AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



59 



Oeutiana continued. 



then be uncertain. Well-drained pots or pans should be 

 prepared, and filled with a compost consisting chiefly of 

 loam and sand, made rather fine. The seeds must only 

 be lightly covered and watered, the pans being after- 

 wards wintered in a frame from which frost is merely 

 excluded. Raising Gentians from seed is a slow process, 

 requiring considerable care in watering, and in potting 

 or pricking off the young plants, so as to avoid injury 

 to the tender roots. But little growth will be made by 

 the majority of perennial species during the first year, 

 and they should not be fully exposed outside, at least 



Gentiana continued. 



species ; and those which are very dwarf alpines, from 

 high elevations, should be provided with a place on rock- 

 work, specially prepared to insure sufficient moisture at 

 the season when it is required. A cool place should 

 be selected for the treatment of the species from the 

 Himalayas. Any that are difficult to manage, and are 

 not found to succeed, should be provided with a top- 

 dressing of new soil, or other extra attention, in pre- 

 ference to lifting them, unless the proper and requisite 

 cultural requirements have been neglected when planting 

 in the first place. In Scotland, G. verna is successfully 



FIG. 91. GENTIANA ACAULIS. 



before the second season. It usually takes three or four 

 years to obtain sizes large enough for flowering. 



Cultivation. Nearly the whole of the Gentians require 

 plenty of moisture when making their growth, although 

 thorough drainage is also essential. To insure this, extra 

 attention should be given in the first place, and_ perma- 

 nent positions selected. Some species succeed fairly well 

 in various situations, either with or without shade. A 

 good depth of loamy soil, having stones intermixed, and 

 some of the latter placed round the plants, is the best pre- 

 paration for them, this mixture requiring the addition of 

 some peat for such as have thick stocks or long tap 

 roots. An open position at the base of rockwork, or in 

 the open border, should be chosen for the taller-growing 



cultivated in pans, being planted and left undisturbed, 

 with the exception of an annual top-dressing. The pans 

 with their contents, are wintered in cold frames, an 

 plunged, in spring, in the open ground, where the plants 

 flower and remain for the summer. Stones are most 

 useful round the roots of those planted out, on account of 

 the moisture which they retain in dry weather. All 1 

 species described below are perennials. 



ments obtuse muronate March to May. I. opposite, decussate; 

 Sal ones crowded, imbricated. Stems tetragonal, one^owered 

 h 2in to n. Alps and Pyrenees. See Fig. 91. (B. M. 52.) 

 fhere'are several forms of this handsome species. 

 G. adscendens (ascendent). /. blue ; corolla campanulate, 



