GENTIANA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. GERANIUM. 483 



dwarf that if weeds be allowed to grow 

 round it they soon injure it, and tall 

 plants overshadow or overrun it. It is 

 abundant in mountain pastures on the 

 Alps, in Asia, and also in Britain. 



Gentiana z'erna. 



G. v. ANGULOSA, with winged calyx, has 

 flowers almost twice as large as the type 

 and equally brilliant, while it is of the 

 easiest cultivation. Its requirements are 

 the same, and it may be raised by hun- 

 dreds from seeds, if these are sown prac- 

 tically as soon as ripe. No alpine merits 

 the attention of the cultivator more than 

 this. 



Mr Correvon, of Geneva, who knows 

 these plants well, classifies them as 

 follows for cultivation : 



Acaulis Group. Alpina, angusti folia, 

 Clusii, and Kochiana, which thrive best in 

 calcareous soils, except the last, which 

 requires a soil free of it. In our country 

 they thrive in a way on moist soils, but 

 flower best in the limestone soils of Ireland. 

 They will not flower well in shade. 



Tall kinds, with large roots, G. Burseri, 

 lutea, pannonica, punctata, purpurea. 

 [These are only worth growing in botanic 

 gardens.] 



Dwarf tufted kinds requiring care on 

 the bog or rock garden, those marked * 

 thriving in moist open soil in turf or 

 sphagnum in full sun : the others dryer 

 spots and pebbly soil ; calcareous soil to 

 be preferred for vernea and its forms. 

 G. *bavarica, brachyphylla, Favrati, imbri- 

 cata, pyrenaica, *Rostani, *septemfida, 

 verna. 



Kinds for marshy ground: G. An- 

 drewsi, angusti folia, asclepiadcsa, Pneu- 

 monanthe. [Most of these seem of easy 

 culture, but the American kinds gradually 

 perish on heavy, compact soils.] 



Kinds thriving in leaf soil and sandy 

 peat, with broken bits of sandstone : 

 G. alba, Bigelowi, ciliata, frigida, Frey- 

 niana, Frcelichii, Kurroo, Parryi, pumila, 

 Wallichiana, Weschniakowi. 



Kinds of easy culture : G. brevidens, 

 cruciata, dahurica, decumbens, Fetisowi, 

 Kesselringii, macrophylla, Olivieri, phlogi- 

 folia, Przewaldskii, Saponaria, scabra, 

 straminea, tibetica, Tianschanica, Walu- 

 jewi, Weschniakowi. 



Annual kinds : G. amarella, campestris, 

 Germanica, nivalis, tenella. 



These groupings are, like so many 

 others, arbitrary if convenient. Many 

 of the rarer kinds of Gentian come from 

 countries little known to us, and even 

 if we did know them the cultivation 

 of plants is often only learned through 

 experience, and it is common to see 

 them thriving in conditions wholly 

 different from those in which they 

 grow naturally. Certain things, how- 

 ever, are to be borne in mind by those 

 who aspire to cultivate Gentians, viz., 

 that these are alpine or high mountain 

 plants, or plants of the open breezy 

 marsh, and that in such conditions 

 they rarely have to do with compact 

 heavy soils. Gritty, sandy, or peaty 

 soils therefore suit them best even 

 marsh land, though saturated, is free 

 in texture. 



They grow also very often above the 

 tree and shrub line of life, and are 

 therefore fully exposed to the sun, and 

 any planting of them on stuffy, half- 

 shady conditions common in many 

 gardens is against them, as also is the 

 unfortunate and common practice of 

 putting rock gardens in hollow places 

 instead of places fully exposed to the 

 sun. Lastly, to associate them with 

 ferns or taller or more vigorous plants 

 is a mistake ; and, above all things, 

 the printed lists or any other lists 

 must not be taken to mean that the 

 great beauty of some kinds is typical 

 of all, as not a few Gentians are 

 unworthy of garden cultivation. I 

 have grown them in the most unlikely 

 place of all, a battered wall with earth 

 behind, and they flowered very well. 

 The plan may be worth trying in 

 certain soils with G. acaulis, where it 

 fails to flower in borders. 



GERANIUM (Cranesbill) . The 

 hardy Geraniums are usually stout 

 perennials and natives of the fields 

 and woods of Europe and Britain, 

 though some are dainty alpine flowers. 

 The handsomest of them is probably 

 G. armenum. It is sometimes 3 feet 



