yness.

Flowering period, June to August.

Gentiana Verna.

SPRING ALPINE FELWORT; _Nat. Ord._ GENTIANACEAE.

A native evergreen creeper. This plant has many synonymous names in old
books. It is now, however, well known by the above Latin name. Let me at
once say that it is a matchless gem. Its flowers are such as to attract
the notice of any but a blind person. It is said to be rare now in this
country, still, I think it is far from being extinct in its wild state.
Be that as it may, it is fortunate that it can be easily cultivated, and
nothing in a garden can give more pleasure. Its flowers are blue--but
such a blue! the most intense, with a large and sharply defined white
eye, and though only 1/2in. across, one on each stem, and 3in. high, they
are grandly effective. It has a tubular, angled calyx; corolla five-cut.
The leaves are oval, nearly 1in. long, and half as broad; dark shining
green and of leathery substance. The radical leaves are crowded into a
nearly rosette form.

By many this Gentian is considered difficult to grow, but if a proper
beginning is made it proves to be of the easiest management. Very
suitable places may be found for it in, not _on_, rockwork, where good
fat loam forms the staple soil; little corners, not _above_ the ground
level, but on, or better still, _below_ the ground level, are sure to
meet its requirements; on the edge of a border, too, where moisture
collects in the small gutter, has proved a suitable position for it.
But, perhaps, the most successful way of growing it is in pots, for, as
with _Trientalis Europa_ and other root creepers, when so treated more
compact specimens are obtained. It is important to begin with
properly-rooted plants, the crowns of which are often 2in. to 3in. below
the surface; from these spring the numerous, bare, yellow, wiry stems,
too often taken for roots, whereas the main roots are still deeper, very
long for so small a plant, and furnished with silky feeders. Good crowns
potted in rich fibrous loam and plunged in sand, fully exposed, with an
unstinted supply of water, is the substance of the simple treatment my
plants receive the year round; they are still in the 3in. and 4in. pots
in which they were placed three years ago, and during spring they are
covered with flowers. When a pot is lifted out of the sand in which it
is plunged, the fine long silky roots are seen to have made their way
through the hole. Spring is the best time to plan