146 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



systematic selection;, than is afforded by the zinnia, which 

 is at once one of the largest, most various, and long-standing 

 of our many good and cheap annual flowers. 



The ziunia is named in honour of J. G. Zinn, Pro- 

 fessor of Botany and Natural History at the University 

 of Gottingen. He was born in 1726, and studied under 

 Haller. One of the most important of his labours was a 

 demonstration of the relation of vision to the action of the 

 brain as well as to the structure of the eye, the particulars 

 of which were given in his essay entitled " Descriptio 

 Anatomica Oculi Humani." Another important service 

 rendered to science was his catalogue of the plants in the 

 Academical Garden of Gottingen. He died in April, 

 1758, at the early age of thirty-two. 



The zinnia belongs to the great family of composite 

 flowers, and is a native of Mexico. It is sometimes called 

 the Mexican marigold — a designation in some degree 

 justified in the case of the yellow varieties, but by no 

 means to be encouraged, for in its essential character it is 

 some distance removed from the genus Tageies, and its 

 normal colour is red or crimson ; and hence the finest 

 varieties are certainly not, even by a stretch of fancy, to 

 be classed with marigolds. 



How to grow the zinnia is perhaps the question of 

 principal importance to the readers of this. It is a half- 

 hardy annual, and must not be grown in a half-hearted 

 manner. The seeds should be sown about the middle of 

 April, but not earlier. They may be sown on a hotbed, 

 and they will then germinate very quickly. It is, however, 

 better practice to sow in a frame or under a hand-light, in 

 light rich earth, so as to obtain the plants by a slower 

 method, and with a corresponding surety of a fine bloom. 



