Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/342

310] in a dry box or drawer, where they will keep without decaying.—In the winter, or whenever the flowers are required to blow, the wax is to be cut off the buds, and these should in the evening be immersed into water, in which a little nitre, or common salt, has been dissolved: if exposed to the rays of the sun, on the succeeding day, they will expand with all their original fragrance and beauty.

There are a few general remarks made by eminent botanists, on the growth, enlargement, colours, and duplication of flowers; the substance of which we shall communicate under the following heads:

1. It is an established fact, that flowers as well as fruits grow larger in the shade, and ripen and decay soonest, when exposed to the sun. Hence, likewise, the foliage or buds of plants requires more moisture for its vigorous growth than their flowers, or organs of fructification. Farther, observes Dr., the frequent rains of our climate, are apt not only to wash off the farina from the bursting anthers, and thus to prevent the impregnation of the pistil, but also to delay the ripening of the fruit or seeds, from the want of a due evaporation of their perspirable matter, as well as from the deficiency of solar light in cloudy seasons. In another place of his admirable "Phytologia," this philosopher remarks that, as a superfluous supply of water is more friendly to the growth of leaf-buds, than to the generation of flower-buds, the production of seeds may be forwarded by supplying their roots with less water than usual. But when the blossoms appear, an addition of water promotes their growth, by affording nourishment, which should again be lessened, when the fruit has acquired its full size, both to promote its maturity and improve its flavour; as the saccharine matter and essential oil will thus be in a less diluted state.—Although the fruit may become sweeter and larger, when the green as well as the floral leaves continue on the tree, yet the corols with the stamens, stigmas, and nectaries (the succeeding fruit not considered) suffer, in the opinion of Dr., no injury when both kinds of leaves are removed, as by the depredations of insects. Nay, some florists assert, that the flowers thus become stronger, producing no bulbs, as is the case with tulips and hyacinths.

2. The variegated  of the petals of flowers are so beautiful, and afford such delight to the eye of the contemplative naturalist, as to deserve some investigation. It is probable that varieties in the colours of single flowers raised from seeds, may be generally obtained by sowing those which already possess different shades, contiguous to others of the same species; or, by bending the flowers of one colour and shaking the anther-dust over those of another. Thus Dr. supposes the beds of the corn blue-bottle, centaurea cyanus, acquire those beautiful shades of blue, purple, and white. As some animals change their natural colours, when transplanted in different situations of soil, a similar effect may be produced by sowing flowers in factitious composts, which considerably differ from each other with respect to vegetable nutriment, and perhaps also in their colour. Experiments on this subject, as well as on the variegation of the leaves of shrubs and trees, are however wanting