82 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



the nosegay of pinks, we know it as the sweet william, 

 and it has been known as Jove's flower, London pride, 

 tolmeiners, and London tufts. For the association with 

 Jove there is good excuse, the name Bianthus giving the 

 key thereto. Cowley, in the fourth book of his poem on 

 plants, makes a special passage on the subject — 



" Sweet william small has form and aspect bright, 

 Like that sweet flower that yields great Jove delight ; 

 Had he majestic hulk, he'd now he styled 

 Jove's flower : and if my skill is not heguil'd, 

 He was Jove's flower when Jove was hut a child. 

 Take him with many flowers in one conferr'd, 

 He's worthy Jove, e'en now he has a heard." 



There is no flower of the garden better adapted than 

 the sweet william to the means and requirements of the 

 town amateur, for it is most easily grown and always gives 

 delight, even when far removed from the perfection it at- 

 tains in the hands of skilful florists. And it will be well 

 for the lovers of cheap hardy flowers to know the florist's 

 model of a sweet william, for what are called " auricula- 

 eyed" flowers are sumptuously beautiful and as easy to 

 grow and keep as the commonest, for it is the good 

 breeding in them, accomplished by regular crossing and 

 severe selecting, that has brought the flowers to the splendid 

 standard with which we are now familiar. 



These cheerful favourites are grown from seeds and 

 cuttings, the last-named method being resorted to only in 

 the case of the double-flowered kinds or those of the single 

 that are required for some special purpose for which they 

 must be all alike. To raise a stock from seed requires no 

 appliances whatever, as the seed may be sown in the border, 

 and the plants may be transplanted to where they are 

 wanted when large enough. But the best way is to sow the 



