HARDY PLANTS. 



136 HARES AND RABBITS. 



a native of North America, which 

 will grow freely in any soil that is not 

 too rich, though it prefers a dry stony 

 gravel. It has the peculiarity of flow- 

 ering during winter, beginning to ex- 

 pand its rich deep yellow flowers just 

 as its leaves are falling off, and drop- 

 ping its flowers when its branches 

 begin to be reclothed with leaves in 

 spring. 



Hand-glasses. — Portable frames or 

 covers, formed of iron, zinc, or wood, 

 and glazed. These glasses differ from 

 bell-glasses in being longer, and com- 

 posed of numerous small pieces of 

 glass, which are fastened together by 

 narrow strips of lead. Hand-glasses 

 are generally square, but they may be 

 made of an octagon, or any other 

 shape that may be found most conve- 

 nient ; and they are sometimes made 

 with a pane to open to admit air, or 

 with the upper part to take off. This 

 is very convenient ; for as hand-glasses 

 are chiefly used for protecting half- 

 hardy plants during winter, it is neces- 

 sary to give them air every fine day, 

 and it is very troublesome to be 

 obliged to lift the hand-glass off the 

 plant, and to lay it on one side when- 

 ever this is done. Bell-glasses, on 

 the contrary, being principally for pre- 

 venting the evaporation of moisture 

 from the leaves of cuttings, do not re- 

 quire any opening, as the plants seldom 

 want any air till they have rooted. 



Hardenbe'rgta. — Leguminosce. — 

 A new name given by Mr. Bentham 

 to Kennedya monophylla, and five 

 other species of that genus, which have 

 small purplish flowers. 



Hardy plants are all those that 

 will stand the open air in British gar- 

 dens without the slightest protection ; 

 half-hardy ones are those that may be 

 planted in the open ground, but re- 

 quire the protection of a mat or hand- 

 glass ; and. tender, those that must be 

 kept during winter in a hot-bed or 

 plant-house heated by artificial means. 



Greenhouse and frame plants are 

 those grown in pots, which require 

 protection from frost during winter ; 

 and stove plants are those grown in a 

 hothouse all the year. 



Harebell. It is rather curious, 

 that though few poets can write a 

 sonnet without mentioning the hare- 

 bell, and though it is sure to be 

 introduced in every eloquent prose 

 description of country scenery, bota- 

 nists cannot exactly decide what plant 

 is meant by the name — some suppos- 

 ing it to be the beautiful little blue 

 Campanula rotundifblia, and others, 

 the wild hyacinth, Scilla non-scripta. 

 The fact is, that both plants are now 

 known by the name in different parts 

 of Britain : but as the original word 

 is said to have been " air-bell,'' it is 

 most probable that it was the cam- 

 panula that was first so designated, 

 and that is alluded to by the poets ; 

 as the tender blue of its flowers is so 

 near the colour of the skies, as not to 

 require auy great exertion of poetic 

 fancy to call it a bell of air ; and as its 

 slender stem has sufficient elasticity 

 to rise again when lightly trodden on. 



Hares and Rabbits do a great deal 

 of mischief to flower-gardens, as they 

 are very fond of devouring many 

 flowering plants — particularly pinks 

 and carnations. They are also very 

 fond of young plants of laburnum in 

 the shrubberies, and of parsley in the 

 kitchen-garden. The usual way of 

 protecting pinks and carnations is, by 

 an invisible wire fence, or by a net- 

 work of black worsted, supported at 

 intervals by blackened wires ; but the 

 young plantations are generally pro- 

 tected by common netting supported 

 by notched stakes. Some persons sow 

 parsley near their carnations, in the 

 hope that the hares will eat that in 

 preference ; but it often proves inju- 

 rious, as the smell of the parsley at- 

 tracts more hares than would otherwise 

 discover the carnations, and thus the 



