It is usual to plant the imported bulbs in pots of sand, or light loam, as soon as they arrive, and place them in the parlour window, or greenhouse; they blossom in September and October; the flowers, which continue about a month in perfection, are inodorous, but make up for that deficiency by the superior splendour of their colours: Dr. Douglass thus describes them, each flower when in its prime looks like a fine gold tissue wrought on a rose-coloured ground, but when it begins to fade and decay, it looks more like a silver tissue, or what they call a pink colour: when we look upon the flower in full sun-shine, each leaf appears to be studded with thousands of little diamonds, sparkling and glittering with a most surprising and agreeable lustre; but if we view the same by candle-light, these numerous specks or spangles look more like fine gold dust. Both Kaempfer and Thunberg agree, that the Japanese regard the root as poisonous. [Footnote A: "They love a light earth, made with dung and sand, and a little lime rubbish with it does very well, it keeps the roots sound; for if the earth be too stiff or wet, you may keep them for many years before they blow. If they are in pots, they should be put in the house in Winter, to keep them from the severe frosts, which are apt to rot the roots. The time of moving them is when they have no leaves on the root, that is from June to August: those that come with six leaves this year, seldom fail blowing the next year: they need not be put in fresh earth above once in two or three years: by this method of management I have had the same roots blow again in four years time. The many miscarriages that happen to the Guernsey Lily, are by letting the leaves be killed by the fierceness of the frost in Winter, or by cutting them off, as some people do, when they are green, which will so much weaken the plants, that they may keep them twenty years and not have them blow; by the above management, where there is a stock, there will be continually some blowing. "Miller recommends for these roots the following compost: Take a third-part of fresh virgin earth from a pasture-ground which is light, then put near an equal part of sea-sand, to which you should add rotten dung and sifted lime rubbish, of each an equal quantity." The great business in the culture of this flower, next to a proper soil and situation, seems to consist in giving the plant as much air as possible, and in preserving the foliage in the Winter from the injury of frost.] [295] Agrostemma C[oe]li Rosa. Smooth-Leav'd Cockle, or Rose Campion. _Class and Order._ Decandria Pentagynia. _Generic Character._ _Cal._ 1-phyllus, coriaceus. _Petala_ 5 unguiculata: limbo obtuso indiviso. _Caps._ 1 locularis. _Specific Character and Synonyms._ AGROSTEMMA _Coeli rosa_ glabra, foliis lineari-lanceolatis, petalis emarginatis coronatis. _Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. p. 435._ _Ait. Kew. v. 2. p. 116._