192 GENTIANACE^. 



are the most useful species, because the least fickle and coy 

 under the restraints of cultivation ; and amongst them the bril- 

 liancy of the finest of the high alpine gems is closely approached. 

 All that may be cultivated in beds or borders flourish well 

 in light, rich, sandy loam : well drained it should always be, 

 but during the growing season at least it should be also moist. 

 The high alpine species requiring rockwork or pots flourish 

 in the same soil if the addition of a little peat and a good deal 

 of gritty matter is made to it ; but the more special require- 

 ments of these will be alluded to hereafter more particularly. 

 They are propagated by division and by seed. The former is 

 a simple method with such species as ver7ia and acaulis, which 

 form turf-like masses not easily destroyed when cut up into even 

 very small bits ; but with such as iutea more care is necessary. 

 It and some of its allies form deep-descending roots and thick 

 root-stocks or crowns, composed of only a few centres of 

 vitality in even long-established plants, and they should not 

 therefore be reduced minutely. Division should be done in 

 early spring as soon as growth commences actively. Propaga- 

 tion by seed is a very tedious business, requiring some facilities 

 in the shape of cold frames or hand-lights, and involving some 

 considerable exercise of care and patience \ but when large in- 

 crease of those sorts that are difficult to divide is determined 

 upon, seed must be resorted to as the only means whereby it 

 can be obtained. The seed of most of the GentianacecE, and of 

 Gentian in particular, is slow to vegetate, especially if it may 

 have lain some time in papers or in store; but if it can be sown 

 immediately it is ripe, some saving of time will be gained. The 

 possibility of doing this will depend on whether the seed has 

 been saved at home or purchased from the seedsman ; if 

 the latter, then it will be at least a year before the majority 

 of the seeds germinate. But many of the cultivated species 

 seed freely, and advantage should be taken of this circum- 

 stance by sowing them as soon as they are ripe, when the 

 greatest bulk of them will vegetate the following spring or early 

 summer. The compost already spoken of is the best to sow in, 

 using perhaps a more liberal allowance of sand, and the whole 

 may be passed through a coarse sieve. Small-sized pots are 

 the best — say 4 or 5 inches — because the most handy to 

 move; and what is of more importance, the smaller mass of soil 

 is less liable to become sodden than that which is larger. The 

 pots being well drained must be filled with the compost, press- 

 ing it firm and level in the process. Sow the seed thin and 

 cover lightly ; fix the labels and water gently, and plunge the 

 pots to the rim in coal-ashes in a cold frame. The only atten- 



