CHAP. 13.—HOW SEED IS STAINED TO PRODUCE TINTED FLOWERS.
There has been invented [Note] also a method of tinting the lily,
thanks to the taste of mankind for monstrous productions.
The dried stalks [Note] of the lily are tied together in the month of
July, and hung up in the smoke: then, in the following
March, when the small knots [Note] are beginning to disclose themselves, the stalks are left to steep in the lees of black or Greek
wine, in order that they may contract its colour, and are then
planted out in small trenches, some semi-sextarii of wine-lees
being poured around them. By this method purple lilies are
obtained, it being a very remarkable thing that we should be
able to dye a plant to such a degree as to make it produce a
coloured flower.
