Plate — 
oF ig, 
é 
~ Culture of this AscLEPias. 
Jt is a Native of the Zaf, and of the warmeft 
Parts of South America; and with us requires the 
- Heat of a Stove to bring it to any Degree of Per- 
__ fection. 
_ The Method of propagating it is by Seeds; 
and the great Care fhould be to obtain thefe frefh 
‘and 1 in their Pods; for otherwife they ufually fail. 
~ Early in Spring let a Couple of Garden-Pots be 
filld with fome light rich Earth, from an im- 
.. prov’d Part of the Garin: and upon the Surface 
of this fcatter the Seeds at equal Diftances: fift 
over them about half a quarter of an Inch of the 
- fame Mould; and then fet the Pots up to their 
_ Rim in a Bark Hot-Bed. 
- Once in three Days give them a gentle Water- 
ing, with Water that has ftood in the Stove 
twelve Hours ; and every now and then open the 
Glaffes for a little Time to give fame Air. 
‘Thus they will fhoot; and fooner or later, ac- | 
cording to the Newnefs or Age of the Seeds, the 
_ Gardener will fee his young Plants. 
Thefe he muft watch carefully. Once in two 
_ Days giving them a very gentle Watering; 
268° A COMPLEAT BODY 
Feb. or and, when the Sun is hotteft upon the Place, Feb. . 
— . allowing them a little Air. — 
When they have thus arriv’d at fome little 
Height, let there be as many {mall Pots provided 
‘as there are Plants: let thefe be fill’d with good 
“Garden-Mould, and fet in the Bed for’ three 
| Days, that the Earth may be of the fame Degree 
of Heat with that in which they are growing. 
Then let them be carefully taken up, and one 
planted in the Middle of each of thefe Pots. 
When fix’d in the Mould, let them have a 
gentle Watering, with Water which has ftood to » 
be warm’d in the Stove; and let them be all fet 
up to the Rim in the Bark. Let the Glaffés be 
fhaded with Mats; and little Air admitted till they 
have taken Root. : | 
After this they will crow faft: let them, when 
they are increas’d in Size, be fhifted into larger 
Pots ; and when they are fo tall as to reach the 
Glafies of the Frame, let them be taken into the 
Stove, and fet in the Bark-Bed there. 
After this they will require nothing but the 
common Management of Stove-Plants; and they 
will rife to their full Perfection, and produce their 
fingular and elegant Flowers in great Abun- 
dance. 
“~ 
be AMETHYSTINE HYACINTH 
4+ greater Credit to the Gardener than to fee i it in the 
- ee Glory. 
Tt will live freely enough in any Garden, and 
ower annually with little Care; but in thefe 
Cafes the Flowers are of a faint blue, or a dufky Gardens, 
white: either. Way of very little Beauty, In 
better Management it rifes earlier; the Stalk is 
: itronger, and the Flowers are: amethytftine. 
_ Moft of the earlier Botanifts have known the 
Plant; but they have treated-of it indiftin€ly: 
_ dividing it, under. its different Appearances, into 
more than one imaginary Species, and confound- 
_ ing it in Name with others. 
Rupseck calls it Hyacinthus ye i caerulea 
_. flore minor. A Name copy’d by the Bavuines, 
a 
_ and from them by others. 
Linnvus, whofe fpecific Names are too accu- 
rate for Confufion, calls it Hyacinthus corollis cam- 
— panulatis femifexifidis bafi cylindricis : Campanu- 
lated Hyacinth, with the Flowers cylindric at the 
_ Bafe, and lightly divided at the Edge into fix 
_. Segments. 
The Root is bulbous and oblong, ae with 
a brown Membrane, full of a flimy Juice, and 
hung at the Bottom with many Fibres, 
The Leaves are long, not very broad, pointed 
at the End, and of a deep Pp green, 
The Stalk is round, upright, naked, and a 
Foot high, purplith toward the Ground, and of a 
pale green upwards. 
The Beauty of this Species of Hyacinth depends ; 
XXIT. fo much upon its Culture, that nothing is a 
_ The Flowers cover a third Part of i its Length, 
in a kind of Spike. They have weak Foot-ftalks, 
on which they hang drooping ; and they are large 
and very beautiful. 
In their moft natural State they are of a deep 
violet blue, with a light Tinge of purple: in 
where they are not much regarded, they 
lofe this fine Tinct, and become blue, greyifh, or 
white : without Luftte in either Colour. But when 
the Gardener allows: them a due Attention, they 
recover the purple of their ancient Tinét, with a 
fainter Mixture of the blue, and have the Colour 
of the fineft Amethyft, 
The Flower has no Cup, but hangs naked from 
its Footftalk : it is form’d of a finole Petal, cy- 
lindric and hollow at the Bafe; aid at the Rim 
divided into fix Segments, which turn outwards. 
‘The Seed-veffel which folisws. is of a roundith 
Form, but marked with three Furrows, and it 
contains a few Seeds of a roundifh Shape in three 
feparate Cells. 
Thus far the Eye of common Curiofity difco- 
vers; but the Student, in our Road of Science, 
examines farther ; tearing open a Flower, he finds 
within its Hollow fix F Pilaments: whofe Buttons 
converge toward one another, and in their Midft 
a fingle Style crown’d with an obtufe Top. 
This fhews him that the Hyacinth is one of the 
Hexandria Menogynia, the fixth Clafs and its firft 
| Section. 
Culture 
