ON BELL-FLOWERS 35 



if poor, with well-decayed manure, taking care to dig 

 deeply. 



Sowing. There is no difficulty in getting strong plants 

 by autumn if seed is sown thinly at mid-May, and the 

 plants are put out nine inches apart in a spare plot a 

 month or so later. They will not grow very fast through 

 the summer, as they move slowly while quite young, 

 but they will have filled their allotted space nicely by 

 October, when they can be planted out in their perma- 

 nent positions if convenient, otherwise being left till 

 spring. If the soil is good they should be put a yard 

 apart. 



The plants will bloom early in summer, and will last 

 a long time in beauty, especially if the first flowers are 

 picked off as soon as they fade. 



There are many biennial Bell-flowers beside the 

 Canterbury Bell, but the majority are not of much 

 value, and we have to look for the best of the other 

 Campanulas among the perennial species, which (in 

 the case of the hardy ones at least) come up from 

 the same rootstock in the border year after year. There 

 are one or two good annual species, notably Loreyi, 

 purplish-blue, and macrostyla, light violet with purple 

 spots. The name of the latter comes from the large, 

 brown, spindle-shaped style (the " style " of a flower 

 is that portion of the pistil between the ovary and the 

 stigma). These annual kinds flower in summer from 

 seed sown out of doors the same spring. 



The perennial Bell-flowers vary enormously in habit. 

 One, Raineri, a charming little lilac-flowered Italian 

 species, only grows three or four inches high. -On the 

 other hand, we have the Chimney Campanula, pyrami- 

 dalis, which grows six or seven feet high under good 

 culture. The latter, by the way, is not considered to be 



