322 THE FLORIST. 



favourably treated, some plants have been laiown to yield in one 

 summer eighty blooms, many of them upwards of four inches in 

 diameter. In the course ot eight or ten years the plants get 

 exhausted, when the floweringbecomes very uncertain ; the ground 

 should therefore be cleared of such, and filled up with healthy 

 young plants. The seeds of this plant are always ripe by the 

 be^nnning of autumn, and may be sown any time before the end 

 of iVJarch. Wiien sown in autumn, some plants generally appear 

 above ground in course of a few weeks, but the principal part 

 commonly .lies dormant until spring. Such as appear belore 

 winter require to be protected, lest they be ejected from the 

 ground by severe fiost. It is not unusual for seeds of this plant 

 to vegetate alter remaining in the ground many months. In a 

 hot-bed they push more readily, but under any circumstances 

 they are more stiff to vegetate than any other Aquilegia, and 

 generally rise very unequal, even when the seeds are newly ripened. 

 The ground for seeds should be rich and friable, and the covering 

 very thin, with constant moisture, and wholly or partially shaded. 

 That most suitable is a rich mellow earth, partaking a little of 

 boo- or peat earth, and rather cool and moist than otherwise. 

 Seedling plants should be removed either the first or second year 

 of their growth, and transplanted into beds or lines, from ten to 

 twelve inches plant from plant. Those of equal strength should 

 be placed together, as such form the most complete appearance in 

 a flower bed. Any time from September to April, in open 

 weather, admits of the plants being removed ; but no plants can 

 be depended on to flower freely if transplanted when beyond the 

 age of three years. 



In June, 1848, a plant of this Aquilegia was sent to Dr, 

 Lindley for his inspection, who wrote on it as follows in the 

 ''Gardeners' Chronicle" for June 17 iu the same year: — "It 

 has never yet been seen, that we remember, at any of our great 

 metropolitan exhibitions ; nevertheless, this plant is perhaps the 

 handsomest perennial in cultivation. Its stems rise about two 

 feet high, and sometimes carry from fifty to eighty blossoms. We 

 have a plant before us which, after a journev from Scotland, has 

 twenty-one expanded flowers, each three and a half inches in 

 diameter, witli broad, thin, delicate, spreading sepals, of the 

 deepest ultramarine blue, surrounding five short petals, the upper 

 half of which is pure white, resting on an azure ground. The 

 effect is beautiful in the extreme, and no description that we have 

 formerly given of it has done justice to its exquisite appearance." 

 We have much pleasure in bringing this truly beautiful old 

 plant under the notice of our readers, feeling confident that when 

 better known it will be much more widely grown. That the 

 particulars respecting its cultivation given above will enable any 



