266 MORE POT-POURRI 



which proves that, at any rate, this food does not make 

 them unmuscular. They are powerfully made men, and 

 the Nicois are ludicrously afraid of them, for they con- 

 sider them capable of any act of violence. It is also 

 said that these Piedmontese suffer from a disease called 

 the 'pellagra,' caused by living on this polenta, 'one of 

 the least nourishing of the farinaceous foods.' May it 

 not be the food mixed with some form of alcohol ? It 

 appears as if some disease belonged to every kind of food 

 eaten without variety and in large quantities. 



Mr. Barr gave me, two years ago, some small bulbs 

 of Crocus tommasinianus . I thought at first they were 

 going to do nothing ; but this year they have flowered 

 beautifully, and are of a very delicate pale lavender 

 colour. He says they will come up every year, and I 

 think they are really far prettier than the large, strong, 

 cultivated Crocuses. I have often been asked, What 

 should be put into Rose beds to enliven their dull 

 branchiness for early spring ? Strong clumps of winter 

 Aconites planted very deep, to be succeeded, when the 

 Aconites are only bright green tufts of leaves, by large, 

 pale Crocuses, white and light lavender, are as good a 

 combination as I know; and when they die down a fresh 

 top-dressing can be lightly forked into the Roses with- 

 out hurting the bulbs. 



A correspondent noticed that I did not mention 

 Anemone Pulsatilla. It is quite true I have not got it. 

 In my ignorant days I bought it once or twice, and it 

 quickly died ; and I have not yet tried to grow it from 

 seed, but shall do so this year. This correspondent 

 writes from Gloucestershire, where he says it grows wild, 

 and that, when well grown, ' it is the most beautiful 

 native plant we have.' His letter is dated March 9th, 

 and he adds: 'I have one now in a twelve-inch pan, 

 taken up about three weeks ago, which has about 150 



