398 
POLEMOXITJM CCERULErM. 
chasms in it, and living moss grooving in it, 
and some perfectly rotten wood. Into one of 
the holes, or chasms, was placed a little fine 
sandy peat, a few knobs of rotten wood, and 
some very much decayed leaf-mould, also a 
little sphagnum, and in this the withered 
stem was planted. The stump was then sunk 
in the middle of the bog, to nearly the level 
of the rim of the hole where the plant was 
placed, so that the percolating water gently 
moved past, and pressed probably in some 
degree through the lower fittings of the hole. 
A small bell-glass was put over the little 
plant, but the edge of the hole being uneven, 
the glass was not air-tight.' Over this was 
put a square iron hand-glass ; it being in 
two parts, the air got in a little between the 
top and bottom. In the middle of hot sunny 
days it is partially shaded. In summer the 
bell-glass is taken off altogether, except when 
the night air is cold ; and in fine weather, the 
top of the hand-glass is turned, so that through 
the angles the air has full access to the plant. 
"With this treatment the plant attained a 
vigorous growing state, and produced many 
of its beautiful pitchers. 
POLEMONIUM CCEEULEUM. 
(Linn<zm.) 
GREEK VALERIAS, OR JACOB'S LADDER. 
The Greek Valerian is a common hardy 
perennial plant, of a very ornamental charac- 
ter, and perfectly easy of cultivation. 
It belongs to the natural group of Polemo- 
niacese, to which also belongs the Phlox, the 
Gilia, and some other of our gay border 
flowers. It is a nauseously bitter plant ; in 
Siberia poultices prepared from its leaves are 
thought serviceable in syphilitic eruptions ; 
and the Russians fancy that a decoction of it 
is useful in hydrophobia. 
The plant is perfectly hardy. It produces 
a tuft of pinnate glabrous leaves, which are 
composed of several pairs of oblong-lanceo- 
late leaflets placed alternately ; the stalks rise 
about a foot and a half or two feet high, and 
are channelled, and furnished with smaller 
leaves of the same form as the lower ones ; 
the stems are terminated by bunches of blos- 
som;, which are large, wheel-shaped — that is, 
with a short tube and spreading border — and 
are produced in the latter end of May, and j 
through June and July. It is met with in 
various parts of Europe, and is found, though j 
very rarely, in some parts of Britain. 
There are some varieties : — The most com- 
mon kind produces flowers of a pretty blue 
colour ; another bears white flowers ; another 
has variegated blossoms; and a fourth variety, 
also bearing blue flowers, has variegated 
foliage. 
The seeds are always to be obtained with 
facility in the seed shops, and by their means 
the plant is best propagated, as young seed- 
ling plants are more vigorous than plants 
raised by the ordinary process of division. 
To obtain a succession of flowers, seeds should 
be sown at two periods ; first, in August, 
along wuth other perennials for early bloom- 
ing the following year, and then again in 
February, to flower late in the year. Those 
sown in August should be sown on a bed of 
common garden soil, covered about a quarter 
of an inch with fine soil, and kept well 
watered if the weather is dry ; they will 
soon germinate, and the young plants, when 
they have formed a pair or two of leaves, 
should be transplanted into a prepared bed of 
fine soil — good, but not very rich; for if they 
grow too luxuriantly, they are more liable to 
