evening they should be sparingly watered in winter, when left in the earth. Pots three inches in diameter, and five in depth, will be large enough for these plants: the bulbs should be covered about an inch deep.

The Cape of Good Hope, which is so fertile in bulbous flowers, gives birth to a great variety of Ixias. Thunberg mentions two in particular: "The Ixia bulbifera, a bulbous plant, with a red flower, grew here in the greatest abundance. When one approached the place where it grew, it seemed to be but thinly scattered over the field, but at a distance, the ground appeared as if it were covered with scarlet cloth.

Here and here only was found, beside the brooks, a green variety of the Ixia maculata, another tall bulbous plant, which is as elegant as singular, with its long cluster of green flowers, growing out like an ear of corn, and is extremely scarce all over the world*."

JERUSALEM-SAGE.

PHLOMIS.

LABIATE.

DIDYNAMIA GYMNOSPERMIA.

Called also Tree-sage.-French, bouillon blanc de Sicile [white mullein of Sicily]; sauge en arbrisseau; sauge en arbre.

THIS shrub retaining its leaves all the year, and its bright yellow flowers the greater part of the summer, is very de

sirable. It should be sheltered from severe frost; but in mild winters, if not convenient to house it, a little sawdust laid over the roots will be a sufficient protection. In dry summer weather it may be allowed a little water every evening: once or twice a week will suffice in the winter, and none during frost.

* Thunberg's Travels, vol. i. p. 34.

JESSAMINE.

JASMINUM.

JASMINEE.

DIANDRIA MONOGYNIA.

The name of this plant is derived from the Greek, and signifies an agreeable odour. Nearly all the European languages have the same name for it.—In French, it is jasmin: in Italian, gelsomino: Spanish, jasmin: Dutch, jasmyn, &c. &c. In English it is sometimes familiarly called Jessamy, Jessima, and Gesse.

THE kinds of Jessamine most frequently grown in pots are the Yellow Indian, and the Spanish or Catalonian. The first grows to the height of eight or ten feet; the leaves continue green all the year, and the blossoms are of a bright yellow, very fragrant, and blowing from July till October or November. They are frequently succeeded by oblong berries, which turn black when ripe.

The Spanish Jessamine *, so named because it came to us from Spain, is a native of the East Indies. The flowers are of a blush-red outside, and white within: blowing at the same time as the Indian kind. From the middle of May to the middle of October they may stand in the open air; but must then be housed, having as much fresh air as possible in mild weather. They should have but little water at a time, but that should be given often, so that the earth may be always moist. In spring, the decayed branches should be pruned; and of the Spanish kind the sound ones should be pruned to the length of two feet, which will cause them to shoot strong, and produce many flowers. But this liberty must not be taken with the Indian kind.

There is an elegant gallantry in the following lines, from the Spanish of Don Luis de Gongora :

* Italian, Catalogno.

"From my summer alcove, which the stars this morn
With lucid pearls o'erspread,

I have gathered these jessamines thus to adorn
With a wreath thy graceful head.

From thy bosom and mouth they, as flowers, ere death,

Ask a purer white, and a sweeter breath.

Their blossoms, a host of bees, alarmed,
Watched o'er on jealous wing;

Hoarse trumpeters seemed they all, and armed,
Each bee with a diamond sting:

I tore them away, but each flower I tore
Has cost me a wound which smarteth sore.

Now, as I these jessamine flowers entwine,
A gift for thy fragrant hair,

I must have from those honey-sweet lips of thine
A kiss for each sting I bear:

It is just that the blooms I bring thee home
Be repaid by sweets from the golden comb."

Translated by J. H. WIFFEN.

The Common White Jessamine is an exceedingly elegant plant for training over a wall, where that support can be allowed, and after its first infancy will bear our winters very well. It is a delicate and fragrant shrub, not surpassed in beauty by any of the species. It is of this Cowper speaks in the following passage :

"The jasmine throwing wide her elegant sweets,
The deep dark green of whose unvarnished leaf
Makes more conspicuous, and illumines more,
The bright profusion of her scattered stars."

The Hindoos, who use odoriferous flowers in their sacrifices, particularly value the Jessamine for this purpose, and the flower which they call Zambuk.

Jessamine is one of the shrubs of which Milton forms the bower of Adam and Eve in Paradise:

"Thus talking, hand in hand alone they pass'd On to their blissful bower: it was a place

Chosen by the sovereign Planter, when he framed
All things to man's delightful use; the roof
Of thickest covert was inwoven shade,
Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew
Of firm and fragrant leaf: on either side
Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub,

Fenced up the verdant wall; each beauteous flower,

Iris all hues, roses, and jessamine,

Rear'd high their flourish'd heads between, and wrought
Mosaic; underfoot the violet,

Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay

Broider'd the ground, more colour'd than with stone

Of costliest emblem."

Mr. T. Moore speaks of the Jessamine as more fragrant by night than by day:

"'Twas midnight-through the lattice, wreathed

With woodbine, many a perfume breathed
From plants that wake when others sleep;
From timid jasmine buds, that keep

Their odour to themselves all day,
But, when the sun-light dies away,
Let the delicious secret out

To every breeze that roams about."

"The jessamine, with which the queen of flowers,
To charm her god, adorns his favourite bowers;
Which brides by the plain hand of Neatness drest,
Unenvied rival! wear upon their breast;
Sweet as the incense of the morn, and chaste
As the pure zone which circles Dian's waist."
CHURCHILL.

Jessamine abounds in Italian gardens. In the East it is cultivated for the stems, of which pipes are made.

Dallaway says, speaking of the Turks, “In his pipe an opulent man is extremely sumptuous; the head must be of pale amber, the stick of jasmine-wood, with the bark preserved, and the bowl of a delicate red-clay, manufactured at Burgas in Romelia, and highly ornamented. According to the dignity of the smoker is the length of his

pipe, often six or seven feet, when it is carried by two of his servants from place to place, with much ceremony; and the bowl is supported by wheels as an aid to supreme indolence. In the summer, for greater coolness, the stem of the pipe is covered with cotton or muslin, and moistened with water. This sovereign recreation is not confined to the men; the ladies, especially those advanced in life, partake of it largely; and, as a delicacy, they mix the tobacco with frankincense, musk, or aloes-wood *."

JUNIPER.

JUNIPERUS.

CONIFERÆ.

DIOECIA MONADELPHIA.

French, le génevrier; le genièvre; le petron: in the old writers, jupicelle; genibretos; cadenelo; in Languedoc, lou geniebre in Provence, genibre.-Italian, il ginepro; in the Brescian, zenéver; at Venice, brusichio.

THE Common Juniper is well adapted for potting, and is the more desirable as being an evergreen. It is common in all the northern parts of Europe, in rich or barren soils, in open sandy plains, or in moist close woods: it will bear the severest cold in our climate, and will require no other attention than to keep it clear from weeds, and to give it a little water in a continued drought.

This shrub is celebrated for its medicinal properties: a sweet decoction is made from the berries, from which a quantity of sugar may be obtained. The bark may be made into ropes. A spirit impregnated with the essential oil of the berries is known by the name of Holland gin, or Hollands. The common English gin also derives part of its flavour from these berries, but is a very compound

Dallaway's Constantinople, p. 85.

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