TO THE FLOWER GARDEN. 109 



under good management ; but to form handsome j^lants it is 

 desirable to allow the leading shoot to grow up uninjured, and 

 the plants then assume, with a little skill in managing the 

 lateral branches, a perfectly pyramidal form, which is their 

 natural habit of growth. Soil, three parts sandy peat to one 

 of sandy loam. Propagated by cuttings in sand under bell- 

 glasses. They require the general treatment of Boronia. 

 The following are the best : — E. scnhrum, white, in May. E. 

 buxifolium, E. cuspidatum, E. intermedium, E. lanceolatum, ^. 

 nereifolium,, all bloom white. 



ERPETION. [Yiolaceffi.] Dwarf tufted-growing herba- 

 baceous plants, closely allied to the Violets. They are not 

 hardy, but may be preserved, with the choicer alpine plants, 

 in a frame from which frost is excluded. Their habit, like 

 that of some Violets, is to spread in dense tufts, so as to cover 

 the surface of the soil in which they are grown. In conse- 

 quence of this creeping, rooting habit, they are very readily 

 multiplied by division. The proper soil for them is peat 

 earth, made rather sandy, the pots being well drained. 



ERYNGIUM. Eryngo. [Umbel liferse.] A curious genus 

 of perennials, mostly hardy, rem.arkable for the coloured 

 bracts of the involucre, which constitute the showy part of 

 their inflorescence. They are desirable among hardy herba- 

 ceous subjects, the prevailing colour being blue. They belong, 

 in truth, to the umbelliferous order, without having any 

 external resemblance to that class of forms so familiar in the 

 parsley, the celery, the carrot, the fennel, &c. They are 

 raised from seeds, which, like those of other perennials, may 

 be sown in May, either in pots or in a bed. The young 

 plants, if nursed into strength, will bloom the following year ; 

 but of these subjects old plants are best if they are kept in 

 vigour. They are not very particular as to soil, but a deep 

 sandy loam is best. 



EKYSIMUM. Hedge Mustard. [Cruciferse.] Hardy 

 plants, chiefly biennial, those which are cultivated being 

 treated as annuals : the majority are uninteresting objects. 

 E. Perofskianum is, however, a very brilliant-flowered plant, 

 well adapted for beds in Dutch or geometrical gardens ; 

 indeed, there is hardly any other plant which furnishes the 

 colour' — an intense orange. It is perfectly hardy, and, if 



