242 
ON THE CASSIA OF THE ANCIENTS. 
flowering , by reducing the balls somewhat, and repotting and treating them in all respects 
in conformity with the directions given above. After being successively forced four or five 
times, it will be necessary to gradually discard any debilitated ones, and replant the others 
for a couple of years or so, in a good soil and situation in the open ground, where they 
must receive a severe old-wood pruning if requisite, to reduce them within bounds, and 
encourage a new growth, before being potted again precisely under the conditions first 
adopted, with the addition of watering them well occasionally with weak liquid manure, to 
reinvigorate them for forcing again, which they will generally be better suited for than newly 
provided plants. As the old ones deteriorate, however, a new stock should gradually be 
preparing for supplying the deficiencies ; for, by the preparation of a few fresh plants 
annually of what may be most required, a vigorous, healthy supply is thus always kept 
on hand. 
The generality of half-hardy plants suitable for the purpose should be propagated as 
early in spring as cuttings are obtainable — say in February ; and when well-rooted, potted 
in suitable pots and compost, and grown in a pit or frame until the last week in May, 
when they will be fit for planting out in a good stiff, though not over rich compost, on the 
north or west border of the reserve-garden. In planting, they should be allowed 2 or 3 
feet asunder, to enable them to grow into large, robust, and compact plants, which they 
will do by the end of July, if the following treatment of them is adopted : — From the 
time they become established in pots, check every effort to grow in a straggling manner by 
closely pinching back every shoot when 2 or 3 inches long ; rigidly observe the same 
practice when planted out, and growing vigorously (by the aid of liquid manure if the 
season is a dry one). Not a bloom must be permitted to expand upon them, nor a shoot 
to go “ unstopped ” when 4 or 5 inches in length ; for if the resources of the plants are 
permitted to be expended beyond the production of sturdy shoots and foliage now, a poor 
return of flowers will be the certain result at the time they are anticipated and most 
in request. 
<To be Continued.) 
ON THE CASSIA OF THE ANCIENTS. 
The genus Cassia of our Botanical Catalogues, is very extensive, containing from two 
to three hundred species. The greater part are handsome flowering stove and green- 
house plants. Some are useful in domestic economy, and others, as the C. lanceolata, 
Ligustroides and Obovata, are used for medicinal purposes under the name of Senna. 
The generic appellation was given to it by Linnseus, and is, according to Olaus Celsius, 
derived from the Hebrew, Ketzioth, rendered Kacnav by the translators of the Septuagint, 
and Latinized, Cassia ; but it is very likely, the Cassia of Dioscorides, and other ancient 
writers, was a different plant from any member of this genus. 
Whenever Cassia is mentioned by the ancients, it is always noticed in connection with 
spices and perfumery, and in many parts of the Sacred Writings the same connection is 
maintained. In Psalm xlv., 8. its fragrance is alluded to, “ All thy garments smell of 
Myrrh, Aloes and Cassia,” &c., and from Exodus xxx., 24. we learn, that it was one of the 
aromatic substances used in the preparation of the sacred oil employed in the Jewish 
sanctuary of worship. This connection with Myrrh (Balsamodendron Myrrha); Aloes, 
( Aloexylon Agallochum) ; Cinnamon, [Cinnamomum verum), and other similar substances, 
led the Greek translators to render it in some places “ Iris ”, the powdered root of which 
is a well-known perfume, called Iris or Orris-powder in our shops, possessing the fragrance 
of violets. In the Hebrew it is called “ Kidda.” 
The most probable conjecture respecting this valuable article is, that it is the produce 
of several species of Cinnamon ; as Cinnamomum Cassia ( C . Aromatica , Nees ), C. Zeyla- 
