." 



Clare gives a natural picture of the Sun-flower in the 

 following description of the floral ornaments of a rustic 

 cottage : 



" Where rustic taste at leisure trimly weaves 

 The rose and straggling woodbine to the eaves, 

 And on the crowded spot that pales enclose 

 The white and scarlet daisy rears in rows, 

 Training the trailing peas in bunches neat, 

 Perfuming evening with a luscious sweet, 



* See Lambert's Travels in Canada, &c. 



