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THE HEPATICAS {Anemone 

 hepaticd). 



Cheeriest and most welcome of early 

 flowers, the Hepaticas are among the 

 oldest plants cultivated in gardens ; and, 

 though not found wild in Britain, are 

 common in mountain copses and wood- 

 land over a large part of Europe and 

 North America. So old and so familiar 

 were they, even in cottage gardens of a 

 past generation, that there seemed little 

 of newness possible to them, until, two 

 years ago, the double white Hepatica, 

 long talked of and often treated as a 

 myth, came to light at last and aroused 

 fresh interest in these charming moun- 

 tain plants. 



The Hepaticas will not thrive in all 

 places alike. Around large towns with 

 their smoke and fog they 

 are never quite happy, 

 losing their leaves in 

 winter and with them much of their 

 beauty ; compact and heavy soils are 

 also disliked by these plants of the hills. 

 Where they do not succeed in existing 

 soil good results are often got from 

 raised borders of well-drained compost. 

 The question of soil is one of locality. 

 In our southern and eastern counties 

 shade would be more needed for their 

 successful cultivation than in the west 

 or north. With sufficient moisture most 

 kinds thrive best in half-shade or rather 

 screened by summer-leafing trees and 

 at other times exposed to light and air. 

 In light shade the plants keep low, and 

 flower freely, setting seed well, and 

 having their leaves finely marbled. In 

 shadier spots their growth is larger and 

 the stems more developed, but though 



The Hepatica at 

 Home. 



Conditions of 

 Success. 



lasting longer the flowers remain closed 

 on dull days and often fail to seed. 



To see the Hepatica in its native 

 beauty one should see it upon the south- 

 ern slopes of the Alps, 

 where it is one of the 

 mountain plants that 

 creep nearest the Mediterranean wher- 

 ever the hills approach the sea. Its fa- 

 vourite haunt is woods of Oak, in which 

 it is sheltered from the summer glare 

 and yet freely exposeduntil its season of 

 flower is past, while in autumn the fall- 

 ing leaves drift thickly into the nooks 

 and crannies loved of the plant, provid- 

 ing Nature's own shelter and also food. 

 With the first genial days of spring their 

 buds begin to expand, until in March 

 and April, when the snow has gone and 

 the sun is hot at noon, their tufts of 

 colour spread as a vast sheet of blue in 

 every tone and shade, forming a dense 

 carpet throughout the belt ofwoodland, 

 varied here and their by clumps of wild 

 Narcissus, by pallid Asphodel, or quaint 

 wild Orchids, and mingling with Prim- 

 roses, and the pale blue Italian Scilla. 

 Without stirring more than a few yards 

 it is possible to fill a sack with roots, if 

 minded to enjoy their beauty nearer 

 home. A great green lizard pops up over 

 a stone to see what the stir is about, and 

 at long intervals a peasant goes by on his 

 mule, whose spreading panniers brush 

 the growth beside the narrow track, 

 while in his wonder at your occupation 

 the rustic almost forgets to give you his 

 good-day. But for the rest one is in a 

 world of blue : the bluest of blue skies 

 overhead, a blue haze upon the further 

 hillsides, in the distance the deep dark 



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