BLUE LOBELTIA. 
Lobelia erinus. 
PLANT so well known as the little 
blue lobelia may appear capable of 
telling its own story, but it is not 
so; and there is so much in the 
story that we must be business- 
like, and avoid sentiment and 
gossiping. It represents a pretty 
group. of dwarf-growing, wiry- 
habited, free-flowering plants, the 
flowers of which are mostly of 
some shade of blue, but occasionally 
white, rosy purple, and pucy pink. 
They are all annuals or perennials, 
according to the treatment they 
receive and the kind of season 
they have passed through. In a 
hot dry summer they produce an 
abundance of seed, and become ex- 
hausted. In this case the old 
plants are likely to die during the winter, however much 
care may be taken of them. After a wet cool summer 
the old plants are likely to survive the winter, if potted 
and housed sufficiently early in the autumn. 
In the cultivation of these dwarf lobelias, the saving 
