60 



THE FLOKAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



flowers, hut that it was produced by 

 the light or some other cause. 



Blue hydrangeas have beea pra- 

 duced in so many different kinds of 

 soil, both with and without the appli- 

 cation of alum, iron, lime-water, etc., 

 that if they are not to be considered 

 as an unaccountable freak of nature, 

 it is time we began to try and dis- 

 cover whether it is not attributable to 

 some other cause or causes, and that 

 position, temperature, and light are 

 possibly the real agents which pro- 

 duce this rauch-wished-for effect. 

 That light has a considerable influ- 

 ence upon the colour of the flowers 

 has been many times proved beyond 

 the possibility of a doubt. Mr. 

 George Dawson, writing to the Gar- 

 dever's Chronicle, in 1857, says: — 

 "At Enys, in Cornwall, where 1 lived 

 for a number of years, they bad 

 hydrangeas by hundreds in the home 

 plantations, and there they grow very 

 well inrieed, and under fir, elms, oaks, 

 yews, laurels, beech, etc., the planta- 

 tions being of a mixed character, 

 and the greater part of the ground 

 of a good rich deep loam, generally 

 resting upon a rotten flat, inclin- 

 ing to clay — a bottom througli 

 which water soon found its way ; 

 and the land seldom if ever suffered 

 from lengthened dry weather in 

 summer ; and to see the hydrangeas 

 as they flower there is quite a treat 

 to any person who may not have seen 

 them in such perfection. The most 

 essential thing in assisting them 

 there to become a deep distinct blue, 

 was that they were well shaded all 

 through the summer from the sun, as 

 those growing in shady situations 

 were always of the deepest blue. 

 One season some trees were cut 

 down, thus exposing some of the 

 hydrangeas while in full flower, the 

 colour of which was a pleasing blue, 

 but after being exposed for ten days 

 to the rays of the sun, they soon 

 turned to an unpleasant rusty colour. 

 I have seen some bushes of them 

 there producing yearly between sixty 

 and a hundred large heads, measuring 

 on an average over seven inches in 

 diameter, and all of a beautiful blue ; 

 and there, where frost seldom if ever 



injures theui before January, they 

 produce, along with the Leycesteria 

 formosa, a very pleasing effi-ct 

 throughout the whole of the autumn, 

 months." 



In the island of Guernsey, where 

 the hydrangea attaius great per- 

 fection, and where magnificent spe- 

 cimens of both blue and pink-flowered 

 plants are found in the utmost pro- 

 fusion in the gardens, it is affirmed 

 by many that those which are of the 

 deepest blue are invariably those 

 which grow in the shade. Mr. It. 

 Thomas, gardener at Melton Con- 

 stable, Norfolk, affirms that in the 

 shrubbery of that place were grow- 

 ing indiscriminately some years ago, 

 very large bushes of pink and blue 

 hydrangeas, in exactly the same kind 

 of soil, which is a sharp red sandy 

 loam. He observed that the blue 

 ones were grow ing iu the most shady 

 and the pink in the open situations, 

 and he found that upon taking 

 cuttings from the blue ones, planting 

 them in the same soil, and putting 

 them in different positions, they in- 

 variably produced pink flowers. 



But it may be asked, is there then 

 no reason for supposing that solutions 

 of alum, lime, etc., have any effect 

 upon the colour of hydrangeas? By 

 no means ; for that these things have 

 an effect has been demonstrated in 

 numerous instances. But the influ- 

 ence is very partial, and is at the best 

 of a most uncertain character, and 

 appears to differ greatly with different 

 individuals ; and we recommend to 

 those of our friends who wish to 

 cultivate blue hydrangeas the follow- 

 ing course of culture : — Choose a 

 warm, sheltered position, shaded from 

 the fays of the 6un, or, at the most, 

 only exposed to them during the 

 hours of early morning. Plant ia 

 good peat mixed with a little silver- 

 sand, or in leaf-mould mixed with 

 sand, and water them when necessary 

 with a weak solution of alum, or 

 water in which iron filings or iron 

 scale from a blacksmith's forge have 

 been placed. Continue this course 

 throughout the season, when we s-hall 

 be glad to learn the result of the 

 experiments. 



