CAPE BULBS. 



CAPE SHRUBS. 



should then be raised on a hotbed, 

 and shifted two or three times be- 

 fore they are planted out. 



Canterbury Bell. — See Cam- 

 pa'nttla. 



Ca'ntu a IF. — Polemo/iiacece. — 

 A great confusion has arisen regard- 

 ing the plants called by this name, 

 some of those called Cdntua hy 

 Willdenow, having been afterwards 

 called Iponiopsis and Gilia by other 

 botanists. Two species have, how- 

 ever, been lately introduced which 

 appear decidedly to belong to the 

 genus Cantua, viz. C. hicolor and 

 C. pyrifolia. C. h'lcolor, which 

 has very ornamental scarlet flowers, 

 tinged with yellow in the centre and 

 in the tube of the flower, is the 

 Magic Tree of the Peruvian Indians, 

 In this country it forms a green- 

 house shrub of easy cultivation. C. 

 pyrifblia has white flowers with 

 bright yellow tubes. It was intro- 

 duced in 184S. 



Cape Bulbs are remarkable for 

 the beauty of their flowers ; and as 

 they occupy but little space, a con- 

 siderable collection of them may be 

 grown in a very small garden, in a 

 great measure without the aid of 

 glass. The situation should be ex- 

 posed to the south, and protected 

 from the north ; and the soil should 

 consist ' of sand and peat, or sand 

 and leaf-mould, to the depth of two 

 feet, thoroughly di-ained. In such 

 a bed, all the Cape Iridacese may be 

 planted, placing the bulbs not less 

 than six inches below the surface 

 of the ground, and protecting the 

 plants when they come up with a 

 mat ; and after they die down, 

 covering the bed with rotten tan, 

 rotten leaves, or litter. No other 

 plants ought to be planted in the bed 

 during the summer, nor any water 

 given to it during winter, lest the 

 bulbs should be rotted. If there is 

 a sufficient length of wall, with no 



trees planted against it — as, for ex- 

 ample, the front Avail of a pit or hot- 

 house — the best mode is to make 

 the bed not more than two or three 

 feet in width ; by which means it 

 may be easily and efiectually pro- 

 tected by shutters, made to rest on 

 the ground on one edge, and to lean 

 against the wall on the other. When 

 there is no such Avail, a A'ery good 

 mode of affording protection during 

 Avinter, is to surround the bed with 

 a wooden frame, or a brick or stone 

 wall ; and either to cover it with 

 glazed sashes, or oiled canvas, in 

 frames or with boards, or mats ; 

 taking care always to uncover the 

 bed in fine weather. 



Cape Jas:!.iine. — See Garde'nia. 



Cape Phillt'rea. — Cassine ca- 

 penis L. — A low, half-hardy shrub, 

 allied to the Holly. 



Cape Shrubs in their native 

 country grow cliiefly in very sandy 

 soil, mixed with vegetable mould, 

 formed by the decay of the same 

 shrubs which it nourishes. The 

 best imitation of such a soil in 

 British gardens is sandy loam, which 

 ought to be well drained, by putting 

 crocks or potsherds in the bottom of 

 the pots, to the depth of an inch or 

 two, and afterwards covering them 

 with turfy peat, to prevent the soil 

 from being washed through the 

 crocks. In the management of Cape 

 Shrubs, the great art is, to keep them 

 always in the same state with regard 

 to moisture ; that is, never very Avet, 

 and yet never so dry as to cause the 

 plants to droop their leaA'es. If 

 ever they are allowed to droop their 

 leaves for three or four hours, 

 death is almost the certain conse- 

 quence ; and this is the reason why 

 so many Cape Heaths are killed by 

 those who will not take the trouble 

 to water them regularly. To lessen 

 the risk of destruction by drought, 

 some cultivators have an outer and 



