668 
Oéctob. 
ae re em sitar Hie aS ENRE ae wn aOR am “ eS Onn . annie ee ae 
7 COMPLEAT BOW Y 
SER LOR By SOAPOR SOR 
Shab oG- 
SPREE RELIES SED SLR, ot 
gees 2 
Of the ‘Ack of raifing double FLO WERS. 
E enter in this Place upon one of the 
moft nice, and at the fame Time, of the 
moft important Articles of the Gardener’s Pro- 
feffion; much labour’d, and worthy of much 
more Attention; but hitherto left in creat Uncer- 
tainty. | 
We fee the Variety in Nature, which we fo | 
difficultly procure by Art. 
The Meadows fhew us frequent Inftances of 
what is found fo difficult in Gardens: the double 
Lady{mock, and double Crowfoot, we have de- 
fcribed in preceding Parts of this Work; the 
Marfh Marygold is alfo found double among 
them; and fo many more, that it would be tire- 
fome to enumerate all. | 
Thefe Wantonneffes of luxuriant Nature, we 
admire without underftanding their Caufes: and 
_fome have gone fo far as to fuppofe, that becaufe 
Nature does fomething in this Way, all we fee 
is of her’ doing. Others feem to make eafy, 
what to thefe feems impoffible,; and upon the 
whole, there is no Point in the Art of Gardening 
on which the Writers are fo contradictory, or 
Practicé is fo various. : 
Our honeft Parkinson, who wrote to the beft 
of his Knowledge, gives his Opinion flatly, that 
Art has no Power to raife double Flowers from 
fingle: but that whatfoever is done, Nature alone 
has effected. That People finding Plants in the 
On the contrary, the Dutch in comnmion pro- 
fefs to know the Secret; and in their Writings, 
declare all Flowers may be doubled by good 
Culture. 
They affect to difclofe the Method in eenig- 
matical Terms, as Chemifts of old fpoke of the 
Philofopher’s Stone; and prefume that they have 
taught Adepts in the Art, that which themfélves 
never knew. | 
It is eafy to fee that both thefe fay too much: 
yet both have their Followers; even againft Ex- 
perience. 
We fee in contradiction to the Engl ifb \Nriter, 
that we can at any Time raife double Stock July- 
flowers, and double Flowers of many other Kinds, 
from the Seeds of fuch as are fingle ; and we know 
that a Thoufand Trials have been made in vain 
upon other Plants, even’ by thofe who’ boafted 
that they knew the Secret. What neither Party 
havé advanced, therefore it is plain is true alto- 
gether. Indeed the Refearch lies too remote from 
common Obfervation, to have been purfued hap- 
pily in the dark Times of Science. 
Botany is now fo much better underftood, that 
there is more Hope of it; and from the now 
known Structure of the Parts of Plants, from 
Nature, and from Obfervation, the Subject may 
be traced with better Succefs. 
The right Courfe will be, firft to examine what 
Field with double Flowers, have brought them ie fee in Nature; and when we have traced the 
into the Garden, and have increafed them, but 
that the original Stock is all from Nature. 
Caufe, then it will be Time to have recourfe to 
Art and Imitation. 
ott AP, f, 
O hia natural double 
HAT we have feen in our own Coun- 
try of Flowers, naturally double, may 
thew us in the firft Place, that it is rather 
— Nourifhment than Heat (the two pereat Agents 
in Vegetation) which occafions it. 
Among the Engli/b Plants which we fee with 
double Flowers wild, ten are found in Meadows 
for one upon a dry Piece of Ground. 
os The feveral Kinds already named, are all Na- 
tives of our Meadows;. and I have. obferv’d, 
that where they have been. double, the Soil has 
been both richer and moifter than elfewhere. 
Even abundant Moifture will do it alone, for 
I have traced the double Ladyfmock over fome 
Tracts of Land in the Je of Evy, where the Earth 
YQ 
ha 
FLOWERS. 
Earth danced under the Feet, asin a Bog; and 
where it confifted of that little underftood Sub- 
ftance, Turf: an Earth almoft entirely without 
Mould, 
On the contrary, we fee that an enrich’d Soil 
alone, has nothing of this Effet. ‘The Plants 
upon it will grow much larger than elfewhere, but 
’ris the Leaves and Stalks, and not the Flowers, 
which have the Advantage. : 
Tis the fame Thing on abfolute Dung: there 
are Plants which will take their Nourifhment 
folely from it, and they will grow to an un- 
common Size; but ’tis in the general Habit, not 
in the Flowers in particular. | 
We fcarce fee or hear of fuch a thing as a double 
Flower 
O€tob. 
ea eee 
Be ip etn pe aes ee = ae Ba cay Heats thay rd aaah 
