18G8.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
185 
A GROUP OF 
The Bell-flowers— Campanulas. 
Among the herbaceous perennials the Bell- 
flowers are high in our esteem. They are hardy, 
easily propagated, and remain long in bloom ; 
they give us considerable variety in habit of 
plant and form of flower, and every shade of 
blue, besides white, and other varieties. They 
are all beautiful, from the tiny native Harebell, 
to the Pyramidal Bell-flower, which grows to 
the hight of four or rive feet. Almost every one 
knows the old Canterbury Bells, (Campanula 
medium), a biennial formerly seen in our gar- 
dens more frequently than at present. This is 
the best known, and has the true bell-shaped 
flower which suggested the generic name — Cam- 
panula. Our artists have enlarged and repro- 
duced from small sketches by Riocreux, the 
great French draughtsman of flowers, excellent 
representations of some of the less-known spe- 
cies. The one on the extreme left is the Large 
Bell-flower, Campanula grandiflora. It is so 
unlike other Bell-flowers that some botanists 
have separated it from them, and it has been 
called Platycodon and Wahlcnbcrrjia. The large, 
shallow flowers are borne on stems one foot or 
more high, and in the bud present a curious 
balloon shape. The color varies from the deep- 
est blue to white. It not rarely happens, as in 
other species, that a second corolla appears with- 
in the other, making the flowers semi-double. 
The next and smallest of the four is one of 
BELL-FLOWER S. — Drawn and Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
Currants and Their Enemies. 
our prime favorites — the Carpathian Bell-flower, 
(C. Carpathica). It is delicate* in habit, and a 
profuse bloomer, beginning to produce its small 
flowers in June and keeping it up until stopped 
by hard frosts. Next this is the Bouquet Bell- 
flower (C. glomerata), so called from the manner 
in which it bears its flowers in clusters; it 
grows about two feet high, is rather stiff in its 
habit, but very ornamental in the grounds. 
On the extreme right is the Tall Bell-flower, 
(C. grandis), a noble plant growing three feet 
high, and covered with large, bell-shaped flowers 
of a clear blue color. This is perhaps less com- 
mon in gardens than either of the others. 
The Peach-leaved Bell-flower (C. persic&folia) 
is not figured ; it is, however, one of the most 
beautiful in a beautiful genus. Very many more 
might be mentioned, but we only wished to call 
attention to Bell-flowers in general, and refer to 
the seed catalogues for the list of all that may 
be cultivated. The perennial ones are easily 
multiplied by root-division in fall or spring, and 
they may be raised from seed by those who will 
wait a year for their bloom. In every garden 
of any extent it is well to have seed-beds espe- 
cially for perennial plants, where the young seed- 
lings can be grown in rows like cabbage or let- 
tuce plants, when they will have care, and yet not 
interfere with the general effect of the garden. 
Thinning, weeding, watering, and covering in 
winter, can be better done when the plants are 
in such beds than when scattered about borders. 
For some years we have endeavored to make 
the currant more popular, as we consider it a 
most healthful as well as easily raised fruit. 
That there are obstacles to its culture we are 
aware, and so there are to that of all fruits, and 
whoever is not williug to take proper care of 
his currants does not deserve to have them. 
The most common insects injurious to the 
currant are the Borer and the Currant- worm. 
Both the American and the European Currant 
Borer trouble our plants, the one the larva of a 
beetle, and the other that of a moth, but as they 
are practically the same in their habits and 
effects, it is not necessary to speak of them sep- 
arately. The larva lives upon the pith of the 
currant stem, and the insects come out from the 
dead stalks iu their perfect state late in May or 
early in June. They lay their eggs upon the 
new shoots, and the young brood, when hatched, 
penetrate the stem and carry on their work of 
destruction. Where the bush is kept properly 
pruned no very extensive damage usually re- 
sults from the Borers, as the infested limbs ire 
discovered and removed at pruning; these 
should be burned, for if thrown upon the brush- 
heap the perfect iusects will make their way 
out and provide for a continuance of the trouble. 
The Currant-worm, which is the larva of an 
insect somewhat resembling the common fly, is 
the most destructive enemy of the currant. 
