153 
TREATMENT OF THE GENUS GENTIANA. 
It is the peculiar property of some plants, as much as of particular individuals 
among mankind, to excite esteem in the breast of every person to whom they 
become known, and who have the happiness to be capable of perceiving and appre- 
ciating their amiable qualities. An invisible but potent agency seems to reside in 
their aspect, which, on those whose hearts are sufficiently sensitive to feel its power, 
produces an immediate impression, and invariably leads to an attachment of the 
most gentle kind. "While many may steel their souls to such an influence, the 
most worthy of the human race will, we are sure, both experience and acknowledge 
it ; nor can any of these be indifferent to the charms of that extremely delightful 
group on which it is our present purpose to descant. 
Gentiana acaulis, the somewhat scarce yet familiar ornament of well-arranged 
flower-gardens and borders, is a plant that no one can look upon without feeling 
admiration irresistibly incited. Nor is this a solitary star in the assemblage which 
it assists in composing. Other and even more glittering gems— ^. ^. G. gelida 
figured in our February No. — combine to constitute a perfect constellation of 
beauties, which, when properly aggregated and judiciously disposed, steal away 
the observer s afl'ection in spite of all opposing obstacles. 
It appears, on a superficial consideration, not a little extraordinary that, with 
such a strength of attraction, these fascinating objects should be so rarely met with, 
and still less commonly brought together in a bed or compartment by themselves, 
or assigned to their most congenial situation, a rockery. But, by taking a deeper 
view of the causes to which this inattention is attributable, we discover that it is 
the fear of losing them in the winter season, and the unfortunate disposition of 
cultivators to make a mystery of their management, which are its chief occasions. 
And here we cannot refrain from remarking, that if those who find any difficulty 
in preserving or rearing to perfection isolated plants or tribes which flourish in the 
open air, would set themselves assiduously to ascertain the real reason of failure, 
insteadof abandoning the subject and discouraging their neighbours and acquaintance, 
it would generally be found purely local, and susceptible of very easy obviation. 
Such we believe to be the case with regard to Gentians. Planted in a low level 
o 
border, the soil of which is naturally adhesive, and necessarily saturated with 
moisture throughout a large portion of the year ; or simply placed in positions 
where dampness must accumulate, while the air and the ground is everywhere 
loaded with fluids ; they are seldom able to struggle through many winters, and 
this want of success is supposed to be owing to the impossibility of cultivating them 
in our climate : whereas it originates solely in an ignorance of the atmospheric and 
other circumstances in which they spontaneously luxuriate, and the consequent 
absence of an effort to adapt the artificial ones thereto as far as practicable. 
VOL. VII.— NO. LXXIX. X 
