4 
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4 
AN ENCYCLOPADIA OF HORTICULTURE. 59 
Gentiana—continued. 
then be uncertain. Well-drained pots or pans should be 
prepared, and filled with a compost consisting chiefly of 
loam and sand, made rather fine. The seeds must only 
be lightly covered and watered, the pans being after- 
wards wintered in a frame from which frost is merely 
excluded. Raising Gentians from seed is a slow process, 
requiring considerable care in watering, and in potting 
or pricking off the young plants, so as to avoid injury 
to the tender roots. But little growth will be made by 
the majority of perennial species during the first year, 
and they should not be fully exposed outside, at least 
Gentiana—continued. 
species; and those which are very dwarf alpines, from 
high elevations, should be provided with a place on rock- 
work, specially prepared to insure sufficient moisture at 
the season when it is required. A cool place should 
be selected for the treatment of the species from the 
Himalayas. Any that are dificult to Manage, and are 
not found to succeed, should be provided with a top- 
dressing of new soil, or other extra attention, in pre- 
ference to: lifting them, unless the proper and requisite 
cultural requirements have been neglected when planting 
in the first place. In Scotland, G. verna is successfully 
Fic. 91. GENTIANA ACAULIS. 
before the second season. It usually takes three or four 
years to obtain sizes large enough for flowering. 
Cultivation. Nearly the whole of the Gentians require 
plenty of moisture when making their growth, although 
thorough drainage is also essential. To insure this, extra 
attention should be given in the first place, and perma- 
nent positions selected. Some species succeed fairly well 
in various situations, either with or without shade. A 
good depth of loamy soil, having stones intermixed, and 
some of the latter placed round the plants, is the best pre- 
paration for them, this mixture requiring the addition of 
some peat for such as have thick stocks or long tap 
roots. An open position at the base of rockwork, or in 
the open border, should be chosen for the taller-growing 
cultivated in pans, being planted and left undisturbed, 
with the exception of an annual top-dressing. The pans, 
with their contents, are wintered in cold frames, and 
plunged, in spring, in the open ground, where the plants 
flower and remain for the summer. Stones are most 
useful round the roots of those planted out, on account of 
the moisture which they retain in dry weather. All the 
species described below are perennials. 
ulis (stemless).* Gentianella. f. blue, with five yellow 
— inside, very large, Zin. long; corolla campanulate ; seg- 
ments obtuse, mucronate. March to May. l. opposite, decussate; 
radical ones crowded, imbricated, Stems tetragonal, one-flowered. 
h. 2in. to 4in. Alps and Pyrenees. See Fig. 91. (B. M. 52.) 
There are several forms of this handsome species. 
G. adscendens (ascendent). 4. blue; corolla campanulate, 
