Where the ragged robin stood

With its piped stem streaked with jet,
And the crow-flowers, golden-hued,
Careless plenty easier met.”

Page 137.

In his Descriptions of Rural Life and Scenery, he gives this flower for a goblet to the fairies :

"And fairies now, no doubt, unseen

In silent revels, sup,

With dew-drop bumpers toast their queen

From crow-flowers' golden cup.”

Savage speaks of the king-cup in a complimentary way, but rather stiffly; with something of the air of a beau trying to say a fine thing to a vain woman, whom he does not much admire :

"King-cups beneath, far-striking colours glance,
Bright as the etherial glows the green expanse.
Gems of the field! the topaz charms the sight
Like these, effulging yellow streams of light."

Tournefort says that the chief ornaments of the Seraglio gardens at Constantinople are Ranunculus-flowers, but that the Turks neglect almost every thing in their gardens but melons and cucumbers. They eat the latter in great quantities, sometimes like apples, without even peeling them; sometimes cut into pieces and thrown into a basin of sour milk. Thevenot says that they are very much superior to ours; that they are eaten raw as well by the Christians as the Turks, and may be eaten in any quantities with impunity.

cup; neither does he mean the ragged-robin, for that is here expressly distinguished from them: probably he means the arum, or lords-andladies.

Since the above was written, we have been informed that the poet alludes to the wood orchis, one of the many flowers named after the cuckoo, from appearing at the same time.

RHODODENDRON.

RHODODENDRUM.

RHODORACEE.

DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

This name is of Greek origin, and signifies Rose-tree.-French, rosage.-Italian, rododendro.

THE Rhododendrons are handsome flowering shrubs, hardy enough to bear the open air in this country. When in pots, however, if the winter be severe, it may be well to cover the roots with a little moss; and some keep them always so covered, to shelter them from frost in the winter, and to preserve the earth moist in the summer. The kind most commonly cultivated here is a native of North America. The flowers are generally rose-coloured or purple ; there is a variety with yellow, and one with white flowers.

There is a shrub called Rhodora, a native of Newfoundland, very similar to this, which may be treated in the

same manner.

The best time for transplanting these shrubs, when they require removal into a larger pot, is in September or April; and when they do not need this removal, it will be well, at that season, to renew the earth as far as can be done without disturbing the roots; or even occasionally to take them out of the pot, and pare away the decayed roots on the outside of the ball of earth adhering to them.

Mr. Moore quotes a passage from Tournefort, in his notes to Lalla Rookh, informing us that about Trebizond there is a kind of Rhododendron, on the flowers of which the bees feed, and that their honey drives people mad :

"E'en as those bees of Trebizond,

Which from the sunniest flowers that glad
With their pure smile the gardens round,
Draw venom forth that drives men mad."

A A

ROBINIA.

LEGUMINOSE.

DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA.

THE Rose-acacia, so called from the colour of its blossoms, is a beautiful shrub: it is a native of Carolina, where it will grow twenty feet high: here it does not exceed six or eight, and will produce flowers when not more than a foot high the flowers are large, showy, and numerous, and the shrub is of ready growth. It is not very nice as to soil and situation, but prefers a light, moist soil, and a situation rather sheltered than exposed. It blossoms in June.

The Siberian species of Robinia have mostly yellow flowers. The Salt-tree Robinia, of which the blossoms are purple, is an exception. This and the Thorny Robinia are, at their full growth, about six feet high; the Shrubby, ten feet; the Shining, five; the Daurian and the Dwarf, three feet.

The Salt-tree grows naturally in salt fields, and will not flower but in a saline soil. These shrubs will bear this climate very well, with the exception of the Rose-acacia, which must be sheltered from frost and keen winds. They may be kept moderately moist.

ROCKET.

HESPERIS.

CRUCIFERA.

TETRADYNAMIA SILIQUOSE.

Hesperis is from the Greek, and signifies evening; the flowers are so called because they smell sweetest at that time.-English, Rocket; Dame's-violets; Damask-violets; Queen's-gilliflowers; Rogue's-gilliflowers; Winter-gilliflowers; and Close-sciences.—French, la Julienne; la Juliana; la cassolette [smelling-bottle]; la giroflée musquée [musk pink]; la giroflée des dames [ladies' pink]; la violette des dames [dame's violet]; la Juliane de nuit [night Juliana].—Italian, esperide ; Giuliana; viola matronale [housewifes' violet]; bella Giulia [pretty Julia].

THE species called the Night-smelling Rocket is much cultivated for the evening fragrance of the flowers, which in- duces the ladies in Germany to keep it in pots in their apartments, whence it obtained the name of Dame's-violets.

These flowers are generally biennial, and flower but once; they must therefore be frequently supplied. A strong root of each kind desired should be set apart, not suffered to flower; but when the flower-stems have shot up six inches high, they should be cut down close to the bottom: these stalks may each be cut into two pieces, and both halves planted in a soft loamy earth, and placed where they may enjoy the morning sun. They should then be well watered and covered with glasses, round the rims of which the earth should be drawn close, to exclude the air. When the sun is hot, these glasses should be shaded. Once a week the cuttings should be watered, and again carefully covered. With this management they will put out roots in five or six weeks, and begin to shoot above: then the glasses should be a little raised on one side, to admit the air, and gradually to harden them. When they have taken good root, replant them in pots about ten inches in diameter, observing to

shade them till they have taken good root, and to water them as when first planted.

The roots so cut down will send out more stalks than before, and these may be cut down and treated in the same manner; so that, if the roots are sound, two or three crops of cuttings may be taken from them, and there may always be a good supply of these flowers.

They blow in June; and, after the flowers have decayed, young plants may be raised from the stalks as before directed; but not so strong as from the fresh roots, nor are they always sure to grow.

Their colours are purple or white; single and double of each they must not be over-liberally watered, nor planted in a very rich soil, or they will be liable to rot. In dry, hot weather, when they are in flower, they may be watered every evening, but it must be very sparingly.

This beautiful plant is rather scarce in this country, as the cuttings treated in the ordinary way do not succeed well; but the following method will be found a never-failing method of propagating it. After the flower has begun to fade, cut down the stalks and divide them into cuttings, strip off the leaves and smooth the ends, then make three slits, with a knife, in the rind lengthways, so as to raise it for about half an inch in length. By this means, when the cutting is inserted into the ground, the loose rind curls up, and thus a greater tendency to throw out roots is produced, so that not one in twenty will fail. The same method is equally efficacious in cuttings of stock-gilliflowers and double wall-flowers.