>r> 



YELLOW COLTTMBINE. 99 



endure unhurt any amount o£ winter frost, and will flower 

 gaily when the proper time arrives. In the dreadful 

 winter of 18S0-81 we had many plants of A. cliry&anUia 

 in an open border, hut the frost that killed the golden 

 euonymus and the bay laurel did not harm these yellow 

 columbines. 



To obtain stock by division of the plants is a somewhat 

 delicate process^ and should not be resorted to so long as 

 there is a prospect of obtaining seed. The best time to 

 divide the plants is when they first show signs of new 

 growth in spring. They must then be taken up, and care- 

 fully cut through, a certain number of uninjured roots 

 being secured with each portion. These pieces should be 

 potted in the smallest pots that will hold them, and the 

 soil employed should be a mixture of peat and sharp sand, 

 in about equal proportions, well mixed together, or a good 

 loam, with sand added in the proportion of one-half, or even 

 two-thirds. If carefully potted and kept for a few weeks 

 in a frame;, every scrap will make a plant. When the pots 

 are filled with roots, the plants may be turned out into the 

 border where they are to remain, or they may be shifted into 

 larger pots, and have a further nursing. In any case they 

 must have abundance of air and light to make them stout 

 and strong. When old stocks are cut up in this way, it is 

 good policy to nip out the subsequent flower-spikes as soon 

 as they appear, for it is too hard upon a poor plant to be 

 chopped up and to be expected to flower in the same season. 

 If it is not convenient to divide in spring, it may be done 

 in August, in which case the stock should be wintered under 

 glass. The following are the best amongst many species 

 of Aquilegias — A. leptoceras, pale blue, grey, primrose, 

 orange, and yellow; A. alpina, blue; A. ccerulea, Si^xa&iQ 



