138 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



As regards cultivation there is not much to be said. 

 Any soil will suit this plant, but it needs a sunny aspect, 

 or it becomes drawn and wiry, and fails to hold up its 

 head. To increase the stock, it is sufficient to divide the 

 roots when growth commences in the spring, but they 

 may be divided at any time if it is a matter of importance 

 to secure a quantity for any purpose. A large clump or 

 bed has a rich and interesting appearance when in flower, 

 and continues so for a considerable length of time. We 

 have used it advantageously to plant amongst lilies, which 

 really need some light spreading herbage to partially clothe 

 and conceal their stems, and in fact the bare ground ought 

 never to be visible where lilies grow, for it is their nature 

 to rise out of grass and other light herbage, the roots of 

 which are also indirectly advantageous to the lilies by 

 quickly taking up any excess of moisture resulting from 

 heavy summer rains. 



The common yarrow we dismiss for the present as a 

 mere weed, but we shall restore it to the garden presently, 

 for a particular purpose. The yarrows most worthy of 

 cultivation, in addition to the one here figured, are the 

 following : — The sneezewort (A. ptarmica), a neat-habited 

 British plant, with white flowers; the double variety is 

 a serviceable thing to supply cut flowers. The woolly 

 yarrow {A. tomentosa) , a neat plant, with woolly leaves, 

 and successive corymbs of gay yellow flowers. The great 

 yarrow (A. filipendula) , with rough pinnate leafage, and 

 large heads of bright yellow flowers that rise to a height 

 of four or five feet in a good soil and sunny situation. 

 The silvery yarrow [A. clavennm), a very neat plant, with 

 white leaves and pretty heads of white flowers. This is a 

 mountain plant, and requires a dry position on a rockery, in 



