FIG. 237. FRENCH BELL GLASS, OR CLOCHE. FIg. 238. ENGLISH BELL GLASS.
BELL GLASSES, or CLOCHES. These are used for the purpose of protecting or accelerating the growth of a plant or plants. The French Cloche (see Fig. 237) is largely employed for this purpose. Ordinary Bell Glasses (see Fig. 238) are exceedingly useful for propagating purposes, especially for hard-wooded plants; or for placing over subjects which require a very moist atmosphere, such as Filmy ferns, Cephalotus, &c.; or for covering half-hardy plants or rare alpines, and thus protecting them from excessive moisture. Large Bell Glasses, inverted, serve as miniature aquaria, and many small aquatics are easily grown in them.
BELLIDIASTRUM (from bellis, a daisy, and astrum, a star; flower-heads being star-like). ORD. Compositæ. A pretty dwarf, hardy, herbaceous perennial, allied to Aster. It thrives in a compost of loam, leaf soil, and peat. Increased by divisions in early spring, or directly after blooming.
B. Michelii (Michel's).* fl.-heads white; scape one-headed, naked; involucre with equal leaves; pappus simple. June. l. in a rosette, shortly stalked, obovate, repand. h. 1ft. Austria, 1570.
BELLIS (from bellus, pretty, in reference to the flowers). Daisy. ORD. Compositæ. A genus of hardy herbaceous perennials, distinguished from allied genera in having conical receptacles and an absence of pappus. They grow well in all loamy soils. The garden varieties are increased by division after flowering, each crown making a separate plant. The soil must be pressed about them moderately firm. Seeds may also be sown in March, but the plants thus obtained are seldom of sufficient floricultural merit to perpetuate.
FIG. 239. BELLIS PERENNIS FLORE-PLENO.
