12 FLORA HISTORICA. 



mass. As grass plots seldom require mowing until 

 the time of the Snowdrop's flowering is over, it may 

 in many instances be planted in such sites to great 

 advantage. 



August is the proper month to plant these bulbs. 

 They should be covered with about two inches of 

 earth, and placed at from one to two inches apart. 

 After the second year they increase rapidly ; when 

 they become too thick, they should be taken out of 

 the ground about Midsummer, and placed in a dry 

 room, for a space not exceeding two months. 



The variety of Snowdrop with a double flower 

 is now nearly as common in our gardens as that 

 with single petals, whilst its more noble relative, 

 the Spring Snowflake, Leucojum vermim, continues 

 scarce even in the gardens of our best florists. 

 This flower differs from the Snowdrop, in having 

 a delightful fragrance, and a much larger corolla ; 

 but the most marked difference is the want of the 

 three-leaved nectary in the Leucojum, which forms 

 a great beauty in the Galanthus or Snowdrop. 



The Snowflake grows wild in moist woods and 

 shady places, in many parts of Italy and Ger- 

 many. It loves a north-east aspect, and a soil 

 composed of bog-earth and loam. In such situa- 

 tions it is propagated tolerably fast by offsets. 

 It blossoms about a month later than the Snow- 

 drop ; and this may account, in a great measure > 



