THE garden of economic plants exists in idea only; there is no such thing as a matter of fact. The subject now before us suggests that a studious amateur gardener might accomplish what has been accounted one of the greatest triumphs imaginable--the creation of a new pleasure--by forming a garden of economic plants. Some of these are exquisitely beautiful, and others, that might not attract by their beauty, will always interest by their direct relation to our daily comfort and to our national prosperity; for mere usefulness is in one sense true beauty, but when we make that declaration we must beware of being overheard by professors of extreme aestheticism. In the garden of economic plants we should find the flax, of course, and the hemp also. How few amongst the thousands who have gardens really know either of these plants! Where shall we find the pretty lentil from the seeds of which Jacob made his mess of pottage? Who knows the canary grass, with its handsome plumes that finally shed shining seeds for the little birds? How many of our wayside botanists could find us the earth-nut, if a sudden famine made its sweet and nourishing root acceptable in the place of bread? The beauty of the cotton plant is unsuspected, and the sugar maple gives a shade that is very pleasant. It is easy to begin, but no one can say where we should end in collecting and cultivating economic plants.

The common flax (Linum usatissimum) is a beautiful plant, likely to appear, with the hemp and the canary, as mere weeds in the garden of the bird fancier, because the waste of the cages must be sometimes scattered. As regards the flax, it is a weed of the world, for it occurs everywhere as a wilding, not only in Europe and Northern Africa and Asia, but in the southern hemisphere, having been carried by the hand of man wherever he has carried merchandise. It is a tall, slender, exceedingly neat plant, with narrow lanceolate leaves and flowers, crowning the stems in a loose corymb, conspicuous for their large size and their bright blue colour. The petals are obovate and the sepals are pointed. The oily seeds are contained in a depressed globular capsule; they are of a rich dark brown colour, glossy, of a peculiar flavour, and in their medical uses decidedly laxative. It is not often they are given to caged birds, but every one who has the care of these interesting creatures should keep a few "linseeds" in the store-room in case of emergency. Birds that are fed almost exclusively on canary and hemp, with perhaps insufficient vegetable food, may be benefited by an occasional treat of two or three of these oily laxative seeds. The oil that is pressed from linseed is of great importance in the arts, one of its uses being to supply the principal material for printers' ink. Indeed, the flax has done more for literature than any other plant that can be named. The linum, or lin, supplies from its stem the fibre for linen, and from linen waste is made paper. The ink and the paper may therefore be said to be derived from one and the same source, and this plant is the commonest thing in the world, and grows everywhere, while as to its beauty, we may search far ere we shall find a plant of its own range of habit and colour that can surpass it. To compare it with the plumbago is not unfair, and we incline to the opinion that in the comparison the flax will have the best of it.

There are four British species of flax, perhaps; at all events, there are four in the books. One we will consider disposed of. The next is the perennial flax (Linum perenne). It often so nearly resembles the common species that we doubt its specific independence. However, the sepals are obtuse, the root-stock is perennial, the stems are sometimes procumbent, and the plant is a mountaineer, whereas the common flax is a lowland plant. The pale flax is Linum angustifolium; it has pointed sepals, but in general complexion resembles the perennial flax, and it is sometimes a perennial and sometimes an annual. Its common name indicates that its flowers are of a paler blue than the others. The cathartic flax is a slender annual with white flowers, and one that will puzzle the young botanist who has not yet mastered the characters of the flax family.