THE LADIES’ FLORAL CABINET. 
99 
in cultivation, as they intercross and hybridize without 
any artificial aid. Either scattered or in groups, on the 
borders of shrubberies, or in the subtropical garden, they 
are very desirable, while some members of the genus are 
well adapted for bold effects in isolated positions. 
Our common mullein ( Verbascum Thapsus') is too well 
known to require extended description; two other com¬ 
mon varieties are Moth Mullein ( V. blattaria) and 
White Mullein ( V. lychnitis) ; they are pretty biennials, 
suitable for rockwork, but their foliage is a secondary 
consideration. 
V. crassifolmm belongs to the Thapsus class; it has 
large yellow flowers, and woolly leaves with crenate edges. 
It is a native of Portugal. 
V. Olympicum is a most beautiful variety, producing 
flower stems from six to eight feet high, branching, and 
covered with shining yellow flowers. The leaves are 
large, lanceolate and woolly. Its stately growth gives it 
a grand effect, when planted singly. It is a native of 
Asia Minor, and flowers in August and September. 
V. Phazniceum differs from the above in the color of 
its flowers, which vary from white to bronze and purple, 
the latter being the prevailing color. Its purplish green 
leaves are formed in a close rosette, lying flat on the 
ground. It is dwarf in habit, rarely exceeding two feet in 
height and a native of Siberia and the Caucasus. There 
is another common roadside plant I have always admired, 
and secretly wished to transfer to the subtropical garden ; 
I mean Phytolacca decandra- —it sounds so much better 
under that name than if we give it its common and unro¬ 
mantic title of “ Pokeweed.” Seriously, it is a handsome 
thing, the tender green of the leaf contrasts so well with 
the crimson stem—the clusters of greenish white flowers 
are very pretty, and the ripened berries are really beauti¬ 
ful. It might be considerably improved by culture. But 
I doubt whether it will be extensively grown, unless the 
seed is offered by those gentry who sold in the city streets 
the “Alligator Tree of Florida,” warranted to bear 
myriads of fragrant flowers, said “Alligator Tree” being 
the familiar liquidambar of our woods. Some years ago a 
glib-tongued agent visited a little New Jersey town, selling 
the seeds of the “ Night-blooming Lily of California,” a 
wonderful new plant, which was to bear large pure white 
fragrant flowers, opening at night. Many people bought 
them, cherishing them tenderly, until they found their 
flower-beds filled with a luxuriant growth of the vile Jim- 
son-weed, or thorn-apple (. Datura stramoniuni) one of 
the rankest, most ill-smelling vagabondish weeds with which 
one could be troubled. This little story offers a variety of 
morals, but I suppose as long as horticulture exists the 
agent for blue roses, shrub strawberries and like novelties, 
will perennially appear, to defraud the ignorant and credu¬ 
lous. The only advice we can offer would-be victims, is 
to deal only with reliable firms, and look upon peripatetic 
dealers in startling novelties with justifiable suspicion. 
The foregoing remarks are, I must admit, decidedly irrele¬ 
vant ; they certainly do not come under the head of sub¬ 
tropical plants, but they may be admitted as a salutary 
warning. 
The tender class of subtropical plants, containing many 
beautiful things, cannot be mentioned in the limits of the 
present article. E. L. Taplin. 
SIBERIAN SQUILL. 
Sc ilia sibirica. 
A T I NT of blue in field or garden exercises a myste¬ 
rious influence. In the later days of spring, when 
along the margins of woods and coppices the woodland 
squill, Scilla nutans , also known as Hyacinthus non 
scriptus , makes a fringe of heavenly blue, we experience 
a sort of celestial abandonment, either because the color 
has some spiritual purport that the soul understands, or 
because the assurance it gives of the constancy of the 
seasons re-establishes the confidence that late frosts and 
east winds had well-nigh shattered. But the influence,* 
whatever its ultimate cause, can scarcely be the result of 
any special awakening peculiar to the season of the nod¬ 
ding squill, because, if we are not grievously mistaken, it 
comes upon us again as the summer opens and the blue 
speedwell appears on the banks ; and again, later on, 
when the harebells appear, and perhaps is not altogether 
wanting when the blue of the wolfsbane is seen upon 
the gravelly slopes, and the delphiniums and aconites 
appear in the gardens. 
The Siberian squill is one of the hardiest of our choicest 
kinds of spring flowering bulbs. It has but to be planted 
in a well-drained sandy soil in the autumn, and in the 
early spring it will show its lovely blue flowers in profu¬ 
sion, a deiight and surprise to all beholders. As a pot 
plant it is invaluable, and it requires as such only the 
same treatment as crocuses, hyacinths and tulips, all of 
which should have a somewhat rich and very sandy soil. 
When planted in rings or clumps they may be left un¬ 
touched for three years, and then it will be as well to lift, 
divide and replant them. 
To make a lengthy essay on the outdoor cultivation of 
the Siberian squill would be to waste an opportunity. In 
the few words already before the reader the subject is 
practically disposed of. But now we may turn to a pro¬ 
posal of the plant itself, for we seem to hear it say, “ Why 
not associate me with the other choice spring flowers that 
are grown under glass ? ” Ah ! why not ? Well, to dis¬ 
pose of that matter, the Siberian squill and the two¬ 
leaved squill (. Scilla bifolia) are two of the sweetest 
spring flowers known. 
One of the cheapest and least troublesome of delights 
for a lover of hardy plants is a proper “ alpine house,” in 
which a number of early flowering bulbous and fibrous- 
rooted plants, having all the proper alpine character, can 
be flowered in early spring. Such a structure should 
have a low span-roof, resting on brick walls, with side¬ 
lights opening as ventilators. A central walk through 
is a primary necessity, and on each side of this should 
be a solid bed of earth, supported by the outer walls 
and the walls on each side of the walk. The whole 
