In the earlier months of the year there are few plants more engaging, or more useful in the decoration 
of the greenhouse, than the different species of Acacia, laden with an almost over-abounding number of their 
unassuming and modest-looking globular heads of golden flowers. The light, airy, and elegant appearance 
of the slender branches and small phyllodia, form, even when not enlivened with bloom, an agreeable variation 
placed in the greenhouse amongst shrubs of stouter growth, and leaves of more ample dimensions. Kept in 
a dwarf state by repeated pruning and shortening back the young shoots, A. cultriformis forms an excellent 
plant to place in the drawing-room during the flowering season ; or it may be planted in the border of a con- 
servatory with great propriety, and if allowed to grow in its natural way, will speedily form a large tree. Even 
in a pot it will attain the height of fifteen or twenty feet in a few years, if not kept down by pruning. 
Acacias will succeed tolerably well in almost any good garden mould, but that which appears most suitable 
to them, is composed of about two-thirds sandy loam, and the remainder a fibrous open peat earth. They 
require a liberal supply of water during the time they are flowering, and whilst forming their young shoots. 
They may be propagated by cuttings inserted in sand, and treated in the usual way. 
“We seldom see a parterre of flowers, on a fine summer’s day, in which the butterfly and the bee 
present, 
“ Feeding upon their pleasures bounteously.” 
are not 
The murmur of bees is a grateful sound — it tells of sunshine and sweet odours; it is one of those 
gentler tones of nature’s voice which have a kind and soothing influence on the spirits ; like the whisper of 
a gentle air among the leaves; the sigh of the long grass, as it bends before the breeze; or the murmur of 
a neighbouring runnel. It could not then be overlooked by the Poet: — 
“ Him to soft slumbers call 
The babbling brooks, the fall 
Of silver fountains, and the unstudied hymns 
Of cageless birds, whose throats 
Pour forth the sweetest, notes ; 
Shrill through the crystal air the music swims ; 
To which the humming bee 
Keeps ceaseless company, 
Flying solicitous from flower to flower, 
Tasting each sweet that dwells 
Within their scented bells ; 
Whilst the wind sways the forest, bower to bower, 
That evermore, in drowsy murmurs deep, 
Sings in the air, and aids descending sleep.” 
Wiffen’s Garcilasso, 
“From sapling trees, with lucid foliage crown’d, 
Gay lights and shadows twinkled on the ground: 
Up the tall stems luxuriant creepers run, 
To hang their silver blossoms in the sun ; 
Deep velvet verdure clad the turf beneath, 
Where trodden flowers their richest odours breathe; 
O’er all the bees with murmuring music flew 
From bell to bell, to sip the honied dew.” 
Montgomery. 
The climate of this country is not, perhaps, the most favourable for the production of flowers ; yet we 
have a power of enjoying those we have, which inhabitants of warmer climates often have not. In the. 
East, it is true, the country is adorned with the most magnificent flowers, springing up spontaneously and 
abundantly; whole fields are brilliant with tulips, anemonies, and roses ; but thd bright sun, which gives 
them life and beauty, forbids man to walk abroad during many hours in the day, from its insufferable heat. 
Persia is, perhaps, supereminently the country of flowers, of the rose in particular. Japan, too, has mag- 
nificent flowers ; which, to be able to enjoy, the people have a quantity of them within doors. The Ja- 
panese are passionately fond of flowers, and frequently name their women from them. In Constantinople 
they are very much neglected. Tournefort remarks, that the Turks take little care of their gardens in 
general, bestowing their attention almost entirely upon their melons and cucumbers. 
In Tripoli, on the celebration of a wedding, the baskets of sweetmeats, &c. sent as wedding presents, 
are covered with flowers ; and although it is well known that they frequently communicate the plague, the 
inhabitants will even prefer running the risk, when that dreadful disease is abroad, rather than lose the 
enjoyment they have in their love of flowers. When a woman in Tripoli dies, a large bouquet of fresh 
flowers, if they can be procured, if not, of artificial, is fastened at the head of her coffin. Upon the death 
of a Moorish lady of quality, every place is filled with fresh flowers and burning perfumes : at the head of 
the body is placed a large bouquet, of part artificial, and part natural, and richly ornamented with silver: 
and additions are continually made to it. The author who describes these customs also mentions a lady of 
high rank, who regularly attended the tomb of her daughter, who had been three years dead: she always 
kept it in repair, and, with the exception of the great mosque, it was one of the grandest in Tripoli. From 
the time of the young lady’s death, the tomb had always been supplied with the most expensive flowers, 
placed in beautiful vases; and, in addition to these, a great quantity of fresh Arabian Jessamines, threaded 
on thin slips of the Palm-leaf, were hung in festoons and tassels about this revered sepulchre. The mau- 
soleum of the royal family, which is called the Turbar, is of the purest white marble, and is filled with an 
immense quantity of fresh flowers; most of the tombs being dressed with festoons of Arabian Jessamine and 
large bunches of variegated flowers, consisting of Orange; Myrtle, Red and White Roses, &c. They afford a 
perfume which those who are not habituated to such choice flowers can scarcely conceive. The tombs are 
mostly of white, a few inlaid with coloured marble. A manuscript Bible, which was presented by a Jew to 
the Synagogue, was adorned with flowers; and silver vases filled with flowers, were placed upon the ark 
which contained the sacred M.S.* 
* Flora Domestica. 
