OLD-FASHIONED FLOWERS 

 leaved Veronica in 1731. The Perennial Phlox is a little 

 older. The China Pink made her entrance into our gardens 

 about the year 171 3. The Garden Pink is of modern date. 

 The Flowering Purslane did not make her appearance till 

 1828; the Scarlet Sage till 1822. The Ageratum, now so 

 plentiful and so popular, is not two centuries old. The 

 Elichrysum, or Xeranthemum, is even younger. The Zinnia 

 is just a centenarian. The Scarlet Runner, a native of South 

 America, and the Sweet Pea, an immigrant from Sicily, num- 

 ber a little over two hundred years. The Chamomile, whom 

 we find in the least-known village, has been cultivated only 

 since 1699. The charming Blue Lobelia of our borders came 

 to us from the Cape of Good Hope at the time of the French 

 Revolution. The China Aster, or Reine Marguerite, is dated 

 1 73 1. The Annual or Drummond's Phlox, now so common, 

 was sent over from Texas in 1835. The Large-flowered La- 

 vatera, or Tree- Mallow, who looks so confirmed a native, so 

 simple a rustic, has blossomed in our northern gardens only 

 since two centuries and a half; and the Petunia since some 

 twenty lustres. The Mignonette, the Heliotrope — who would 

 believe it? — are not two hundred years old. The Dahlia was 

 born in 1802 ; and the Gladiolus and Gloxinia are of yesterday. 



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