236 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
some exceedingly pleasing shades of pale blue. There are also 
several shades of rose, which also are extremely pleasing. In a pri- 
vate garden the best course is to plant them in clumps of three or 
four plants each in the second row of the mixed border, the clumps 
to be from four to six feet apart. When in bloom they are won- 
derfully effective, but they do not remain in bloom a sufficient 
length of time to justify their recommendation as bedding plants. 
Of their effectiveness in beds there can be no doubt, and in proof of 
this it may be well to mention the fact that a week or two since I 
saw in the seed grounds of Mr. Richard Dean, at Bedfont, a bed con- 
taining at least a hundred plants, and anything more beautiful it 
would be difficult to imagine. 
To raise a stock it is simply necessary to procure a packet of seed, 
sow in drills, and when the plants are of sufficient size to transfer 
them to the border. The size of the packet ordered must be deter- 
mined by the number of plants required. The seed should be sown 
rather thinly in drills, so that the plants have sufficient space to 
attain a proper size for transplanting withont becoming over- 
crowded ; and to ensure the rapid germination of the seed, partly fill 
the drill with water previous to sowing. By the middle of Septem- 
ber the plants will be large enough to plant out, and to afford them 
a chance of becoming thoroughly established by the winter the 
planting should not be delayed after the end of that month. There 
will be no difficulty in planting them at the period here mentioned, 
for the majority of the bedders will then have become exhausted, and 
if it is not convenient to clear the border, the stations to be occupied 
by the campanulas can be marked out, and a few plants removed 
from them, July is the best month in which to sow the seed, but if 
sown early in August, and the precaution mentioned above taken to 
prevent the seed lying dormant, the plants will be quite large 
enough to produce a satisfactory display of bloom in the summer 
following. Cc. W. 
LADIES’ TRESSES (SPIRANTHES AUTUMNALIS). 
BY L. LANE CLARKE. 
BITE Spiranthes autumnalis is now abundant in dry 
pastures. It is thickly dotted on the Malvern hills, 
on the light pastures of the Isle of Wight, and the 
meadows and cliffs of the Channel Islands. 
The spiral cluster of small white flowers is so 
insignificant in appearance, that more than once I have heard the 
exclamation of—That an orchid? ’’ Even so—gather one, and 
come and see. 
It will require a microscope to discern all its beauty; but a 
pocket lens will show us much, and we shall learn from this one 
specimen what it is quite necessary thoroughly to understand, 
before we can appreciate the discoveries of Darwin. 
The flower spike (Fig. 1) is given natural size. The other 
figures are all more or less magnified. 
