A FEW SPECIES OF LUPINES. 
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on the edge of a shrubbery, skirting a lawn, have also an enlivening and attrac- 
tive effect. 
The lower-growing annual species, such as L. luteus and L, nanus , from their 
prostrate habit, and the prominence and neatness of their flowers, are admirably 
fitted for planting in beds of moderate size in the flower-garden. The green 
leaves form an ample covering for the soil, and set off to great advantage the 
intrinsic showiness of the flower. By pinching off the ends of a few of the 
longest shoots from time to time, and shortening back those that assume a 
tendency to grow upright and rise above the rest, a regular and more plentiful 
succession of bloom will be produced throughout the season. 
For the sake of diversity, some of the larger-growing species may also be 
planted in more extensive beds on a lawn, and in such situations have a pretty 
appearance, when not too profusely introduced. In beds thus planted, a row of 
the more diminutive species on the margin will help to conceal the nakedness of 
the lower part of the flower-stalks towards the close of the season, and also assist 
in giving a higher appearance to the centre of the bed. 
For L. mutabilis , and similar species, which, though ordinarily treated as hardy 
or half-hardy annuals, are really greenhouse shrubs, and may be preserved from year 
to year, and propagated from cuttings with as much facility as a Pelargonium, a 
somewhat different mode will be more appropriate. Their altitude and luxuriant 
growth fit them rather for standing alone, as isolated specimens on a lawn, or 
I occasionally intermingled, though with caution, amongst other and less succulent 
shrubs, to fill up a vacant place. They always, however, succeed best in a situation 
as free as possible from surrounding plants, where they have room to spread their 
rapidly-forming branches on every hand. 
When kept low, and induced to form a large-spreading bushy head, by fre- 
quently stopping the young growing shoots, they are very eligible plants for filling 
vases during the summer season ; and where there is a deficiency of hard-wooded 
ornamental plants for this purpose, the short time required to produce handsome 
flowering specimens of these renders them more useful. They should not, how- 
ever, be placed in elevated situations, where they will be exposed to the action of 
violent winds, as the softness and weight of the shoots renders them highly 
susceptible of injury. 
It is evident that something beyond the common plan of sowing seeds in the 
open ground, or even in slight hot-beds, and transplanting at once to the destined 
situation, must be employed to obtain large specimens at a tolerably early season. 
The best plan is to sow seeds in pots, placed in a gentle bottom heat, about the 
beginning of March, and as a few days only are necessary to their vegetation, 
young plants will soon be ready for transplanting singly into small pots ; and as 
these become filled with roots, remove them into others three or four sizes larger. 
If short specimens are required, either for the lawn or for vases, as soon as they 
have again taken root and begun to grow freely, they may be removed from the 
