GRAMIN ACE/E. 3 1 1 



soil ; peat and loam, well sharpened up with grit, is the most 

 congenial compost. The roots are fleshy, and liable to suffer 

 from severe frosts ; it is advisable, therefore, to cover them on 

 the approach of winter with coal-ashes or old tan to the depth 

 of several inches. In cold wet districts the roots may be 

 lifted and stored in a dry cold frame in dry leaf-mould or 

 ashes, or the plant may be treated as a half-hardy annual, sow- 

 ing the seed in heat, and pricking off into small pots as soon as 

 the plantlets are fit to handle, hardening them off by degrees, 

 till they may bear full exposure to the outer atmosphere, and 

 finally turning them out into beds or borders about the end of 

 May. The roots, if lifted and stored in winter, will be the 

 better for a start in slight heat in spring, and may be increased 

 by division. 



Tradescantia virginica ( Virgmian Spiderwo7't). — A very ele- 

 gant border-plant, exceedingly easy to cultivate. Like the 

 last, it likes a rich, light, sandy, well-drained soil and warm posi- 

 tion, but is much hardier, being capable of withstanding the 

 rigour of British winters in any part of the country, provided 

 the soil is well drained and light ; in wet heavy soils it will be 

 necessary to cover the roots with some such materials as are 

 recommended in the case of the last subject. All the Trades- 

 cantias grow beautifully in pure sandy peat. They are propa- 

 gated by division in spring. Their fittest place is the mixed 

 herbaceous border, and they are good rockwork ornaments 

 where the rock-garden is extensive. The present subject 

 grows about i8 inches high, branching freely. The stems and 

 branches are clothed with lively green lance-shaped leaves, 

 clasping the stem with their bases. The corolla consists of 

 three purplish -blue petals, and the filaments are densely 

 clothed with spreading hairs. The flowers appear from early 

 summer till late autumn. There are several varieties differing 

 in colour from the type — the principal are : T. v. alba, the 

 petals white, with the hairy filaments purple; T. v.flore-pleno, 

 blue, or the colour of the type, but more continuous, and the 

 individual flowers lasting longer; T. v. rubra and rubra flore- 

 J>k?io, purplish red ; T. v. rosea, beautiful rose ; and T. v. 

 violacea, violet-blue. 



GRAMINACEyE. 



Grasses are rarely seen in combination with flowering plants 

 in any class of gardens. If they are grown at all, it is only to 



