128 Edit07's Letter- Box. 



There is reason in the following letter, and the writer's experience agrees 

 with our own. A question as to the possibility of cultivating the harebell {Cam- 

 panula roinndifolia) is also answered. This plant is very delicate and beauti- 

 ful, of easy culture, and should be generally grown. As to the gentian-seed, we 

 shall trust to hear further reports. In our neighborhood it is very difficult to get 

 seed, as the capsules are generally destroyed by insects. 



Editors of "The American Journal of Horticulture." 



" I fear your Madison correspondent will be disappointed at the result of her 

 horticultural experiment of transplanting some ' strong roots ' oi Gcniiana crinita. 

 Here this is certainly a biennial plant. I have never known one to flower a 

 second season. Is it easy to raise this from seed ? I have tried several times 

 without success ; sowed seeds last fall, and the young plants have come up 

 abundantly. They are very small, and look tender. I propose to give them a 

 little shade while small, and hope thus to save some of them. To my eye, the 

 flower is more delicately beautiful when growing in partial shade. This is also 

 the case with G. sapoiiaria. 



" I have often wondered why the harebell {Cainpamila rotuiidifolia) is not 

 introduced to the fiower-garden. I have never seen either seeds cr plants adver- 

 tised in any florist's catalogue. It thrives with me, doing best in rather poor 

 soil ; is perfectly hardy against both heat and cold. I have plants now that 

 have stood for seven or eight years, increasing in vigor each year. It is a profuse 

 bloomer from June to the end of October. All who have seen it will acknowl- 

 edge it to be a gracefully-beautiful plant, aside from its lovely flowers. It is such 

 a favorite with me, thr.t I have set it in many places by the roadside, and in 

 retired nooks in the woods. It was not a native of this town. My original 

 plants came from Newburyport. " M. P. 



" Concord, Mass." 



M. W. C, Worcester. — It is not uncommon to have two flowers oi Lilhan 

 auratiim on a stem. In England, three stems bearing forty flowers have been 

 grown from one bulb. The specimen sent has very large flowers ; and the in- 

 crease of the pistils to three, the stamens to nine, and the petals to seven, shows 

 an abnormal state, and, as you rightly suppose, a tendency to a double flower. 

 Such a change, however, would be no improvement. Of all double flowers 

 (which are, botanically, monstrosities), a double lily is especially ugly ; and great 

 size would be a poor exchange for the loss of simple beauty, and elegance of 

 form, which would be the invariable result should Liliit7)i aiiratuvi become 

 double. 



Orchardist. — Is there any better early cooking-apple than the Red Astra- 

 chan ? — If there is, we have yet to see it. It is always fair, and of good size; 

 is just acid enough to relish when cooked. 



