iC OM Bik AT raya ¥ 
O8b. the Variery and Luftre of the Pier is beyond 
almoft ‘Seca e 
a fingle eS are numerous, "aad “difpoped. one 
. Range within another with a moft pleafing Irre- 
gularity: in Colour they. are either violet, blue, 
crimfon, or white; or of any of the Tins 
thofe three. — 
In either of thefe Colours, the Plant cover’d 
with a Multitude of Flowers on all its fpreading 
Branches, affords a moft pleafing Appearance ; 
and a Number of them placed at moderate Di- 
{tance, with other autumnal Flowers between, 
gives a Grace, that fcarce any thing equals, to this 
advanced Seafon. 
 ?Tis in this State the Gardener admires the 
Plant, and to bring it to this hé employs all his 
Labour: but to the Botanift there is more In- 
formation in the fingle Flower; and to that we 
mutt refer him for the Characters of the Plant, 
which are as ftrongly eer, in it a’ any of 
the Afters. 
The Gop is form’d a feveral Ranges: of leafy 
Scales. 
The Flower is compofed of a ‘Multitude of tu- 
bular Flofcules, rang’d clofe together i in a Ditk, 
with a Circle of furrounding Rays. 
The tubular Flofcules in the Difk have the 
Rim cut into five Segments, and expanded ; and 
in thefe there are five fhort Filaments, with Po 
Buttons, which coalefce into a Cylinder. In the 
Centre of them ftands a fingle flender Style fplit at 
the Top. This rifes from an oblong Rudiment;. 
crown’d with a little Rim, which was the Cup of 
the particular Flofcule. 
The Rays are long, and broadett i in the Mid- | 
dle, and they have three Indentings at the End. 
Thefe. have at their Bafe a Rudiment of .a Seed, 
and from it a long flender Style with two Heads ;. 
but there are no F ilaments or Buttons. ‘Thefe are 
therefore Female Flofoules ;: the tubular ones. in 
the Difk Hermaphrodite : both thefe and the others 
are fucceeded by perfeét Seeds. 
The five coalefcent Buttons. fhew the Plant: ti. 
be one of the Syngencfia ; and as'the Flofcules of 
the Difk ripen their own Seeds, the Impregnation 
-which:the Rudiments placed under. the Rays re- 
ceive from their Buttons, is judged unneceflary, 
and the Plant is to be refer’d'to that Order under 
the Syngenefious Clafs, which he ditingaiie by 
the Term Polygamia fuperflua. : 
Wher the Flofcules:in the Difk of a compo- | 
fite Flower do not ripen their own Seeds, but the 
Rudiments under the Rays, which have no Male 
Parts: belonging to’ themfelves, are impregnated 
by their Antheree, in that Cafe. the various Im- 
pregnation. . is sudged neceflary;. as’it. is» here 
fuperfluous, | , 
Culiure of the Cuiwa Astir. 
 Ttois @ Native of China, and isin that gay 
Country as frequent about the Hedges as Mal- 
i) 
lows, or Thiftles, are with us. 
open, and mellow Soil, and thrives beft where it 
has full Expofure. 
With us, though it bear the open Ground and 
freé Air in all Seafons during-its Growth there, 
yet there requires the Affiftance of a Hot-bed 
| to bring the Plants forward at firft; and fome 
which Painting can produce from a Mixture of -| Cautions, more than the common Gardener ufes 
in the Management of it are neceffary afterwards : 
for which Reafon it is rarely feen in the full Per- 
- fection. 
As it is one of the moft elegant and valuable 
of the annual Plants, we thal] ey down at large . 
the Management of it from Seed to flowering , ae 
this may be the more agreeable to the young 
Gardener, as the fame Rule will hold for the 
1 other Annuals raifed on Hot- beds. 
He who would have the China Afer in Perfec- 
tion, muft begin his Care the prefent Autumn. 
Let him mark a certain Number of his fineit 
Plants for Seed, and pull up all that are of an 
inferior Kind as they open their firft Flowers. 
‘The Farina from one of thefe Plants will im- 
pregnate the Flowers of another; therefore if 
there be but one indifferent Flower left in the 
fame Ground, there is no Certainty of the Seed 
being fine. | 
| When the Plants are placed in the fame Bor- 
der; the Winds will bring the Farina of one upon 
another, and that Way affect this Mifchief. 
When they are. too fat off for that Accident 
to have place, the Bees that take Honey from 
one Flower, and then from another, will do the 
fame Mifchief. | 
Thefe Infeéts colledt Wax as swell aS Honey; and 
; ‘the Subftance of this Wax is the Farina, or Duft 
of the Buttons of F lowers : they fix this upon their - 
Thighs ; ; and they vilit ‘many Flowers, in order to 
get the Loading: they carry in at once. They may 
come from a bad Flower to a good one, and the - 
—Duft they bring from the inferior Kind ine do the 
fame Mifchief, _ 
__ There is. not: this Danger i in the Bees coming 
from one Flower to another, when they are of 
different Species. for Nature has adopted the 
{mall-Organs of Flowers to the Reception of their 
own Duft, and no other; and the Seeds are not 
capable of Impregnation. by any other, unlefs 
in very particular Inftances, whence the few 
mongrel Plants; but in the Varieties of Flowers 
eid by Culture from the fame Seed, the Or ‘eans 
are the fame in all,. and the Farina or Dutt 3 is the 
fame ;. and therefore the Mifchief will be very 
likely to happen, and the fineft F lowers will be 
debafed. - | 
This-is the Courfe of Nature i in the Impregna- 
tion of Plants; to this it happens that there are 
not continual mixed Breeds, produced ; and to this 
is owing the Danger of debafing the beft Flowers, 
by. leaving bad ones EBON thofe which ftand for 
meeds 7 . 
The... Caution holds - égualty in many other 
Kinds 5 but in all:-the: compofite Flowers it is to 
be regarded with a particular Attention, becaufe 
we 
It loves a free, Odctob, 
