which we cannot imitate, here; and which, at the Cape 

 of Good Hope, often prevail tog-ether, for many months 

 of the year. A dry wind, amounting almost to a storm, 

 accompanied with cloudless sky and burning- sun, by day, 

 and an almost equally high temperature sometimes occur- 

 ring at night, (I have seen the thermometer start up thirty 

 degrees between midnight and three a. in. ! the wind rising 

 as the heat increased) are conditions we have no means of 

 imitating. The strong sunbeam would be but ill replaced, 

 in its physiological influence, by double glazing and stove 

 heat ; and such artificially high temperature necessitates 

 the stopping of every orifice where free air could enter. 

 Under these circumstances, it is rather, to me, matter of 

 wonder that any South African species should thrive, flower 

 well, and bear our wet summers and hard winters, than that 

 it should be found impracticable to bloom many sorts. I 

 have, for instance, the Tritoma Uvaria throwing up superb 

 flower-stalks now, which (as I have seen to happen two 

 years) I expect will continue in progress to their full bloom, 

 through frost and snow, and without any protection ! 



cc But I possess species of Babiana, of Gladiolus, and of 

 Antholyza, which I grew several years at the Cape, with- 

 out their ever producing flowers, and this, I confess, is, to 

 me, not a little surprising. The Gladiolus to which I allude, 

 once ouly^ in Africa, made (out of hundreds of specimens) 

 one solitary attempt at inflorescence, but it never fairly 

 expanded ; and a single specimen, also, which I grew in 

 England, (out of perhaps a hundred) did the same ; but it was 

 late in November, and the frost killed it, if indeed it ever 

 would have come to perfection. This Gladiolus produces 

 innumerable offsets ; also my two non-flowering species of 

 Antholyza, or (?) Watsonia, copiously multiply by offsets; 

 and I am now trying (but unsuccessfully hitherto) to bloom 

 them, by destroying the offsets as soon as they appear. 

 This doubles the growth of the leaves ; but as yet has no 

 sign of effect on the floral reproduction. 



" On the other hand, my non-flowering Babiana produces 

 no offsets whatever. 



" None of my species of Satyrium or Disa have blossom- 

 ed since their first year ; but the few I have preserved begin 

 to seem more naturalized, and I cherish hopes yet of seeing 

 them flower." 



Fig. 1. Pollen-mass. 2. Upper side of the Column and Lip. 3. Back 

 view of the same : — magnified. 



B 



