110 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ May. 
dwarf or pumila section, come to be spoken of as tlie large-flowered type, and the 
varieties are of more robust and somewhat spreading growth, with bold flowers very 
freely produced. Several varieties have sprung from speciosa, among them some 
with pure white flowers, the seed of which is of a pale lemon-colour, differing 
from that of the blue varieties, which is of a chestnut colour. It is not a little 
remarkable that the pale-coloured seed taken from pure white varieties will often 
revert to blue flowers, but they always produce dark-coloured seeds. 
The varieties included in the pumila section are all distinguished by a remark¬ 
ably close-tufted growth, very compact in appearance, and yet producing flowers 
in great profusion. A double variety of the last has also been produced, equally 
free-blooming, but with flowers fully double. While the colours of the flowers in 
both sections range from deep blue, through claret, lilac, and pink, to pure white, 
the double form is at present confined to blue only. 
When bedded out, the Lobelia should have a light soil, in which there is 
plenty of leaf-mould. It is a plant that thrives well in moisture when planted in 
a suitable soil, but on cold wet soils it does not flower so profusely from seed as* 
when propagated by cuttings. It should be planted out at the end of May, and 
when the plants begin to make growth, the beds should be surfaced with some 
finely-sifted leaf-soil. In order to have good plants from which to obtain cut¬ 
tings in the following spring, some of the side-pieces should be taken from the 
plants about the beginning of August, and these will invariably be found to have 
some roots attaching to them. They require to be potted into middle 60-pots, 
and put into a cold frame, and kept shaded till established, and then stood out- 
of-doors on an ash bottom; or the lights may be drawn off, and the plants fully 
exposed to the weather till the autumn. They can be wintered on the top shelf 
of a greenhouse, and occasionally syringed, when the weather is mild and sunny. 
In order to have good and effective beds, it is always best to propagate certain 
good sorts by cuttings, as seedlings will vary more or less in colour and in the 
habit of growth. In spring, when the store plants begin to make growth, the 
young shoots should be taken off and inserted as cuttings in pans of moist sand, 
and placed in a quick moist bottom-heat. In a few days they become rooted, 
and can then be pricked off and grown as required. One plant will yield a large 
number of cuttings, if kept growing in a moist heat. The young plants must be 
gradually hardened off before being placed in the beds in May. 
Wlien seeding, only the plants that have a compact habit of growth, that are 
free-blooming, and bear flowers of a decided hue of colour should be selected for 
the purpose. The seed can be sown in September, or in early spring ; a sowing 
made at the end of the summer will produce fine plants by spring, if they are 
carefully grown on, and especially when an early display of bloom is required in 
the open air, a pan or shallow box, well provided with drainage, should be nearly 
filled with leaf-mould, loam, and sand, a little rough in appearance, and over 
this, some finely-sifted soil, gently pressed down ; and in this the seed, which is 
very minute, should be sown very thinly indeed. This should be gently pressed 
