the winter, by being placed in a green house, or the window of a common sitting-room, and may be preserved for several years, if air is given to it whenever the weather will allow, so that the young branches do not become too delicate. As soon as the seed-vessels begin to form they should be cut off, which will cause the plant to throw out a fresh supply of blossoms: but these plants should never be suffered to perfect their seed, as it would greatly weaken them, and generally cause their entire decay; for the Sweet Reseda is an annual in its proper climate, and therefore naturally decays when it has ripened its seed. We have made the same experiment on other annual plants which have survived through the winter, and produced blossom on the following year, when their flower-stalks have been cut off before the formation of seed has taken place. By this means, also, Stocks and Wall-flowers, which blossom in the spring, will be found to flower a second time in the summer, if their branches are cut off. We have frequently made the experiment on early-flowering Honeysuckles, and obtained a fine display of corollas in the autumn; for it appears almost like instinct in plants to endeavour to perform their office to nature in rendering up their various seeds. The philosophical reason of this apparent phenomenon is, that the roots have drawn up and furnished the trunk with the due proportion

of nourishment required to perfect the seed-vessels and the seeds, and the vital principle of the germ also rests in the trunk and branches until it is drawn forth by the various parts of fructification, which is prevented, by separating these parts from the branches; consequently, the juices are forced into other directions, and form a second attempt to expand themselves, agreeably to their various nature. Some florists, who considered the Tree Mignonette as a distinct species of the Reseda, obtained seeds of the Tree Mignonette from their seedsmen, who, considering it was the tall-growing Reseda, Lutea, sent such, which, after having been nursed up with care and potted with attention, proved to be only the common Reseda, or Dyer's Weed of our fields.

It is frequently observed that the seeds of the Sweet Reseda, which scatter themselves in the autumn, produce finer plants than those that are sown in the spring, which should teach us to sow a part of our seed at that season of the year, when, if not successful, it may be repeated in the spring, and we have generally found those self-sown plants most productive of seed.

To procure early-flowering plants of Mignonette, the seeds should be sown in pots or boxes in the autumn, and kept in frames through the winter; but when this is omitted, the plants may

be forwarded by sowing the seed on a gentle hotbed in the spring. A small border of Sweet Reseda will produce seed sufficient to scatter over a large portion of hedgerow-banks, and if one seed out of ten germinate amongst the bushes, it will be sufficient to fill whole vales with fragrance, "like a stream of rich-distilled perfumes."

VALERIAN. Valeriana.

Natural Order Aggregatæ. Dipsacea and Valérianées, Juss. A Genus of the Triandria Monogynia Class.

Gay Loosetrife there and pale Valerian spring.

SCOTT.

IT seems a matter of doubt with some writers whether the Red Valerian of our gardens, Valeriana Rubra, be an aboriginal of our soil. The British Botanist and the Hortus Kewensis claim it as a native plant, although it is not acknowledged as such by Gerard, Parkinson, Ray, and other old writers. We are disposed to consider it an exotic of early introduction, principally on account of the situations where it is found growing, which are generally on the old walls of colleges, or on the ruins of monastic buildings. Such in former days were the only places where medicine was studied or medicinal plants cultivated. The Red Valerian was observed by Dr. Sibthorp on the walls of Merton College, Oxford. Mr. Martyn found it growing abundantly on Merton Abbey walls, in Surry. Mr. Relham notices it at Coton and Babraham, as well as on Ely Minster and the walls adjoining.

We have likewise seen it growing most abundantly on the ancient boundary walls of the gardens belonging to the episcopal palace of Chichester, in Sussex.

The old English name of Setewale, for this plant, is derived from the Saxon. Chaucer writes of it under this appellation as long back as the time of Edward the Third.

Ther springen herbes grete and smale,
The Licoris and the Setewale.

Dr. Turner, who compiled his Herbal during the reign of Queen Mary, calls it Setwall, and he observes that it is the plant which is named Valeriana Major by the common herbarists.

Gerard, who wrote in the succeeding reign, tells us that it was called "Holie Herbe, Juno's Teares, Mercurie's Moist Bloude, and Pigeon's Grasse, or Columbine, bicause Pigeons are delighted to be amongst it, as also to eate thereof."

The Latins are thought to have called this plant Valeriana, from its powers in medicine, or as some suppose after Vectius Valens, a favourite physician of the empress Messalina, wife to Claudius Cæsar, as it appears to have been called Phu previous to his time.

The Red Valerian grows naturally on the rocks of the Alps, and from the facility with which it