March  5,  1896. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
201 
C.  etruscus,  too,  which  seems  to  dislike  so  much  rain  and  does  not 
stand  it  well,  with  flowers  which  should  be  lilac  when  open,  but 
keep  closed  and  are  creamy  in  hue,  with  a  tinge  of  pink,  which 
makes  them  unique  in  colour  among  all  in  flower.  There  are  a 
good  many  others  of  which  one  would  like  to  speak  ;  but  if  we 
began  to  tell  of  C.  vernus  leucostigma,  or  C.  v.  George  Maw,  or 
C.  v.  Ira  Aldridge,  there  would  be  a  call  for  the  application  of  the 
closure,  so  we  had  better  refrain. 
Very  welcome  are  the  Squills  (a  name  which,  by  the  way,  I  do 
not  like  so  well  as  Scillas,  English  although  the  former  is  supposed 
to  be),  with  their  pretty  flowers,  which  add  so  largely  to  the 
attractions  of  the  garden.  It  is  strange  that  so  many  grow  the 
Siberian  Squill  (Scilla  sibirica)  while  there  are  so  many  who  do  not 
know  its  congener,  Scilla  bifolia — the  Two-leaved  Squill.  The 
Siberian  one  is  the  better  of  the  two  for  standing  bad  weather,  its 
more  drooping  flowers  preserving  it  from  early  injury,  but  it  is  not 
so  effective  nor  so  bright  as  some  of  the  best  of  the  varieties  of 
S.  bifolia. 
We  have  now  a  considerable  number  of  varieties  of  the  Two¬ 
leaved  Squill,  and  these  include  not  only  several  shades  of  blue, 
but  also  a  white,  a  flesh  coloured,  and  several  red  forms.  Scilla 
bifolia  Whittalli  was  among  the  first  to  flower  here  ;  but  the  finest 
of  the  blue  varieties  has  been  the  large-flowered  one  sent  me  from 
the  Bithynian  Olympus,  and  which  was  spoken  of  last  year.  It  is 
the  brightest  of  its  colour  I  have,  and  its  broader  petals  with  the 
whitish  line  up  the  centre  of  each  make  it  very  bright  and  attrac¬ 
tive.  The  white  variety  will  soon  be  open,  and  two  of  Mr.  Allen’s 
seedlings  have  opened  to-day.  These  are  S.  bifolia  ruberrima.  a 
variety  with  a  distinct  reddish  tinge  when  it  first  opens,  but  this 
passes  off  when  the  flower  has  been  open  for  a  few  days,  and  S.  b. 
Pink  Beauty.  The  latter  is  new  to  me,  and  well  worthy  of  the  name 
it  has  received.  It  has  good,  broad  petals,  of  a  pink  colour. 
Possibly  some  of  my  readers  may  think  it  hardly  of  any  service  to 
speak  of  flowers  which  are  not  obtainable  from  the  trade,  but  it  is 
well  to  feel  in  flower-growing  as  in  other  things  that  there  are  still 
more  worlds  left  to  conquer.  The  pink  S.  bifolia,  known  as  S.  b. 
rubra,  is,  however,  procurable  from  the  trade,  although  care  should 
be  taken  that  the  flesh-coloured  variety,  known  as  Carnea,  is  not 
supplied  in  its  stead.  It  is  pretty  in  its  way,  but  not  so  rare  or  so 
deep  in  colour  as  rubra. 
The  only  Chionodoxas  which  have  as  yet  opened  are  a  seedling 
of  C.  Lucilise,  C.  sardensis,  and  the  white  variety  of  0.  Lucilite. 
This  white  Glory  of  the  Snow  is  a  lovely  flower,  looking  as  if  it  had 
had  its  birth  in  the  snow,  and  had  brought  with  it  the  purity  of  the 
element  which  gave  it  birth.  My  specimen,  however,  has  quite  a 
pinkish  tinge  when  in  its  early  stage,  but  before  it  opens  this 
passes  away,  and  the  expanded  blossom  is  pure  white  without  a 
tinge  of  colour.  Looking  at  it  I  cannot  help  thinking  of  a  nursery¬ 
man  to  whom  I  had  applied  for  this  white  Glory  of  the  Snow  on 
first  hearing  of  its  existence.  He  could  not  supply,  and  added  that 
he  “did  not  thick  it  would  be  pretty,  as  it  would  be  quite 
unnatural-looking.”  If  he  has  met  with  it,  I  am  convinced  that  he 
has  changed  his  mind  ;  not  that  it  is  a  flower  for  brilliant  garden 
effects,  but  it  is  one  over  which  one  can  linger  admiring  its  spotless 
purity  and  its  elegant  beauty. 
The  earliest  of  the  Daffodils  here  has  been  Narcissus  minimus, 
which  is,  however,  not  so  early  as  I  have  had  it  before,  and 
N.  pallidus  praecox  is  showing  colour.  One  feels,  however,  that 
the  bulbous  plants  must  not  quite  monopolise  these  notes,  although 
they  are  in  the  first  rank  of  the  early  flowers  ;  and  though  the 
Netted  Iris  and  its  varieties  appeal  for  a  few  lines,  they  must  stand 
aside  for  a  time,  as  only  a  brief  space  is  left  for  one  or  two  other 
plants. 
Flowering  beautifully  in  a  half-shady  “  pocket  ”  at  the  base  of  a 
rockery  is  a  fine  plant  of  Soldanella  alpina,  the  “  Blue  Moonwort,” 
with  several  spikes  of  its  exquisite  little  flowers  with  their  charm¬ 
ingly  fringed  petals.  All  the  winter  it  has  had  a  sheet  of  glass 
overhead,  for  without  this  treatment  it  will  not  flower  here, 
probably  missing  the  covering  of  snow  under  which  it  shelters  in 
winter.  It  seems  almost  impossible  that  delicate  flowers  such  as 
these  should  appear  amid  the  snow  of  the  Alps  ;  but  here  is  what  a 
writer  in  “  (Science  Gossip  ”  said  recently  : — “  I  know  of  no  prettier 
sight  than  the  purple  bells  of  Soldanella  alpina  standing  in  the 
centre  of  the  little  hole  which  the  stem  has  made  for  itself  in  the 
snow.  The  heat  that  it  gives  out  in  transpiration  is  enough  to 
melt  these  little  holes  in  the  already  half-melted  snow  above  it, 
and  through  which  the  flower  stalk  then  emerges  bearing  one,  two, 
or  three  fringed  bells,  developing  still  out  of  the  nutriment  stored 
up  in  the  last  year’s  leathery  leaves.  The  flowers  are  over  in  a  few 
days,  almost  before  the  snow  is  gone.”  Fortunately  they  last  a 
little  longer  here,  and  their  beauty  is  prolonged  if  the  sheet  of  glass 
is  retained  over  them  until  the  flowers  begin  to  fade. 
Those  who  have  been  unsuccessful  with  the  Alpine  Soldanella 
will  do  well  to  try  this  plan  of  covering  with  glass  from  about  the 
beginning  of  October.  The  pocket  in  which  it  grows  is  filled  with 
sandy  peat,  and  is  kept  well  supplied  with  water  in  summer.  Its 
flowers  are  of  a  purplish  or  violet  colour,  and  its  roundish  leathery 
leaves  look  not  unlike  those  of  a  hardy  Cyclamen,  although  from 
the  first  look  at  the  flowers  no  one  would  suppose  that  the  Solda- 
nellas  and  Cyclamens  belonged  to  the  same  Natural  Order — that  of 
the  Primulacese.  The  Soldanellas  may  be  raised  from  seed,  which 
germinates  slowly,  and  the  young  plants  are  rather  tardy  in 
making  growth.  Frtesh  seed  is  reliable,  and  a  large  stock  can  soon 
be  raised  by  saving  the  seed  from  one’s  own  plants. 
A  little  carpet  of  the  white  variety  of  the  Opposite-leaved 
Rockfoil  (Saxifraga  oppositifolia  alba),  covering  a  part  of  one  of 
the  terraces  of  a  rockery  and  trailing  over  the  stones  of  which  it  is 
formed,  would  induce  me  to  speak  of  these  beautiful  little  plants 
PIG.  29.— VIOLA  CALCARATA. 
were  it  not  that  the  sheets  before  me  remind  me  once  more"of  the 
limitations  necessarily  imposed  upon  these  notes.  The  garden  is 
now  full  of  rare  delights,  and  every  day  sees  some  new  addition  to 
these  treasures,  which  yearly  become  more  engrossing,  and  baffle 
our  efforts  to  describe  their  grace  and  beauty. — S.  Aknott. 
YIOLA  CALCARATA. 
This  species,  though  familiar  to  botanists,  is  not  so  commonly  used 
by  horticulturists  as  perhaps  it  should  be.  Instead  of  the  strong  leafy 
tufts  of  some  of  its  congeners,  it  increases  by  underground  runners. 
The  flowers  are  of  a  light  blue,  very  suitable  for  bedding  purposes  as  a 
cool  background  to  more  glowing  colours.  The  cut  was  made  from  a 
plant  introduced  at  Kew  by  Mr.  Dyer,  the  Director  of  the  Royal  Gardens. 
It  a  native  of  the  Alps. 
LILY  OF  THE  VALLEY. 
An  abundance  of  Lily  of  the  Valley  from  Christmas  till  they 
come  out  of  doors  is  the  aim  of  most  girdeners  in  places  of  any 
pretensions  j  but  by  the  usual  method  of  potting  imported 
crowns  it  is  not  only  an  expensive  affair,  but  entails  a  considerable 
amount  of  labour  in  excess  of  what  I  find  necessary  by  the  method 
I  adopt. 
We  have  a  large  border  at  the  foot  of  a  west  wall  devoted  to 
