In the Garden Sonic years ago I heard an American
gardener speak slight- ingly of the lupin as a rough, wild plant, scarcely worthy of
the garden. Perhaps once this view was almost justified, but the flower has been steadily improved, and this year may be said to be its apotheosis. A new strain of lupin, the result of years and years of selection, has been broadcast, and it is held to be superior both in purity of colour and in length of flowery
spike to any predecessor. If anyone wishes to see how glorious the lupin may look when massed he should- go to St. James's Park, where a long-border contains nothing else. It is notice- able in this most successful effort of the Office of Works how much the ensemble owes to the few yellows. The popular
colour of the newer strains is a sort of salmon-bronze.
. W. BEACH THOMAS.
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