• January 5, 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
A PRETTY 
ACONITE. 
„ ERANTHIS 
CILICICA. 
Preserving Berries for Decoration. 
—As a rule most of the berries produced 
by hardy shrubs in this country are 
allowed to be eaten by birds or destroyed 
by frost, as the case may be. Certain 
kinds can, however, be preserved by 
cutting the shoots while the berries are 
still in perfection and placing them in 
water m a cool place free -from frost. 
Berries that might be treated in this wav 
are the Mountain Ash, the Guelder Rose, 
Berbens Thunbergii, B. vulgaris, the 
Barbary Tea Tree, the Bitter Sweet, and 
others of that character. 
The Winter Aconite belongs to the same 
family as the true Aconitfc, but why they 
should both have received the same name 
is difficult to conceive, for they are 
totally different in aspect. The true 
Aconites may be of any height from i8in. 
to 7ft., but the Winter Aconites are very 
dwarf herbs, with a flowering stem only 
3in. to 6in. high. Something like eight 
species of Winter Aconite are known to 
science, having been described and re¬ 
corded in botanical books, but only two 
of them are in cultivation. That under 
notice was introduced as recently as 
1893, but is yet a scarce plant in gardens, 
notwithstanding the fact that it is of easy 
cultivation and prettier than the better 
known and older one. 
The accompanying illustration will show 
at a glance the general features of E. 
cilicica, which is a native of Asia Minor, 
and seems to be quite hardy in this 
country. When the young stems appear 
above ground they are more or less tinted 
with red, the green bracts surround¬ 
ing the flower are cut up into twelve to 
eighteen very narrow segments appearing 
like a fringed or frilled collar to the yellow 
flower ensconced in the centre. The 
rootstock consists of a tuber, and is 
usually spoken of as a bulb, but more 
correctly a bulbous plant, which may be 
treated much in the same way as 
Hyacinths and Tulips when planted in the 
open garden. 
Propagation may be effected by division, 
as the roots increase and produce fresh 
crowns. Possibly, also, when it is grown 
under favourable conditions, it may pro¬ 
duce seeds like the older Winter Aconite, 
and-thereby furnish a ready means of in¬ 
creasing it rapidly. 'The Winter 
Aconites bloom at any time from January 
or February to March, according to the 
mildness or otherwise of the winter. In 
the south, where the ground is usually 
bare in winter, it blooms on an average 
in February, but in the north of Britain, 
where snow often lies on the ground for 
weeks, it has to wait until the snow dis¬ 
appears and the frost comes out of the 
ground, when the vellow flowers promptly 
appear above the soil. 
The Snowdrop. 
Galanthus nivalis. 
The late Shirley Hibberd spoke of the 
Snowdrop as the milk white flgwer born 
of the snow,’’ and however ^poetical the 
illusion may have been, the picture of a 
clump of Snowdrops arising out of the 
snow is very suggestive. Not every 
gardener, probably, has ever seen Snow¬ 
drops standing out above the snow- 
covered ground, but where snowstorms 
are of .frequent occurrence it is quite a 
common picture to see Snowdrops in 
bloom amongst the snow. It would be a 
mistake to imagine that the plant can 
either grow or bloom while the ground is 
frozen, but in our fickle and uncertain 
climate we may have a spell of mild 
weather during January, February, or 
March, when the Snowdrops will come in¬ 
to bloom in most parts of Britain. In 
the South they make their appearance 
earlier than in the North, but in either 
case the full-blown flowers are liable to he 
overtaken by a snowstorm at any time. 
So hardy are these flowers, however, that 
Eranthis cilicica. 
Galanthus nivalis, the Snowdrop. 
