My Garden in Spring 



Devil, replied, " Perhaps the biting and scratching were, 

 but I assure you the spitting was entirely my own inven- 

 tion." But it is a very curious case of a sudden mutation, 

 for every one of the segments have become long and 

 narrow and heavily striped with green as bright as that of 

 the leaves. The outer segments are slightly longer than 

 the inner, which still retain the emarginate apex, to drift 

 into botanical terms, but in more ordinary English, the little 

 snick round which the green horseshoe mark is generally 

 found. The whorls of these segments occur fairly regu- 

 larly and alternately till a tassel-like flower is formed, but 

 instead of hanging as tassels, and good little Snowdrops 

 should, it holds its head up with a "bragian boldness" 

 unsurpassed even by Bailey Junior. 



I have a pretty form of G.plicatus with green markings on 

 the outer segments, and have had, and heard of, similar va- 

 garies in forms of Elwesii, and Mr. Allen had some very well- 

 spotted forms of Fasten, so green spots evidently run in the 

 family, and encourage the idea that perhaps a cross between 

 a Snowdrop and the Spring Snowflake might be possible. 



Many of the species hybridise freely, and some beauti- 

 ful seedlings were raised by the late Mr. Allen of Shepton 

 Mallett. Unfortunately many of these have quite died out, 

 and are only known from the mention of their names in 

 his paper on Snowdrops in the R. H. S. Journal of August 

 1891, in many cases, alas! without any description. 

 These seedlings were never distributed by the nurserymen, 

 and so are only to be found in a few gardens of the per- 

 sonal friends of Mr. Allen, and as I began collecting this 

 family too late to get in touch with him I am indebted to the 

 kindness of his friends for most of my varieties. I think 

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