THE OSEILLE DES NEIGES, OR 11UMEX NIVALIS : A NEW SORREL. 
and shake out the soil, so as to see what you 
are about ; separate the root, so that you may 
have a piece to every eye or heart of the 
plant. Let these pieces be planted out in a 
nursery bed to grow stronger, or in the bor- 
ders where they are to bloom. They soon 
increase in size, and become handsomer each 
season for two or three seasons ; and the 
larger they are, the more beautiful they 
appear when in flower. The seeds of these 
two varieties ripen freely, and may be saved 
without any trouble. The seed should be 
gathered before the pods split, and be saved 
through the winter in a dry cool place. Pre- 
pare beds four feet wide with good rich soil, 
and a path twelve inches wide on each side. 
Let this be well dug and levelled, and sow 
the seeds very thinly all over the surface. 
Let this be done in March ; rake in the seed 
so as to be covered well ; and all the attention 
required for some time will be to hand-weed 
the bed if weeds appear, as they will choke 
the seedlings if neglected. Prepare beds now 
the same width, and any length that can be 
required. Let them be well dunged and 
levelled, ready to receive the young plants 
when they are large enough. The seedlings 
when up must be watered and weeded with 
great care ; and as soon as they are large 
enough, they are to be planted out in the 
prepared beds six inches apart. When you 
are about to plant, water the seed bed well, 
and take up the seedlings very carefully 
without hurting the roots, and plant them 
with a dibble. In their new bed they will 
require constant weeding and watering until 
they complete their growth, and go to bloom, 
which will be the next year. Stir the surface 
between the plants, and keep the whole sur- 
face perfectly clear. As the blooms rise, you 
must be very watchful, because every one 
will be interesting, either from the likeness it 
bears to the one parent or the other, or from 
its being unlike either and possessing some 
novelty. Throw away all the second-rate 
things ; unless there is something that beats 
what we have, we have achieved nothing but 
increasing the old ones. 
After blooming and the leaves decaying 
down a bit, let all that are worth any thing 
and wanted, be placed where they are to re- 
main. If there be any thing really good and 
novel, it may be worth dividing the root to 
increase it ; but generally speaking they 
are better allowed to grow another year. 
The speciosum being a fine dark but clear 
purple, and the variegatum being a sky blue 
and white, the chances are that some of the 
seedlings would prove a modification between 
the two. Now any change which came with 
the same beautiful habit would be highly 
acceptable, whether it were other variegations 
or lighter selfs, or any change that pre erved 
the elegance of the plant, the novelties would 
be worth keeping. In parting the roots to 
propagate the sorts, it must be remembered 
that every root or bit of root must have an 
eye or shoot to it ; and if one had a dozen 
eyes or shoots, each one would make a plant ; 
and to whatever extent a patch of the plant 
may reach, the general style of growth is 
maintained, even if there are fifty flower 
stems. The plant is perfectly hardy, bearing 
any degree of frost, and dies completely down 
every season. We believe that there is not a 
handsomer plant in the garden than either 
Aconitum sjicciosum or Aconitum varie- 
gatum, and every body ought to grow them. 
THE OSEILLE DES NEIGES, OR RUM EX 
NIVALIS : A NEW SORREL. 
The discovery of a new species of plant is 
no longer, in our day, a fit subject to excite 
our curiosity. The researches of naturalists 
have so multiplied the number of these dis- 
coveries, that one is rather averse than curious 
to know. But if, amidst, a host of species 
which are useless for any economical purpose, 
one is found which promises to become a valu- 
able acquisition, both for the agriculturist and 
horticulturist ; if this species comes from a 
country where, for two centuries, the most 
distinguished botanists of Europe have been 
collecting whatever was rare or worth taking ; 
if, we say, such a plant is found under circum- 
stances so extraordinary, it certainly merits 
our close attention. 
In 1836, M. Moritzi, professor of natural 
history at Soleure, discovered in one of the 
most distant of the mountains of Switzerland, 
and at the limit of the eternal snows, a new 
sorrel, which he called Rumex nivalis. See- 
ing that the plant was likely to be useful, he 
gathered a considerable quantity of it, and had 
it taken to his garden, in order to see what 
it would become under cultivation ; and his 
favourable anticipations were fully realized. 
The Rumex nivalis, or, as the French call 
it, Oseille des neiges, grew vigorously, without 
suffering from the change of locality ; and 
assumed a lank form, so much so, that from 
the length of a few inches, which it only at- 
tained in its native habitat, it reached two or 
three feet in height ; it lost nothing in flavour, 
which is agreeably acid, was almost devoid of 
leaves on the stem, but made up for this by 
the tufts of the radical leaves becoming more 
compact, and of a livelier green than is usual 
with the common sorrel, being found also to 
be earlier than the latter, and seeming to 
vegetate even under the snow; thus proving 
