MINIATURE MALLOW. 151 



The grandest of the garden mallows are the well-known 

 Lavatera arborea and L. triiiiedrin. These are beautiful 

 plants, the first-named being the bold tree-mallow which is 

 so often seen near the sea-coast — a plant occasionally grown 

 as fodder for cattle. There has been lately introduced to 

 cultivation a fine variety with variegated leaves, whicli 

 makes a stately figure in the flower-garden. Our pretty 

 musk-mallow {Mule a moscliahi) is perhaps the best of the 

 native species, because of its neat habit ; but the wild and 

 daring woodland mallow [M. sj/lvesfr/fi) and the round- 

 leaved sprawling mallow {M. rotund/folia) are, as wild- 

 ings, glorious, and quite admissible to the sunn)' jiarts of a 

 wild garden, to make bold blotches of colour amongst the 

 rougher kinds of herbage. To recommend them for the 

 flower garden propier would be as flagrant a violation of 

 good taste as the introduction of a Bornean cannibal in 

 his ci istume at an " at home " in a fashionable drawing-room. 



Plants of smaller growth and with various pleasing 

 features are to be found in this family. Mulra vnniri- 

 tanica, JI. laterit'ia, and J/, cr'i^pa constitute a grouj) of 

 useful border and rookery plants. J/, iliraricata, miiiiuta, 

 and Crceana are beautiful examples of typical mallows, of 

 smallish growth, producing beautiful flowers, but of doubt- 

 ful hardiness. The bell-flowered mallow (if. cawpaimlatu) 

 and Moren's mallow {M. Morenii) are much to be desired for 

 the rock garden, being hardy, showy, and of free growth. 

 They need a well-drained soil and a sunny situation, and 

 having these aids, will take care of themselves. 



To raise plants of any of the foregoing, the simplest 

 method is by means of seeds. These should be sown in 

 pans or boxes in the spring, and have the shelter of a 

 frame until the plants are somewhat advanced, after which 



