ON THE CULTUKE OF THE HEPATICA, 77 



•2. eaiulea-plena, double blue; 3. rubra, red; 4. ntbro-plend, 

 double red ; -5. alba, red — antbered white ; 6. nivea, snow-white. 



Culture. — There is very little variation in the culture recom- 

 mended by the authors above quoted : a strong loamy rich soil is 

 considered best. The plants should be parted in March, only when 

 necessary, and then not into very small heads, and not oftener than 

 once in three or four years. Van Oosten- (Dutch Gardener, 2d 

 Edit, p. 107) recommends their being watered with a mixture of 

 urine and water, " which will make them grow the faster," but spa- 

 ringly when tender, for then " they cannot endure it." The single 

 varieties produce seeds every year, and by sowing them new va- 

 rieties may be obtained. Miller recommends sowing the seed in 

 the beginning of August, in pots or boxes tilled with light earth ; 

 these should be placed SO as to receive only the morning sun until 

 ( October, when they may be removed into a more general sunny 

 situation. The young plants will appear about March, and it is 

 desirable at that period to place them in a spot shaded from all but 

 the morning sun. They require watering in dry seasons, and may 

 lie transplanted to their proper situations in the following August, 

 observing to press the earth elose to their roots, to prevent their 

 being drawn out of the ground by worms. Old plants are per- 

 pectly hardy, hut Van Oosten says that when young they " will 

 endure no cold," and must be protected from it. 



1 1 ill (Eden, p. 270 — 1 ) promises to those who will take the 

 trouble to grow them from seed, both double and single flown 

 ' in all the kinds of colour, from white through all the shades of 

 Mite, from pearl colour to the deep azure of the summer sky, and 

 from the same, white through all the degrees of red, from the 

 peach bloom to the crimson and purple. The red and blue will 

 be mixed in some, and i i these he will trace the purple from that 

 ol the violet, to the palest Hesperis." lie also states that these 

 plants should never In- removed, and that the seedlings should be 

 thinned out to about eighl inches apart, hut never removed out of 

 tin ir place. 



I would just remark that as there is a difficulty in keeping some 

 flowers double, it is possible that the double white Hepatica has 

 returned to it single state, and that a double flower may, bj keeping 

 white seed ome years before it is sown, or from some accidental 



mode ., f culture, once more be obtained. Or it might have been 



