282 FLORA HISTORICA. 



plant had been reared from a cutting of the com- 

 mon rose-coloured variety, and that the change 

 was owing to its being planted in the soil of the 

 heathy common on which she resided, mixed with 

 a portion of turf ashes, whilst those who obtained 

 cuttings planted them in good garden soil. 



During the last year we saw exhibited at the 

 London Horticultural Society a very beautiful 

 plant of the Hydrangea, covered with cymes of 

 flowers of a fine blue colour. This plant was 

 grown in a pot of earth taken from Wimbledon- 

 common, without any other mixture, which proves 

 that the change of colour is produced by the 

 nature of the soil, and it is now pretty generally 

 known that some sorts of peat earth, as well as 

 the yellow loam of heathy grounds, will produce 

 this effect. 



Mr. William Hedges, who has paid great atten- 

 tion to the propagation of the Hydrangea, gives 

 the following directions for the treatment of this 

 plant, " As a succession of young plants is ne- 

 cessary, I raise some each year, by taking, in the 

 beginning or middle of July, young shoots with 

 three or four joints, cutting them off close to the 

 joint which is at the bottom of the shoot ; these 

 are placed in rich earth, in a warm border, and 

 covered with a hand-glass; they are shaded 

 during the middle of the day, and sprinkled with 



