THE PERENNIAL TROPAEOLUMS. 



283 



are all found in South America, where 

 several kinds are widely grown and their 

 roots eaten as food, the natives using 

 them for beauty and for profit around 

 their huts much as the English mechanic 

 sets his line of scarlet beans. Though 

 some kinds are widespread and others 

 local, most of them come from the nar- 

 row temperate zone west of the Andes 

 and overlooking the Pacific, and ex- 

 tending from New Grenada to Chili ; it 

 is in the peculiar climatic conditions of 

 this region that must be sought the ex- 

 planation of the delicacy of some kinds 

 with us. They grow,often in half-shade, 

 upon the mountain slopes, shrinking 

 from the heat of the plains and yet de- 

 stroyed by a touch of frost, and their 

 seasons of vigour and rest are mainly 

 governed by the come and go of the 

 moisture-laden ocean breezes. 



Their needs and the con- 

 ditions of success in this 

 country are so varied, and 

 surprising, that he would 

 be a bold man who dared to fix rules 

 for all places alike. Kinds that flourish 

 like a weed in Scotland will die out re- 

 peatedly in another part of the country, 

 even after great pains have been taken 

 to reproduce exactly what seem to be 

 the ideal conditions of soil and aspect. 

 A few brief indications are, therefore, 

 given with the best kinds, as to the 

 means generally successful, and growers 

 must vary and adapt such hints in the 

 light of local conditions and experience. 

 Some kinds do well almost anywhere, 

 and for the enthusiast there is always a 

 pleasure in inducing the more delicate 

 kinds to do well because of their assumed 



Conditions 

 with us. 



at times so 



difficulty. The greenhouse kinds are 

 in their full beauty in early spring and 

 richly repay whatever care has been 

 spent to get them to perfection. All 

 need great care in watering, the more 

 before growth has fairly begun, and they 

 all dwindle under too strong a degree of 

 heat, while nearly all may be increased 

 by careful division when at rest, and a 

 good many may be raised from seed 

 when it is to be had good. The list of 

 kinds is given with their English names, 

 but for ease of reference they are ranged 

 according to the alphabetical order of 

 their botanic names. 



There are few plants 



Be tLfj n uLs nd more varied in tneir use 



than the Tropaeolums, 

 and various kinds maybe had in beauty 

 almost throughout the year. The pretty 

 little tri-coloured kind and many other 

 fine plants of the greenhouse section 

 may be had in bloom from quite early 

 spring until the first hardy sorts begin 

 to flower. These trailing kinds for the 

 open garden are of great beauty, of no 

 trouble to grow, and succeed in poor 

 soils. Leichtlin's and Knight's Tro- 

 paeolums are good anywhere upon dry 

 banks or hanging from nooks in the 

 rock-garden, and these hardy kinds 

 may be followed by others such as 

 Moritz and Smith's kinds, the Peren- 

 nial Canary Flower and Tropaeolums 

 tricolor and pentaphyllum^ raised from 

 seed in heat and grown as annuals 

 in the summer flower-garden. The 

 splendid Flame-flowered Tropaeolum is 

 in full beauty in early autumn ; while 

 Wagner's rare kind and T. tuberosum 

 maintain their autumn display far into 



