90 WOOD AND GAKDEN 



because the flowers were of a medium colour — scarcely 

 so light as the name would imply — and because of its 

 vigorous habit and well-shaped spike. It produced 

 flowers of all shades of blue, and from these were 

 derived nearly all I have in the border. I found them 

 better for the purpose in many cases than the named 

 kinds of which I had a fair collection. 



The seedlings were well grown for two years in 

 nursery lines, worthless ones being taken out as soon 

 as they showed their character. There is one common 

 defect that I cannot endure — an interrupted spike, 

 when the flowers, having filled a good bit of the spike, 

 leave off, leaving a space of bare stem, and then go on 

 again. If this habit proves to be persistent after the 

 two years' trial, the plant is condemned. For my 

 liking the spike must be well filled, but not over- 

 crowded. Many of the show kinds are too fuU for 

 beauty ; the shape of the individual flower is lost. 

 Some of the double ones are handsome, but in these 

 the flower takes another shape, becoming more rosette- 

 like, and thereby loses its original character. Some 

 are of mixed colouring, a shade of lilac-pink sliding 

 through pale blue. It is very beautiful in some cases, 

 the respective tints remaining as clear as in an opal, 

 but in many it only muddles the flower and makes it 

 ineffective. 



Delphiniums are greedy feeders, and pay for rich 

 cultivation and for liberal manurial mulches and 

 waterings. In a hot summer, if not weU cared for, 



