been killed.
The Arabis is easily propagated by slips or rootlets, which should be
taken after flowering. The variegated form is better for being so
propagated every year. If bold patches are desired, they should be
formed by planting a number together, 3in. or 4in. apart.

Flowering period, February to June.

Aralia Sieboldi.

SIEBOLD'S ARALIA; _Nat. Ord._ ARALIACEAE.

The present subject (see Fig. 15)--beautiful, hardy, and evergreen--is a
species of recent introduction; still, it has already become well known
and distributed, so much so that it scarcely needs description; but
there are facts in reference to it which would seem to be less known. It
is seldom seen in the open garden, and many amateurs, who otherwise are
well acquainted with it, when they see it fresh and glossy in the open
garden in the earliest months of the year, ask, "Is it really hardy?"
Not only is such the case, but the foliage, and especially the deep
green colour, are rarely so fine when the specimens have indoor
treatment, and, on this account, the shrub is eminently suitable for
notice here.

[Illustration: FIG. 15. ARALIA SIEBOLDI.

(One-tenth natural size.)]

The order _Araliaceae_ is nearly related to _Umbelliferae_, from which
fact an idea may be had of the kind and arrangement of the flowers. Many
of the genera of the order _Araliaceae_ are little known; perhaps the
genus _Hedera_ (ivy) is the only one that is popular, and it so happens
to immediately follow the genus _Aralia_. To remember this will further
assist in gleaning an idea of the form of blossom, as that of ivy is
well known. _Aralia Sieboldi_, however, seldom flowers in this climate,
either in or out of doors. When it does, the white flowers are not of
much value; they are small, like ivy blossom in form, but more spread
in the arrangement. There are five sepals, five petals, five styles, and
five cells in the berries. The flowers are produced on specimens 2ft. to
5ft. high during winter, when favourable. The leaves, when well grown,
are the main feature of the shrub, and are 12in. or more across. This
size is not usual, but a leaf now before me, and taken from an outside
specimen, measures over a foot, with a stout round stalk, 13in. long;
the form of leaf is fan-shaped, having generally seven lobes, each
supported by a strong mid-rib; the lobes are formed by divisions rather
more than half the diameter of the leaf; they are slightly distant,
broadly lance-s