424 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
r May 23, 1889. 
acquiring a reputation. I saw a beautifully shaped and coloured bloom 
cut from a tiny stem. _ 
I have almost come to the conclusion that it is cheaper in the end, 
and better all round, for amateurs to buy Tea Roses rather than to bud 
them. There is little, if any, advantage to be gained from maiden 
blooms. The buds of the new or weak varieties are difficult to get. You 
must bud your stocks below the surface, if dwarfs, to remain where 
budded, and ants, woodlice, and all manner of evil disposed creatures 
will play havoc with the dormant buds. You must run the risk of frost 
if on standards; and, finally, good strong plants are decidedly cheap. 
Nurserymen maybe inclined to thank me for this hint, but a greater 
demand wiil create a greater supply, and I think the result should, and 
will be, that Roses will be cheaper still.— W. R. Raillem. 
REVIEW OF BOOK. 
The Follt-lore of Plants. By T. F. Thiselton Dyer. London : 
Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly, 1889. 
In a neatly bound octavo volume of 328 pages Mr. Dyer has given a 
most interesting account of multitudinous customs and superstitions in 
which plants are concerned, and he has treated a subject necessarily 
entertaining in a popular and agreeable manner. Commencing with 
a chapter on plant life generally, the author proceeds to give some 
information with regard to “ The Primitive and Savage Notions respect¬ 
ing Plants.” This is followed by “ Plant Worship,” plants in witch¬ 
craft, demonology, fairy-lore, as love charms, in relation to dreams, the 
weather, proverbs, and ceremonials, all being dealt with exhaustively. 
A chapter is devoted to “ Plant Names,” in which the origin of popular, 
vernacular, and local names is chiefly discussed ; then plant language is 
considered, fabulous plants, “ The Doctrine of Signatures,” “ Plants and 
the Calendar,” “ Children’s Rhymes and Games,” “ Sacred Plants,” 
“ Plant Superstitions,” “ Plants in Folk Medicine,” “ The Legendary 
History of Plants,” and “ Mystic Plants.” 
Elaborate works have been published upon the folk-lore of plants 
and flowers, but the one under notice was intended by the author to 
serve as “ a useful handbook,” and it must be added that he has 
accomplished his purpose, for notwithstanding a few slight errors in the 
names of plants which escaped notice in the revision, it is well worth 
the attention of all readers interested in the history of plants. 
The book is printed in a clear readable type on stout paper, and is 
neatly bound in cloth, but it contains no illustrations, which some 
readers will consider a defect. It would not have been necessary to 
have many, but a few well chosen illustrations would have added to 
the interest of the book. 
As an example of tie style cf the work we extract the following 
portion of the chapter on 
PLANTS AND THEIR CEREMONIAL USE. 
In the earliest period of primitive society flowers seem to have been 
largely used for ceremonial purposes. Tracing their history downwards 
to the present day, we find how extensively, throughout the world, 
they have entered into sacred and other rites. This is not surprising 
when we remember how universal have been the love and admiration 
for these choice and lovely productions of Nature’s handiwork. From 
being used as offerings in the old heathen worship they acquired an 
additional veneration, and became associated with customs which had 
important significance. Hence the great quantity of flowers required 
for ceremonial purposes of various kinds no doubt promoted and 
encouraged a taste for horticulture even among uncultured tribes. Thus 
the Mexicans had their famous floating gardens, and in the numerous 
records handed down of social life, as it existed in different countries, 
there is no lack of references to the habits and peculiarities of the 
vegetable world. 
Again, from all parts of the world the histories of bygone centuries 
have contributed their accounts of the rich assortment of flowers in 
demand for the worship of the gods, which are valuable as indicating 
how elaborate and extensive was the knowledge of plants in primitive 
periods, and how magnificent must have been the display of these 
beautiful and brilliant offerings. Amongst some tribes, too, so sacred 
were the flowers used in religious rites held, that it was forbidden so 
much as to smell them, much less to handle them, except by those whose 
privileged duty it was to arrange them for the altar. Coming down to 
the historic days of Greece and Rome, we have abundant details of the 
skill and care that were displayed in procuring for religious purposes the 
finest and choicest varieties of flowers ; abundant allusions to which are 
found in the old classic writings. 
The profuseness with which flowers were used in Rome during 
triumphal processions has long ago become proverbial, in allusion to 
which Macaulay says— 
“ On they ride to the Forum, 
While Laurel boughs, and flowers, 
From honse tops and from windows, 
Fell on their crests In showers,” 
Flowers, in fact, were in demand on every conceivable occasion, a 
custom which was frequency productive of costly extravagance. Then 
there was their festival of the Floralia, in honour of the reappearance 
of spring time, with its hcsts of bright blossoms, a survival of which 
has long been kept up in this country on May day, when garlands and 
carols form the chief feature of the rustic merry-making. Another 
grand ceremonial occasion, when flowers were specially in request, was 
the Fontinalia, an important day in Rome, for the wells and fountains 
were crowned with flowers. A pretty survival of this festival hag 
long been obser.ed in the well dressing of Tissicgton on Ascension 
day, when the wells are most beautifully decorated with leaves and 
flowers, arranged in fanciful devices, interwoven into certain symbols 
and texts. With this usage may be compared one performed by the- 
fishermen of Weymouth, who on the 1st of May put out to sea for the 
purpose of scattering garlands of flowers on the waves, as a propitiatory 
offering to obtain food for the hungry. “ This link,” according to Miss 
Lambert, “ is but another link in the chain that connects us with the 
yet more primitive practice of the Red Indian, who secures passage 
across the Lake Superior or down the Mississippi, by gifts of precious 
tobacco, which he wafts to the great spirit of the Flood on the bosom 
of its waters.” 
By the Romans a peculiar reverence seems to have attached to their 
festive garlands, which were considered unsuitable for wearing in public. 
Hence, any person appearing in one was liable to punishment, a law 
which was carried out with much rigour. On one occasion, Lucius 
Fulvius, a banker, having been convicted at the time of the second 
Punic war, of looking down from the balcony of a house with a chaplet 
of Roses on his head, was thrown into prison by order of the Senate, 
and here kept for sixteen years, until the close of the war. A further 
case of extreme severity was that of P. Munatius, who was condemned 
by the Triumviri to Ire put in chains for having crowned himself with 
flowers from the statue of Marsyas. 
Guests at feasts wore garlands of flowers tied with the bark of the 
Linden tree, to prevent intoxication, the wreath having been framed in 
accordance with the position of the wearer. Not only were the guests 
adorned with flowers, but the waiters, drinking-cups, and room, were all 
profusely decorated. “In short,” as the author of “Flower-lore”' 
remarks, “ it would be difficult to name the occasions on which flowers 
were not employed ; and, as almost all plants employed in making 
garlands had a symbolical meaning, the garland was composed in 
accordance with that meaning.” Garlands, too, were thrown to actors 
on the stage, a custom which has come down to the present day in an 
exaggerated form. 
Indeed, many of the flowers in request nowadays for ceremonial 
uses in our own and other countries may be traced back to this period 
the symbolical meaning attached to certain plants having survived after 
the lapse of many centuries. For a careful description of the flowers 
thus employed, we would refer the reader to two interesting papers 
contributed by Miss Lambert to the “Nineteenth Century,” in which 
she has collected together in a concise form ail the principal items of 
information on the subject in past years. A casual perusal of these 
papers will suffice to show what a wonderful knowledge of botany the 
ancients must have possessed ; and it may be doubted whether the most 
costly array of plants witnessed at any church festival supersedes a 
similar display witnessed by worshippers in the early heathen temples. 
In the same way we gain an insight into the profusion of flowers- 
employed by heathen communities in later centuries, showing how in¬ 
timately associated these have been with their various forms of worship. 
Thus, the Singhalese seem to have used flowers to an almost incredible- 
extent, and one of their old chronicles tells us how the Ruanwelld dagoba 
—270 feet high—was festooned with garlands from pedestal to pinnacle, 
till it had the appearance of one uniform bouquet. We are further 
told that in the fifteenth emturya certain king offered no less than- 
6,480,320 sweet-smelling flowers at the shrine of the tooth ; and, among 
the regulations of the temple at Dambedenia in the thirteenth century, 
one prescribes that “ every day an offering of 100,000 blossoms, and 1 
each day a different kind of flower,” should be presented. This is a 
striking instance, but only one of many. 
“ With regard to Greece, there are few of our trees and flowers,’” 
writes Mr. Moncure Conway, “ which were not cultivated in the- 
gorgeous gardens of Epicurus, Pericles, and Pisistratus. Among ther 
flowers chiefly used for garlands and chaplets in ceremonial rites we 
find the Rose, Violet, Anemone, Thyme, Melilot, Hyacinth, Crocus, yellow 
Lily, and yellow flowers generally. Thucydides relates how, in the ninth 
year of the Peloponnesian war, the temple of Juno at Argos was burnt 
down owing to the priestess Chrysis having set a lighted torch too near 
the garlands and then fallen asleep. The garlands caught fire, and the 
damage was irremediable before she was conscious of the mischief. 
The gigantic scale on which these floral ceremonies were conducted 
may be gathered from the fact that in the procession of Europa at 
Corinth a huge crown of Myrtle, 30 feet in circumference, was borne. 
At Athens the Myrtle was regarded as the symbol of authority, a 
wreath of its leaves having been worn by magistrates. On certain 
occasions the mitre of the Jewish high priest was adorned with a 
chaplet of the blossoms of the Henbane. Of the further use of gar¬ 
lands, we are told that the Japanese employ them very freely ; both- 
men and women wear chaplets of fragrant blossoms. A wreath of 
a fragrant kind of Olive is the reward of literary merit in China. 
In Northern India the African Marigold is held as a sacred flower 
they adorn the trident emblem of Mahadiva with garlands of it, 
and both men and women wear chaplets made of its flowers on 
his festivals. Throughout Polynesia garlands have been habitually 
worn on seasons of religious solemnity or social rejoicing,” and” 
in Tonga they were employed as a token of respect. In short, 
wreaths seem to have been from a primitive period adopted almost 
universally in ceremonial rites, having found equal favour both with 
civilised as well as uncivilised communities. It will probably, too,, 
always be so. 
