BELL-FLOWER. 187 



is an ingenious device ; but nature has formed 

 this rustic plant so peculiarly graceful that all 

 attempts to mend it are only to add deformity. 

 This species is bisannual, and grows naturally 

 in some parts of France, Savoy, and Carniola. 



It was cultivated in our gardens in the time 

 of Gerard, who calls it '' Steeple Milkie Bell- 

 Flower," on account of the milky nature of the 

 juice of the branches and roots, and not from 

 the colour of its bells, which are generally blue, 

 although a variety sometimes occurs with white 

 flowers. This plant is usually increased by off- 

 sets, but those raised from seed produce the tallest 

 plants, and give the greatest number of flowers. 

 The seed should be sown in the autumn in pots 

 or boxes filled with light undunged earth, and 

 placed in the open air until the frost or hard rains 

 come on, when they should be removed under 

 cover of a frame, always giving them free air 

 when the weather will admit. The young plants 

 will appear in the spring, when the pots should 

 be placed in a warm situation until the summer, 

 at which time they should be situated so as to 

 receive only the morning sun. About Septem- 

 ber they may be transplanted into a border of 

 light sandy soil, without a mixture of dung, 

 which is fatal to these plants, as is too much 



