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the flowers are of various shades of white, blue or pink, and 

 last a long time in good condition, as they have the useful 

 habit of closing up in rough wintry weather and expand 

 again when better conditions prevail ; many persons complain 

 of their failures to grow this plant ; these may usually be 

 traced to one of the following causes : first, the colour of the 

 flowers will deteriorate if the plant is allowed to sow its 

 seeds, as these grow very freely and in time take full posses- 

 sion of the site ; secondly, the roots should be lifted every 

 second year as soon as the foliage turns yellow, and must be 

 planted in a fresh place in August ; if this is not done the 

 roots are almost certain to be killed by a fungus. The 

 flowers that appear afterwards are from young seedling roots 

 which are not so easily killed, and these are weak and pale 

 in colour ; owing to this I have known some growers imagine 

 that the plant deteriorated in colour after a year or two's 

 growth. The soil before planting should be well manured 

 and dug some time previously ; the roots succeed best in 

 resisting the fungus if they are broken into pieces the size of 

 hazel nuts as soon as they are lifted. They should never be 

 planted deeper than two inches ; planting ought to be com- 

 pleted before the middle of August. 



jl. blanda Cypriana. This is a very beautiful variety 

 of the above, which was sent here by Herr Max Leichtlin, 

 it flowers later than the type, the flowers being white inside 

 and striped with sky blue outside ; it was awarded a First 

 Class Certificate by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1 899. 

 Seedling plants of this do not come true to colour. 



A. blanda Scythinica. This also came from the same 



