344 
A COMPLEAT BODY 
March. 
top’d with fmall Buttons. The Sevla is fingle ; 
it rifes in the Midft from a four-parted Rudi- 
ment; and when the Flower is fallen, four Seeds 
ripen in the Cup naked. 
We have told our Student that ais Clafies 
of Linn evs have their Name from the Number 
of the Filaments. ‘This Plant is one of the fifth, 
the Pentandria , and its fingle mye fhews it alfo 
of the Monogymia. 
Culture of this Turnsoue. 
Tt is an Annual, and native of the warmer 
Parts of America, as alfo of Africa and Afia: in all 
thefe Places it lives in the fame kind of Soil, light, 
dry and fandy, yet not without fome Richnefs. 
In’ America it covers the Banks on rifing | 
Grounds; and having ufually a Soil tod fertile 
for its true Nature, it 1s luxuriant: in Growth, | 
but wants the glowing Colour. 
In the Ea/t-Indies the Leaves are veined and 
{potted with an elegant Crimfon ; ‘but in the ab- 
oe folute Sands of Africa, it fhews its baa oi 
Luftre. . 
fe will not there rife to the Height it reaches 
“tn thofe other Countries, but ’tis throughout often 
of a bloody purple :. fo fingular, ee our rudeft 
Voyagers have gaz’d upon it, and declar’d st 
‘Wonder. . 
In Europe we fee little of its Elegance ; dnd the 
prime Gardener Mitier fpeaks his beft Know- 
‘ledge, when he calls it a Plant of no great 
Beauty. 
The African Colour, or even the Ea/t-Indian 
‘Spots, are to be obtain’d only by a peculiar Cul- 
ture, a Management with which he was not ac- 
quainted, and thefe are its great Recommenda- 
tion. 
Let Seeds : obtain’d, if that can be done, 
from Africa , if not, thofe of our Colonies, or of 
the Ea/t-Indies muft be us’d; but as they often 
come over bad, many more thauld be fown than 
on other Occafions. 
The Spring is the Seafon for rife. and as the 
Plant is an Annual, the earlier that is done the 
better. 
Let a Compoft be firft made for it thus : 
Wath fome coarfe Pit-Sand, till the Water’ 
Set it over the | 
runs from it without Colour. 
Fire in an Iron Pot, and let it be well heated. 
It will acquire a redifh Hue, and this fhews it 
is done enough. : 
Mix a \ Buthel of ‘hls with Ave Pecks of Marle, 
| lour: 
‘dad ate one Peck of hindi Meadows Earelh 
Sprinkle on a little Soot, and a Handful of Salt; 
and. throw the Heap up to the Weather. 
Marcia: 
ere . 
ie 
In February fill a Garden-Pot with this, and 
{catter: upon it a little very rich Mould, 
about a Quarter of an Inch thick: upon this 
{trew -the Seeds. Sift over them a little of the 
Compoft ;. fprinkle the Surface. with Wa- 
| ter, and fet the Pot up to the Rim in a Bark- 
Bed. 
When the young Plants come up allow them 2 
little Water ; and as foon as they have Strength for 
removing, tranfplant them each into a feparate 
Pot of the Compoft. Let thefe be Pots of the 
} middling Size, for the Plants are not to be re- 
mov’d any more. 
Settle the Earth to their Roots by a gentle 
Watering, with Water that has {tood in the Bark- 
Bed or Stove ; and then fet in the Pots again up to 
the Rim. Shade the Bed with Mats till they are 
well rooted, and then by Degrees inure them to 
| the Air. . 
In the Beginning of Yue they may be finally 
fet out: and for this Purpofe a Place thould be 
chofen open to the full Sun. 
Hitherto the Plants will be green, or but little 
ting’d; but from the Time they are expos’d to 
the fall Sun, they will begin to change their Co- 
the tenderer Leaves will be blotched and 
fpotted with Crimfon, the others of the Colour 
of red Port Wine: extremely fingular and plea- 
fing. They will flower here; and Seeds muft be 
| fav’d with Care, sk : 
T he Plant is fo fingular that it is werk pre- 
ferving thro’ the Winter; and this is to be done 
by preventing its esl that gh defending ir 
from Cold. ph toe 
If one or two of them be tran{fplanted two 
or three Times during the Beginning of Summer, 
and the Heads cut off when the Buds of the Stalks 
for flowering appear, the Plants being remov’d at 
the‘Approach of Winter into the Siete will live 
throughout that Seafon, and flower early in 
| Spring. 
This is the Management by which we have 
brought forth feveral Flowers of Autumn in early 
Spring : an Article of Gardening little underftood, 
but very pleafing, 
The intelligent Re&der will fee this in the 
feveral late Plants we have given in thefe Num- 
bers, figur’d from Nature at the Time of this 
F lowering. 
CHAP, 
