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FLOOR-CLOTH-FLOORS.

from 18 to 24 feet in width, and in lengths from 100 to 113 yards.

The first step towards converting this canvas into floor-cloth consists in stretching it on a frame. This is a work of some difficulty, on account of the great size of the pieces. Some of the frames are as much as 100 feet in length by 24 feet in height, and the canvas must be stretched over it as tight as a drum. The back or plain side of the cloth is first operated upon, by priming it with a solution of size, and scouring it with pumice. The object of this is to prevent too much of the paint from penetrating the canvas, and rendering it brittle, and to make an even surface to receive the paint, which is mixed with linseed oil, with very little or no turpentine, and is consequently thicker than common paint. This is thrown or splashed upon the surface with a brush; and then with a long steel trowel the workman spreads the dabs of paint, and produces a tolerably smooth surface. This trowelcolour is left for 12 or 14 days to dry, and then another coat is laid on in a similar manner; and this completes the back or under side of the floor-cloth. While the first coat of the back is drying, the front is primed and pumiced, and a coat of trowelcolour laid on. As more care is required on this side, this coat of colour is scoured quite smooth with pumice, and two more trowel-colours are added, and each scoured like the first. Another coat is now carefully laid on with a brush, and is called a brushcolour. This forms the ground upon which the pattern is to be printed.

The printing is done by means of wood-blocks. The pattern is first drawn and painted, in its complete form and colours, upon a piece of paper; another piece of paper is now laid under this, and the outlines of that portion of the pattern included in one colour are pricked through to the lower paper. In like manner, pricked outlines of each of the other colours are prepared. Each of these pricked sheets is laid upon a block of pear-tree wood, and dusted over with powdered charcoal or lampblack, and thus the pattern is drawn in dots upon the wood; the carver cuts away the wood surrounding the pattern, and leaves it standing in relief.

The pear-tree blocks are backed by gluing them to a piece of deal, and this piece again to another, with the fibres at right angles, to prevent warping.

The colours are spread by boys upon padded cushions covered with floor-cloth, and each printer dabs his block upon that containing the required colour, and then places it upon the floor-cloth, and striking it with the handle of a short heavy hammer, prints his portion of the pattern. He then proceeds with a repetition of this, and as he advances, he is followed in order by the printers of the other colours, who place their blocks accurately over the pattern the first has commenced. The first printer's chief care is to keep the repetitions of the pattern accurately in line.

The quality of floor-cloth depends mainly upon the number of coats of paint, the kind of medium used for the colour, and the time given to drying. For the best qualities, a fortnight must elapse between the laying on of each coat, and finally, several months' exposure in the drying-room is necessary. As the rental of the space thus occupied, and the interest of the capital left stagnant during this time, amount to a considerable sum, there is a strong inducement to manufacturers to hasten the processes, which may easily be done by using gold size or boiled linseed oil, or other rapid dryers, instead of raw linseed oil; but just in proportion as the drying is hastened by these means, the durability and flexibility of the floor-cloth are deteriorated. In

order to secure the maximum of durability, floorcloth should still be kept three or four years after it has left the drying-room of the manufacturer, aro purchasers should always select those pieces which they have reason to believe have been the longest in stock. Narrow floor-cloth, for stair-carpeting, passages, &c., is made as above, and then cut into the required widths, and printed. It usually has a large pattern in the middle, and a border of a smaller design.

The laying of lobbies and passages with encaustic tiles has lately led to the superseding of floor-cloth in such situations, while for some other purposes, such as covering the floors of churches, readingrooms, and waiting-rooms at railway-stations, it is superseded by the newly invented material called kamptulicon, or vulcanised India-rubber cloth, which is impervious to wet, soft and quiet to the tread, and warm to the feet. This new material is made plain or figured to resemble painted floor-cloth.

between the stories of a building, the upper part of FLOORS, FLOORING, the horizontal partitions which forms the floor of the apartments above, and the lower portion the ceiling of those below.

Floors are variously constructed, according to their dimensions, and to the weight they have to sustain. Single-joisted floors are the simplest and most cheaply constructed, and are used for ordinary buildings, where the distance between the bearings does not exceed 20, or at most 24 feet.

The annexed figure represents a section of a singlejoisted floor, in the line of the flooring-boards, and across the joists. These joists are beams laid edge

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a, b, c, d, the joists; e, f, the flooring-boards; eg and dh, herring-bone strutting.

upwards, and resting at their ends upon wall-plates built into the walls. Their width should not be less than two inches, for if narrower, they would be liable to split with the nailing of the flooring-boards. They are placed edge upwards, in order to economise timber, as the strength of a beam to bear a transverse strain varies simply with the breadth and with the square of the depth. See STRENGTH OF MATERIALS. When a deep and long joist is used, there is danger of its twisting or turning over; this is prevented by strutting, that is, nailing cross pieces of wood between them, as shewn between the joists c and d of the figure, or less effectually, by driving pieces of planking between them. Strutting is required when the length of the joists exceeds eight feet. The laths for the ceiling of the room below are nailed to the bottom of the joists. In good substantial work, the distance between the joists from centre to centre is about 12 inches, but this is often exceeded in cheaply built houses.

Double-joisted floors are constructed by laying strong timbers, called binding-joists, from wall to wall, at a distance of about six feet apart; and a double set of joists, one above for the floor, and one below for the ceiling, are laid across these, and notched down upon them. These latter, when thus placed, are called bridging-joists, as they bridge over the interval between the larger binding-joists. This is adopted when a more perfect ceiling, free from cracks, produced by the yielding of the floor, is required, or where there is a difficulty in obtaining a sufficient amount of long timber for single joisting the whole of the floor.

The framed floor is one degree more compicx

FLORA-FLORENCE.

than the double-joisted. Binding and bridging joists are used in the framed floor, but the bindingjoists cease to be the primary support, as for this purpose strong balks of timbers, called girders, are used. They are laid across, at distances of from eight to ten feet, and the binding-joists are framed into them by a tusk-tenon joint. See CARPENTRY. The bridging-joists are notched to these in the same manner as for double-joisted floors. A bay is the general name for the space between girders: if between a girder and wall, it is called a tail bay; or between two girders, a case bay; and the work between is described as a bay of joisting.

When the space to be spanned is too great for a simple wood-girder, trussed or built up wooden girders or iron girders are used: the latter have of late come into extensive use, even where simple wood-girders are applicable. See GIRDER.

any.

With a given quantity of timber, and a moderate space, the single-joisted floor is the strongest of One of its disadvantages is the free communication of sound to the apartment below, unless some additional means of obstructing the sound be adopted.

When first laid, the floor should be rather high in the centre, to allow for settling at the joints; and when settled, it should be perfectly level, for if it rises in the middle, it will exert an outward thrust upon the walls, and if hollow, it will pull inwards; but if level, its whole strain is perpendicular.

The flooring-boards are usually nailed to the joists, and vary from 1 to 14 inch in thickness; for common floors they are from 7 to 9 inches wide, but for better floors a width of only 3 to 5 inches is used. The advantage of the narrow boards is, that the shrinkage and warping have not so much effect on the spaces between. This refers to the ordinary deal-flooring used in modern British domestic buildings. The facing of the floor in many old mansions is formed of small pieces of oak carefully inlaid. See PARQUETERIE. For other kinds of inlaid fancy floors, see MOSAIC, ENCAUSTIC TILES, and CONCRETE. In France, and most of the southern continental countries, where carpets are rarely used, the flooring-boards of the better class of houses are made of hard wood, carefully and closely jointed, and these floors are commonly rubbed with bees-wax, and polished. In humbler dwellings, even the bedrooms are paved with tiles, or strong plaster, or concrete; and considering the prevalence of fleas, &c., in such places, they are certainly better adapted for them than our deal-boards and carpets. They may be freely sprinkled, and even swilled with water in hot weather.

For warehouses where heavy goods are stored, for ball-rooms, &c., special construction is required to adapt the floor to the strain put upon it.

FLO'RA, among the Romans, was the name of the goddess of flowers and of the spring, and was latterly identified with the Greek Chloris. Her temple was situated in the vicinity of the Circus Maximus. The worship of F. was one of the oldest manifestations of the Roman religious feeling, and is affirmed to have been introduced by Numa. The Floralia, or festivals in honour of the goddess, were first instituted 238 B. C., and were celebrated from the 28th of April to the 1st of May, with much licentious merriment, prostitutes playing an important part on such occasions. On coins, F. is represented with a crown of flowers.-In Botany, the term Flora is a collective name for plants, and is used with regard to the vegetable kingdom in the same way as the term Fauna with regard to the animal. It is common to speak of the Flora of a country or district; and a work devoted to the

botany of a country or district is often entitled a Flora of that region.

In

FLORENCE (Ital. formerly Fiorenza, now FIRENZE), the capital of Tuscany, is situated in the valley of the Arno, in lat. 43° 46′ N., and long 11 15' E. It is about 123 feet above the level of the sea; 60 miles from Leghorn, 45 from Lucca, 40 from Siena, and 44 from Arezzo. Pop. 114,500. The Arno, spanned by four fine bridges, divides the city into two unequal parts, the chief of which stands on the northern bank of the river. shape, an irregular pentagon, F. is enclosed by walls of about 6 miles in extent, and communicates with the exterior by means of eight gates, which conduct to thickly peopled suburbs, and a lovely, fertile, and salubrious neighbourhood, encircled by sloping hills, and studded with pieturesque villas and fruitful vineyards and gardens. F. and her environs, viewed from the heights of Fiesole, appear but one vast city. Many causes render this city a most attractive place of resi dence to foreigners-a lovely country and healthful climate, cheap living, and the universal courteous intelligence of the people, united to the immense sources of interest possessed by the city in her grand historical monuments and collections of art. The massive and austere forms of Florentine architecture impart an air of gloomy grandeur to the streets, for the most part regular and well kept; but in the many feuds and civil convulsions of the city, these domestic fortresses were subjected to severe regular sieges and attacks, which lighter and more elegant structures could have ill withstood. The chief monuments of the city are Il Duomo, or the Cathedral, the foundations of which were laid with great solemnity in 1298. The Florentines having ambitiously resolved on erecting a monument which for architectural splendour and proportions should outvie all preceding structures, the honour of preparing the design was intrusted to Arnolfo de Cambio da Colle. On his death, Giotto superintended the works; and many eminent architects were employed before this splendid edifice was com pleted-Brunelleschi, the last, conceived and erected the grand cupola, so much admired by Michael Angelo as to have served him as model for that of St Peter's. At the side of the cathedral springs up the light and elegant bell-tower, detached, according to the custom of the times. In front is the Baptis tery of San Giovanni, in form an octagon, supporting a cupola and lantern; all three edifices being entirely coated with a varied mosaic of black and white marble. Three bronze gates in basso-rilievo are a great additional adornment of the Baptistery; the two by Ghiberti have been immortalised by Michael Angelo with the name of Gates of Paradise. See Sgrilli's description. The church of the Santa Croce, the Pantheon of F. (built in 1294-architect, Arnolfo), contains monuments to Galileo, Dante, Machiavelli, Michael Angelo, Alfieri, &c. church of San Lorenzo was consecrated as early as 393 by St Ambrose, and rebuilt by Brunel leschi in 1425, by command of Giovanni and Cosmo de' Medici. It contains an interesting monumental memorial of Cosmo il Vecchio, bearing inscribed the title Pater Patria, which had been conferred on his memory by public suffrage the year following his death. In the Nuova Sagrestia, or New Sacristry, are the two famous monuments of Michael Angelo to Julian and Lorenzo de' Medici. The figures of these two statues are marvels of deep and living expression, and unsurpassable in their mute and eloquent beauty. The Medi cean chapel, gorgeous with the rarest marbles and most costly stones, agate, lapis lazuli, chalcedony, &c., stands behind the choir, and contains the

The

FLORENCE.

tombs of the Medici family, and those of the grand dukes their successors. Annexed to the church is the Laurentian Library, with its inexhaustible store of rare MSS., founded by Giulio de' Medici. Bandini has published the catalogue of the Greek, Latin, and Italian MSS.; and Biscioni and Assemani those of the Hebrew and Oriental ones. Amongst the numerous palaces, Il Bargello, now converted into a prison, is one of the most ancient, and was formerly the abode of the republican magistrate, the Podestà. In 1841, some interesting portraits were brought to light by the removal of a coating of whitewash from the revered features of Dante, Brunetto Latini, Corso Donati, &c., in the chapel of the palace. The Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of the republican government from its establishment till 1530, when it was abolished, is an imposing mass of building, surmounted by a lofty tower 260 feet high, the great bell of which used to warn the citizens of danger, or summon them to defence. Adjoining the palace is the Piazza del Palazzo Vecchio, a square containing a fine collection of statues, and a noble arcade, the Loggia de' Lanzi, under the porticos of which are magnificent groups of sculpture (see Rastelli's Illustrazione Storica del Palazzo della Signoria detto Palazzo Vecchio); Gli Uffizi, a handsome building between the Palazzo Vecchio and the Arno, founded by Cosmo I., in the first floor of which are deposited the archives of the court of justice and other public offices, also the Magliabechi Library of 150,000 volumes, and 12,000 MSS. On the second floor, in a circular suite of 23 rooms, is contained the famous Florentine gallery of art; rich in paintings, engravings, sculpture, bronzes, coins, gems, and mosaics. A splendid apartment, known as the Tribuna, contains the rarest treasures of the collection, and is in itself a wonder of art, with its cupola inlaid with mother of pearl, and its rich marble pavement. The Palazzo Pitti, the modern grand ducal residence, boasts of a superb gallery of paintings, and of a collection of 70,000 rare volumes, and 1500 MSS.

The Palazzo Riccardi, now public property, is much frequented for its fine library. The Palazzo Strozzi is a fine type of Tuscan architecture. Florence abounds in other public edifices and monuments well meriting notice, but our limits oblige us to omit all mention of them. The practical and philanthropical institutions are also numerous and excellently organised. The hospital of Santa Maria Nuova contains a college of medicine and surgery, which enjoys a European fame. The Academy of the Fine Arts and the Museum of Natural History afford unlimited resources to the public interested in their collections. There are three hospitals, one lunatic asylum, nine theatres. The Academy della Crusca, is intrusted with the care of sifting and preserving uncorrupted the Italian language. The Academy dei Georgofili was established in the interests of agriculture, the progress and needs of which it reports quarterly in the Giornale Agrario Toscano. For a detailed description of F., see Guida della Città di Firenze, 1822. The chief industrial occupations of the Florentines are the fabrication of silk and woollen textures, and of straw-plaiting for hats, &c., jewellery, and exquisite mosaics in rare stones. Education is more diffused in Tuscany than in any other Italian state; and the Florentines are famous for their caustic wit, and natural gifts of eloquence, as well as for their shrewd thriftiness and unflagging abour. In their moral superiority to other states may be recognised the effects of a better and more upright government than those which existed in most of the other divisions of the peninsula previous to the late partial union of Italy.

History of Florence.-The city of F. sprang originally from Fiesole (q. v.), at the foot of which it lies extended. The inconvenient and hilly site of the Etruscan Fiesole, perched on the crest of an irregular height, rendered the town so difficult of access to the traders who resorted to its market-places with their varied merchandise, that it was at length decreed they should assemble at the base of the hill, in the fertile plain traversed by the Arno. The few rough shelters erected for the accommodation of these traders may be considered the original nucleus of the important and splendid city of Florence. Such at least is the traditionary history of its origin generally accepted by the Florentine historians. It would seem that as early as the time of Sulla there had been a Roman colony here; another was sent after the death of Julius Cæsar, and it soon became a thriving town. The Florentini are mentioned by Tacitus, 16 A. D., as sending delegates to Rome, but it was not till the time of Charlemagne that F. began to rise out of obscurity. It was now governed by a political head with the title of Duke, assisted by various subordinate officers, who were elected by the united suffrages of the duke and citizens. In the 11th c., F., and a great part of Tuscany, were bequeathed to Pope Gregory VII., by his friend and partisan the Countess Matilda, who inherited from her mother, the Countess Beatrix, her jurisdiction over the city. Under the protection of Rome, F. speedily adopted the forms and institutions of a free city; and the republican spirit which then arose amongst the people imparted an impulse to national and individual life, and awoke a spirit of ardent patriotism and splendid enterprise. As early as the 11th c., the Florentines were European traders, and the possessors of grand commercial dépôts in the seaports and cities of France and England, and their skill as workers in gold and jewels had grown proverbial. In proportion as papal preponderance increased in F., that of the empire sank; and in 1113 the citizen forces routed the troops, and slew the delegate of the emperor at Monte Cascioli, near Florence. During the bitter wars between pope and empire, F. and all Tuscany seemed to have been saved from the civil feuds which raged throughout Italy between the contending factions of Guelphs and Ghibellines; the former, adherents of the pope; the latter, of the empire. But in 1215, F. became involved in the great party struggle, owing to a private feud breaking out between two noble families, chiefs of the contending principles. A Guelph noble, Buondelmonti, mortally incensed the Ghibelline family of the Amidei, by breaking off his alliance with a daughter of their house, and contracting marriage with a member of a Guelph family. To avenge this insult, the Amidei appealed to their powerful kinsmen, the Uberti, and, in fact, to all the Ghibelline party of Florence. Buondelmonti was stabbed to death as he crossed the bridge of the Ponte Vecchio, and was speedily avenged by the Guelphs in the blood of his enemies. Thus for 33 years was F. distracted by the deeds of bloodshed and violence of these two rival factions, who assumed the names, and adopted the respective causes of Guelph and Ghibelline. See GUELPH AND GHIBELLINE. In 1250, the animosity of these parties seemed somewhat blunted, and public attention was directed to wise internal reforms. Twelve magistrates, or anziani, were appointed in place of the consuls, each of the six sections into which the city was divided being intrusted to two of these magistrates, whose tenure of office was annual. To avoid all local dissensions, two other magistrates, strangers by birth, were elected: the one, invested with supreme authority in civil and criminal cases, was called the podestà; the other, with the title of captain of the people, had the chief

FLORES-FLORICULTURE.

command of the militia, in which were enrolled preserved his life. An attempt to admit a proporall the youth of the state, who were bound, at tion of the nobles into the government signally the call of this magistrate, to join their company failed at this time, and only led to renewed anifully equipped for fight: 20 companies defended mosity between them and the citizens. This was the town, 96 the country. After the death of the the last effort of the nobles to secure power. See Emperor Frederick II., the great protector of the Machiavelli, book ii. A terrible pest decimated Ghibellines, the Guelph or papal party gradually F. in 1348, sweeping off 100,000 of her inhabitants. rose in power in F., and during ten years of See Boccaccio, Decameron. The chief power of F. their predominance, the city ascended in grandeur about this time seems to have been alternately and prosperity, until it stood not only the first in wielded by the democratic families, the Alberti and Tuscany, but one of the first of all Italy. In the Ricci, and by their patrician rivals, the Albizzi, 1254, the Florentines first coined their noble golden who, for the space of 53 years, guided the republic florin, unequalled at the time for beauty: in weight, in the path of independence and progress. In 1406, a drachm, it bore on one side the national emblem, the ancient and illustrious republic of Pisa (q. v.) a lily; and on the reverse, the effigy of the popular fell under the sway of F., after a most heroic resist patron, St John the Baptist. It commemorated ance. From 1434, the history of F. is intimately a period of great success in the annals of F., whose bound up with the House of Medici, whose influence forces had successively humbled the adjoining supplanted that of the Albizzi. See MEDICI. The towns of Siena, Arezzo, Pisa, and Pistoja in 1252, Medici were repeatedly banished from F., in conseand in 1254 captured Volterra. In 1260, the quence of their aiming at sovereign power; and to standard of civil war was again raised by the their intrigues F. owes her final loss of republican Ghibellines of F., who, in league with Manfred of rights and institutions. Pope Clement VII., of the Naples, attacked the Guelphs, and cut their forces House of Medici, formed a league with the Emperor to pieces in the sanguinary battle of Monte Aperto. Charles V., by which the liberties of F. were to be The conquerors entered F. forthwith in the name extinguished, and the sovereign power to be invested of Manfred, abolished all trace of the popular in the pope's bastard son, Alexander de' Medici. In institutions, establishing an exclusively aristocratic September 1529, an army of imperialists, under the executive, and even strongly advocated the entire Duke of Orange, entered Tuscany; and on the 8th of destruction of the city, the hotbed of Guelphism. August 1530, the siege of F. terminated, after a This barbarous scheme was indignantly repudiated defence of unexampled devotion and bravery on the by their own famous leader, Farinata degli Uberti, part of the citizens. Thus fell the name and form immortalised by Dante for his patriotism. He of the republic of F., quenched in the best blood declared his intention of heading the Guelphs, were of the city, a sacrifice to a renegade pope, who such a sacrilege perpetrated by his own party. employed both foreign robbers and internal traitors Pope Urban IV., French by birth, summoned against to destroy and humiliate the city of his birth. the Ghibelline Manfred a French army, led by From this period, F. loses her distinctive history, Charles of Valois, to whom he offered the pro- and is only known as capital of the grand duchy spective kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Manfred was of Tuscany, Pope Clement having conferred on defeated and slain in the famous battle of Benevento, Cosmo de' Medici the ducal dignity. Some idea of and Guelph ascendency was restored anew through- the splendour and prosperity of F. as a republic out Italy and Florence. Charles fully restored to the may be had from the fact, that her capitalists were Florentines their internal institutions, and received so enormously wealthy, they supplied the chief their offered allegiance for ten years, 1266. In 1282, sovereigns of Europe with funds; her manufactures the Priori, a new executive power, was established of wool, silk, and gold brocade were exported in F.; and in 1293, by the consent of the Priori, a throughout the world; and besides home centres higher chief than their own order was elected, with of commerce, she possessed great commercial estabthe title of Gonfaloniere. In 1300, Dante became lishments in all the countries of Europe. one of the Priori, and the former feud was recom- wonderful prosperity the Florentines owed solely menced with new vigour between two factions, to their indomitable spirit of enterprise, and to who bore the names of Bianchi (Whites) and Neri their industry, energy, and independence.-Compare (Blacks). Their dissensions were, however, inter- the writings of Machiavelli, Guicciardini, Sismondi, rupted by the appearance of Charles of Valois, sent Varchi, and Denina. by Boniface VIII. to restore tranquillity, 1301. Charles espoused the part of the Guelphs or Neri, and sanctioned every outrage on the Bianchi, who were plundered and murdered barbarously, the survivors being exiled and beggared; among these were Dante, and Petracco dell' Ancisa, the father of Petrarca. In 1306, Pistoja was besieged, and taken by famine with great barbarity. In 1315, the Florentines met with a severe check from the Ghibellines of Pisa, under the command of Uguccione della Faggiula; and in 1325, were completely defeated by Uguccione's successor in command, the valiant Castruccio Castracani, in the battle of Altopascio. F., weakened by long dissensions, and alarmed by Castruccio's threat of marching on the city, appealed to the king of Naples for aid. They received joyfully an officer of the king, entitled the Duke of Athens, sent as royal vicar; and such was the public demoralisation of the moment, they proclaimed him dictator of the republic, unanimously suppressing the offices of priori and gonfaloniere. The intrigues of this ignoble schemer to overturn the republic being discovered, he was ignominiously OF FLOWERS. From the earliest times, and expelled by a general popular rising, and narrowly

This

FLO'RÉS, as the name of various islands, occurs in Asia, North America, South America, and the Azores.-1. In the Malayan Archipelago, about half way between Java and the eastern extremity of the chain. It lies due south from Celebes, stretching in S. lat. from 8° to 9°, and in E. long. from 120° to 123°. Like most members of the group, it is of an oblong shape, measuring 200 miles in length by an average breadth of 35. In common with the rest of the cluster, the island is of hilly character and volcanic origin. It produces cotton, sandalwood, and bees-wax; and its principal trade is with Singapore.-2. The most westerly of the Azores, with a population of about 10,000 lat. 39 25′ N., and long. 31° 12′ W.-3. In the Pacific Ocean, a little to the west of Vancouver Island-lat. 49° 20' N., and long. 126° W.-4. In the Plata, about 20 miles below Monte Video, in the republic of Uruguay, in lat. 34° 56′ S., and long. 55° 55′ W.

FLORET. See FLOWER.
FLO'RICULTURE, or CULTIVATION

wherever any considerable progress has been mad

FLORICULTURE-FLORIDA.

in civilisation, plants have been cultivated for the sake of their beautiful or fragrant flowers. Flowers have been very generally employed not only to afford gratification, and for the adornment of the person and of houses, particularly on festive occasions, but in many countries also in connection with religious rites. Flower-markets existed in ancient Athens, as in the richest capitals of the modern world. India, China, and Mexico have been famous for the cultivation of flowers, from the earliest periods to which their history can be accurately traced. Artificial means have been employed for the protection and cultivation of delicate exotics, prized only on account of their flowers, far more generally and assiduously than for the cultivation of any fruit-bearing, culinary, or otherwise useful plants. Those who cannot afford more than a very small green-house, almost always devote it to flowers; and those who cannot attain even this, have a few favoured plants under a frame, or at least in a window.

Flowers are either cultivated in borders of a garden mainly appropriated to fruit-trees and culinary vegetables, or a separate flower-garden is formed, consisting generally of parterres cut out of a lawn. Of late years, the separate flower-garden has become much more common than formerly. There is much room for the display of taste in the form and grouping of its parterres, and both in it and in the humbler flower-border, in the arrangement of the flowers themselves. A common rule has always been to place the plants of tallest growth generally at the greatest distance from the walks or alleys from which they are to be viewed, and those which scarcely rise above the ground, nearest to the spectator: it is also of evident importance, except in extensive gardens, that every border or parterre should be gay with flowers during all the spring, summer, and autumn, on which account attention must be paid to the intermixing of plants that flower at different seasons, and for this purpose annuals are often sown amongst perennial plants and shrubs; whilst it is always necessary to take care that the combination of colours be such as to please and not offend the eye, in order to which complementary colours are brought together-red and green, blue and orange, yellow and violet-whilst a judicious mixture of white blends and harmonises those which would otherwise appear unpleasantly contrasted. This rule is equally applicable to the grouping of flowers in one border, or of parterres in which masses of the same colour are exhibited, often produced by an extensive planting of the same flower, a practice which has recently become common, and by which the greatest splendour of general effect is produced.

The flower-garden requires the same attention to the habits of particular species, and the same assiduity in digging, cleaning, &c., which are requisite in other departments of horticulture. Perennial herbaceous plants generally require to be not unfrequently renewed by parting of the roots or otherwise, as the tuft extends and the flowering stems become more numerous, but weaker and less productive. Many plants are placed in the flowergarden in summer, which require the protection of the frame or green-house in winter.

In no department of horticulture have greater changes been effected by cultivation. Even the practised eye has often some difficulty in recognising the splendid varieties which the florist has produced, as the progeny of the unpromising original form. One of the most common effects of cultivation is the production of double flowers, in which the stamens have been converted into petals,

as in roses, so that if the flower is perfectly donble, it can produce no seed by itself; or, in the case of composite flowers, the florets of the disc assume the same form with the florets of the ray, as in dahlias, asters, &c. Much improvement has been effected by crossing, not so frequently by the real hybridisation of different species, as by the intermixture of artificial varieties already obtained; and many of the finest varieties are the mere result of the careful selection and cultivation of individual plants of superior beauty, and of their progeny.

The green-house, conservatory, stove, &c., in which exotic flowers are cultivated, are noticed in separate articles. But perhaps this article would not be complete without some notice of window-gardening, by which a charm is added even to the abodes of the wealthy, particularly in cities, and by which even the poor have the delight of tending a choice exotic or two, and becoming familiar with the beauty of their flowers. The care requisite in window-gardening is the same as for plants kept in flower-pots in the green-house; there must be the same re-potting, pruning of the roots, &c., from time to time, and at least as much attention in giving water and air. Of the former, the most common mistake is to give too much, and of the latter too little. It is a good rule, that except immediately after water is given, it should never be seen in the saucer; nor should the earth appear very moist. The situation, however, being in many respects less favourable, many plants, as heaths, which are frequent in green-houses, cannot be successfully cultivated in the windows of apartments. The common notion that the burning of gas in apartments injures window-plants, does not appear to be well founded. WARDIAN CASES, by means of which many delicate plants are produced in the greatest perfection in the windows of apartments, are noticed in a separate article.

Horticultural Societies (q. v.) have of late done much for the encouragement of the cultivation of flowers, and particularly among the humbler classes of society, with evident increase of amenity within and around their abodes, and an unquestionable tendency to refinement of habits and feelings.

FLORIDA, the name of the most southerly member of the United States, and the twentyseventh in order of admission. Including its adjacent islands and its reef-like chain of keys on the south-west, it stretches in N. lat. between 25° and 31°, and in W. long. between 80° and 87° 44'. The greater portion of it forms a peninsula stretching south-south-east towards the Bahamas, having the Atlantic on the one side, and the Gulf of Mexico on the other. It adjoins, on the north, the states of Georgia and Alabama. Its greatest breadth, from the Atlantic to the river Perdido, is 360 miles; its greatest length about 400 miles; the average breadth of the peninsular portion upwards of 120 miles; area, 60,000 square miles. The principal rivers are the St John's, running northeast through the peninsula, and entering the sea near Jacksonville after a course of 300 miles; the Suwanee, flowing south from Georgia into the Mexican Gulf at Vacassar Bay; the Appalachicola, the Choctawhatchee, Escambia, and Perdido. The principal towns are Tallahassee, the seat of government, situated near the middle of the northern boundary; St Mark's on the Gulf; St Augustine on the Atlantic, the Spanish capital, and the oldest settlement in Anglo-Saxon America; and Pensacola, a port near the Perdido, in the extreme west of the state, recently rendered so conspicuous in the war of secession.

In physical character, the state, generally speak. ing, is part of the sandy and marshy belt which

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