MIGNONETTE (Reseda odorata) is a common garden flower, with lanceolate bluntish entire or trifid leaves, and a 6-parted calyx equal in length to the petals, which are finely cleft into many club-shaped divisions, the two lowest simple, the capsules 3-toothed. It is a native of the north of Africa and Egypt, but its delicious fragrance has caused it to be cultivated all over the world. It is naturally an herb, but when trained in the greenhouse it becomes shrubby. This plant is in great demand in the London markets, and Is very extensively cultivated.
The seeds should be sown in the ground in April, on a bed well manured with rotten dung. As the plants rise they should be thinned by degrees, so as to leave them from 9 to 12 inches apart. They must be well watered, and require abundance of sun and air. Before they come into bloom nip off the centre shoots, after which the side shoots will fill the vacant spaces, and form a full and very pretty bed. If sown in pots or boxes, a mixture of rotten turf and cow-dung, of which the larger portion should be of the turf, must be placed for the reception of the seed, and the plants should be treated as above. Transplanting seldom succeede. This is the common garden culture, and the plants flower in June. In a fumed culture, for flowering from December to February, a sowing should be made in July, in the open ground, and the plants potted in September and removed in-doors. The crop for
March, April, and May should bo sown in pots not later than the 25th of August. The plants from this sowing will not suffer from exposure to rain whilst they are young ; they must however be protected from early frosts, and are to be thinned in November. At the same time the pots should be sunk 3 or 4 inches in some old tan or coal-ashes and should be covered with a frame, which it is best to place fronting the west, for then the lights may be left open in the evening, to catch the sun whenever it sets clear. The third or spring crop should be sown in pots not later than the 25th of February. These must be placed in a frame on a gentle heat ; and as the heat declines, the pots must be let down 3 or 4 inches into the dung-bed, which will keep the roots moist, and prevent their leaves turning brown from the heat of the sun in April and May. The plants thus obtained will be in perfection by the end of May.
The arborescent plant is often called Tree-Mignonette. It may be propagated by seeds or by cuttings, which readily strike root. The young plants should be potted singly, and brought forward by heat. As they grow they should be tied to a stick, and all side shoots should be pinched off. As the plants attain a size they should be shifted progressively into larger pots.