Part II. SCILLA. 327 



a place in a sheltered, sunny nook on every rockwork, and on 

 every warm raised bed or border devoted to choice hardy bulbs. 

 There is a white variety, .J. peruviana alba, which is not quite 

 so beautiful as the ordinary form. Tufts of the Peruvian Squill 

 should be taken up, when at rest, every three or four years, 

 the bulbs divided, and immediately replanted. 



SCILLA SIBIRICA. — Siberian Squill. 



This beautiful and minute gem among the flowers of earliest 

 spring is happily becoming very popular, and many will have 

 had an opportunity of concluding for themselves that no rock- 

 work, spring garden, or garden of bulbous plants, can be com- 

 plete without the striking and peculiar shade of porcelain blue 

 which quite distinguishes it from the other species. It has had 

 a great number of synonyms, but, unlike 6". bifolia, has sported 

 into few varieties, .J. amcEnula being the only one worth men- 

 tioning, and it is not really distinct. Varieties with larger blos- 

 soms and with one instead of frorn two to five on a stem are 

 preserved in herbariums and occasionally cultivated, but these 

 are only trifling variations, often arising from the conditions in 

 which they are placed. 



There appears to be some doubt as to whether the plant 

 is really a native of Siberia, but it is known to be widely dis- 

 tributed in Asia Minor and Persia, and I received a specimen 

 found " growing among the Snowdrops," by a gentleman in the 

 Caucasus. It is perfectly hardy in this country,- and, like most 

 other bulbs, thrives best in a good sandy soil. Bulbs of it that 

 have been used for forcing should never be thrown away ; if 

 allowed to fully develop their leaves and go to rest in a pit or 

 frame, and afterwards planted out in open spots, in warm soil, 

 they will thrive well. It is needless to disturb the tufts' except 

 every twO' or three years for the sake of dividing them when they 

 grow vigorously. It comes in flower in very early spring a little 

 later than ..?. bifolia, but withstands the storms better than that 

 plant, and remains much longer in bloom. In places where it 

 does not thrive very freely, from the cold nature of the soil or 

 other causes, it would be well, in placing tufts of it on rockwork 

 or on borders, to put it in sheltered positions, so that the leaves 

 may not be injured by the wind, and the plant thereby weakened. 

 It mdy be used with good effect as an edging to beds of spring 

 flowers, or choice alpine shrubs. 



