CURREN GARDENT LORE. 



63 



flowers, and where the soil is rich and stiffish no better 

 or showier plants can be grown. In the rockery we find 

 them quite indispensable, and encourage rather than pre- 

 vent their seeding among mixed shrubs, etc., in the 

 vicinity of the rock-garden. They are also good border- 

 plants, and rarely fail to reproduce themselves freely 

 from self-sown seed. Verbascitm fhccnicetim is a per- 

 ennial species, and one of the very best for mixed borders 

 in small gardens. It is very variable, there being white, 

 violet, lilac, rose, deep violet, and purple-flowered varie- 

 ties. It continues flowering from May to August, and 

 •when grown well is a very striking plant. It is a native 

 of southern Europe. — The Garden. 



Ranunculus Cortusaefolius. — It is not unusual for 

 very much atten- 

 tion to be given to 

 buttercups, unless 

 they happen to be 

 double, or a native 

 of some other 

 country than 

 Britain. Some 

 leaves and cut- 

 flowers of the 

 species here illus- 

 trated were lately 

 exhibited at West- 

 minister, and cre- 

 ated interest b y 

 their handsome 

 appearance. The 

 species was origi- 

 nally introduced to 

 this country in 

 1826. Its native 

 home is in the 

 Canary and 

 Madeira Islands, 

 consequently w e 

 can hardly expect 

 it to be perfectly 

 hardy in this 

 country, as plants 

 coming from those islands usually require greenhouse 

 treatment to bring them safely through our changeable 

 and sometimes severe winters. In warm soils and shel- 

 tered positions some growers may, however, be able to 

 keep it alive in the open air. It would be well, however, 

 to preserve seeds, if any are matured upon the plants, to 

 provide against contingencies. Those exhibited had been 

 grown in pots and kept in a greenhouse temperature. 

 The lower leaves were large, handsome, nearly orbicular, 

 shallow-lobed, toothed, and, like the stems, thinly hairy. 

 The large, bright yellow flowers measured from 2 to 2;4 

 inches across, and were borne in branching, terminal 

 cymes. — Gardening World. 



The Violet-Cress. — loiopsidiian acaule is one of the 

 most charming early little spring annuals we possess. It 

 has for many years been a general favorite for rockeries 



and old crumbling walls, where it makes itself quite at 

 home, and in a few years takes full possession. It forms 

 dense tufted rosettes from i to 2 inches high, with in- 

 numerable kidney-shaped leaves and an abundance of pale, 

 violet-colored flowers. It is a hardy annual in the true 

 sense of the term, seedlings springing up in all directions 

 where plants have seeded the previous year. It is a very 

 welcome weed in the rockery ; the plants fill all the 

 crevices, and rarely get in the way of other dwarf-growing 

 Alpine plants. It sows itself with such certainty as to 

 possess all the advantages of a true perennial. Along 

 rough stone-edged pathways, on rough stone steps, old 

 brick walls, or any place that will give a plant a foot- 

 hold, the violet-cress may be grown with singular 

 e ff e c t . The 

 autumn- sown 

 seeds produce 

 plants which flow- 

 er early in spring, 

 and plants from 

 spring and early 

 summer- sown 

 seeds flower 

 throughout sum- 

 mer and autumn. 

 This cress is also 

 largely used for 

 early greenhouse 

 work, either sown 

 thinly or pricked 

 out into pots of a 

 suitable size, half 

 a dozen or more 

 tufts in each. It 

 is a native of Por- 

 tugal, and belongs 

 to the crucifers. — 

 Tlie Garde?i, 



French Horti- 

 culture at t h e 

 World's Fair.— 

 Our neighbors are 

 going to do them- 

 selves great credit in horticulture at the Chicago World's 

 Fair next year, it would appear. A cablegram has been 

 received from the French Commission asking that it be 

 allowed to do, and bear the expenses of, the " whoie 

 decoration of the spaces surrounding the Horticultural 

 and the Woman's buildings." This generous offer, 

 doubtless, will be accepted, if it does not interfere with 

 plans too for advanced to be changed. The French are 

 world-renowned as artistic landscape-gardeners, and it is 

 believed that they would hardly have made the offer re- 

 ferred to unless they intend to make a display of surpass- 

 mg beauty. The Commission asked also for 60,000 square 

 feet for the French horticultural exhibit. British horti- 

 culturists must look to their laurels ; but there is little 

 doubt that if a combined effort were made they would 

 not be eclipsed. — Journal of Uorticullure. 



