ON COLUMBINES 125 



Those who raise Columbines from seed should sow 

 thinly in a drill as soon as it is ripe, if they gather their 

 own ; but if buying seed in spring, they had better sow 

 in May. This seed will be of the previous year's sowing, 

 and is often rather slow in germinating ; on this account 

 it is worth while to go to the little extra trouble of sow- 

 ing in a shallow box filled with moist fine loam, leaf 

 mould, and sand. If kept dark, and the soil moist, in a 

 frame, it will germinate in due course, and the plants 

 must then have light and air. When they begin to get 

 crowded they may be set six inches apart in a prepared 

 bed in the garden, and transferred thence to their per- 

 manent quarters in autumn. 



Lovers of this beautiful plant, who grow it mainly for 

 garden effect, must still make themselves acquainted 

 with the structure of its flowers, for they are of great 

 interest. There are five coloured or petaloid sepals 

 (a sepal is not a petal it is a segment of the calyx 

 while a petal is a segment of the corolla) and five tubular 

 petals ; each of the latter terminates in a horn-like 

 "spur" or nectary, which resembles a bird's head. 

 The abundant seeding of Columbines is perhaps due 

 to the numerous series of stamens, which, fed by the 

 nectaries, discharge a great deal of pollen. 



Interesting in its structure, a beautiful, hardy, and 

 easily grown garden plant, endeared to us by long 

 association, the Columbine is one of the greatest of 

 our flower-garden favourites. 



