580 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



sliould be planted in sandy eartli with heat 

 below, and covered with a hand glass, and they 

 will strike and produce flowers and tubers before 

 autumn. 



Grafting is a mode of propagating rare herba- 

 ceous vegetables, which has been long practised 

 on the continent. The cutting, intended for the 

 graft of the Georginia, should be strong and short- 

 jointed, having on it two or more joints or buds; 

 it must be also procured as soon in the season as 

 possible. Select also a good tuber of a single 

 sort, taking care that it has no eyes. Cut off a 

 slice from the upper part of the root with a 

 sharp edged knife, and make at the bottom of 

 the cut a ledge whereon to rest the graft. This 

 is recommended because the graft cannot be 

 tongtied as in a wood shoot, and the ledge is use- 

 ful in keeping the cutting fixed in its place 

 whilst it is being tied. Next cut the scion 

 sloping to fit, and cut it so that a joint may be 

 at the bottom of it to rest on the ledge of the cut 

 tuber. Tie the graft, and put a piece of soft clay 

 around it, then put the root in fine mould, bury- 

 ing the graft half way in the mould, and place 

 the pot in a cucumber frame. In about three 

 weeks the root should be shifted into a larger 

 pot if yet too early to plant it out into the open 

 border. In raising from seed, this is to be col- 

 lected in September from the dwarf plants, and 

 from semi-double flowers when double varieties 

 ai'e desired. Perhaps seeds obtained from those 

 particular florets of the disc which have altered 

 their form, may have a greater tendency than 

 others to produce plants with double flowers.* 

 Sow in March or earlier, in a heat of about 60", 

 and the young plants may be pricked out in 

 pots, and kept in a moderate temperature till 

 the end of April. In the end of this month the 

 whole may be planted out and protected during 

 the night with a covering. Seedlings thus 

 treated will blow in July, and continue in per- 

 fection until autumn, but the first frost takes 

 the same effect on these flowers as on the potato 

 or kidney bean. Artificial fecundation of the 

 flowers may be practised in this manner. The 

 flowers intended for this process should be 

 covered two or three days previous to their 

 expansion, in order to prevent their being fecun- 

 dated by other flowers through the agency of 

 bees or the wind. When the flower is suffi- 

 ciently expanded, a camel hair pencil is saturated 

 with the pollen of the flower, whose colour or 

 form is desired, and with this each separate 

 floret of the parent flower is touched, the pro- 

 tecting covering being continued for eight days 

 after this operation. This fecundation requires 

 to be repeated for two or three days, according 

 to the weather, as the florets do not all expand 

 at once. 



In general, however, this process is not deemed 

 * Sabina. 



necessary, as a single flower will produce all tha 

 varieties rei^uired if left to nature. 



A rich loam is the best soil for those plants, 

 and a clear open situation, free from the shade 

 of trees or walls. Like the potato they exhaust 

 the soil considerably, and do not thrive well 

 when repeatedly planted on the same spot. 

 After the flower season is over, the roots may 

 be preserved through the winter by covering 

 them over with a sufficient depth of old tan 

 bark, or what is better, by taking them up and 

 preserving them in boxes of sand. 



CHAP. LIU. 



THK PRIMROSE, CARNATION, PANST, &C. 



The last chapter contained the account of 

 bulbous and tuberous-rooted garden flowers of 

 most general cultivation. In this we shall 

 enumerate the principal ramose and fibrous- 

 rooted plants of the flower garden. 



The Primrose, C primula J. Natural family 

 primulaceiB; pentandria, monogt/nia, of Linnteus. 

 The primrose family is eminently distinguished 

 among flowers as being one of the earliest har- 

 bingers of the spring. They are no less conspi- 

 cuous for the simplicity and beauty of their 

 flowers, and the delightful odour which they 

 impart. Many of the species grow wild in 

 Britain, forming the most pleasing ornaments 

 of our woods and valleys; others are natives of 

 the warmer parts of Europe and Asia. 



The Polyanthds (primula vulgaris). This 

 species is a native of most parts of Europe, 

 growing in woods and copses in a moist clayey 

 soil. The leaves are obovate, oblong, toothed, 

 rugose, and villous beneath. The umbel is radi- 

 cal, and flower stalks of the length of the leaves. 

 The flowers are of a sulphur yellow colour 

 generally and single, occasionally they are of a 

 white or purple colour, and double. In its wild 

 state the common primrose produces its flowers 

 on numerous peduncles, but by cultivation it 

 throws up a scape bearing an umbel of numerous 

 flowers, brown, purple, red, and yellow. Lin- 

 nsEus, however, found the scape present in some 

 wild sorts, but so short as to lie concealed 

 among the leaves. Some botanists reckon the 

 primrose, cowslip, and oxlip, all as one species. 

 The polyanthus, at all events, is a very permanent 

 variety, which does not readily return to the 

 original type. 



The varieties of the common primrose are 

 numerous, and are generally divided into two 

 classes. The first contains those whose flowers 

 are on separate pedicles, rising from the root 

 upon a common stem, so short as- not to be seen 

 without separating the leaves of the plant, and 



