]S73. ] PICEA PINSAPO. PANCRATIUMS. — COLCHICUMS OE MEADOW-SAFFRONS. 223 



be remarked, that wliere such plants have been well potted in the previous 

 autumn, it has often been found that a rich surface-dressing, and occasional 

 applications of manure-water, have proved a more effectual check upon undue 

 exuberance of growth, and more favourable for bloom, than resorting to larger 

 pots for each ensuing season. — W. Wood, aS"^. John's Wood. 



PICEA PINSAPO ON CHALKY SOILS. 



'OME of your readers may not know that this fine tree will do well in a 

 chalky soil, but the health of the trees, from a chalky locality, of which 

 I send the dimensions is all that can be desired, and so dense and closely 

 interwoven are they, that it is impossible to see through the branches. 

 The trees are growing at St. Giles, the seat of the Earl of Shaftesbury. Mr. 

 Hayter, the gardener there, informs me that they have been planted about twenty 

 years. Pimcs insignis and Taxodmm senipervirens^ the dimensions of which I also 

 send, do well in this soil, but many other conifers planted there at the same time, 

 entirely refuse to grow. — Heney Chilman, Somerley. 



PANCEATIUMS. 



HESE charming bulbous plants are tolerably well known, and are invaluable 

 for decorative purposes, and therefore highly deserving of cultivation. 

 Many of the species have large handsome flowers, which are deliciously 

 fragrant, and continue perfect some considerable time after they are open. 

 Most of the species are natives of hot climates and require a stove temperature. 

 They should be grown in a compost made up of three parts light turfy loam, 

 and one part peat or leaf-soil, with a little sand intermixed. They ai'e increased 

 by offsets from the roots, and also by seeds. — M. Saul, Stourton. 



THE COLCHICUMS OR MEADOW-SAFFRONS. 



yi' (vEW of our hardy bulbs are more showy and effective than the varieties of 

 Autumn Crocus, or Meadow-Saffron, called ColcMcinn^ in the language of 

 botanists, They spring up, as if by magic, towards the end of September, 

 or in October, when flowers are beginning to get scarce, and if planted in 

 masses or lines near the margin of a bed or border, prove as effective there as the 

 ordinary Crocuses and Snowdrops do in the sweet spring-time. A good many 

 varieties are now in cultivation. We take the following from Mr. Barr's Catalogve 

 for the present season : — 



" It would hardly be possible for those who have not seen, in bloom, the 



