truer form. They are so easily raised from seed that good varieties may 

 be grown at home, when, if space may be allowed for a line of seedlings 

 in the trial-ground, it is pleasant to watch what they will bring forth. 

 Such a good old kind as the one named " Cantab " is a capital seed- 

 bearer, and will give many handsome plants. They must be carefully 

 observed at flowering time, and any of poor or weedy habit in their 

 bloom thrown away. Some will probably have interrupted spikes, that 

 is to say, the spike will have some flowers below and then a bare 

 interval, with more flowers above. This is a fault that should not be 

 tolerated. 



The Monkshoods {Aconitum) are related to the Larkspurs [Del- 

 phinium) ; indeed, it is a common thing to hear them confused and the 

 name of one used for the other. It is easy to understand how this may 

 be, for the leaves are much alike in shape, and both genera bear hooded 

 flowers on tall spikes, mostly of blue and purple colours. For ordinary 

 garden knowledge it may be remembered that Monkshood has a smooth 

 leaf and that the colour is a purplish blue, the bluest of those commonly 

 in cultivation being the late-flowering Aconitum j'aponicum, and that the 

 true pure blues are those of the perennial Larkspurs, whose leaves are 

 downy. 



The great Delphiniums love a strong, rich loamy soil, rather damp 

 than dry, and plenty of nourishment. 



There is a handsome Monkshood with pale yellow flowers that is 

 well used in the garden of the White Lilies, and most happily in their 

 near companionship. It is Aconitum Lycoctonum ; a plant of Austria 

 and the Tyrol. The widely-branched racemes of pale luminous bloom 

 are thrown out in a graceful manner, in pleasant contrast with the equally 

 graceful but quite different upright carriage of the White Lily. The 

 handsome dark green polished leaves of this fine Aconite are also of 

 much value ; persisting after the bloom is over till quite into the late 

 autumn. 



Many of the charming members of the Bell-flower family are fine 

 things in the flower-border. The best of all for general use is perhaps 

 the well-known Campanula persicifolia, with its slender upright stems 

 and its numbers of pretty bells, both blue and white. There are double 



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