CHAPTER V 



I HAVE just seen Mr. Barr, the great bulb- 

 grower, who is touring the colonies, and 

 spared two half-hours to visit my garden, among 

 others. He enlightened me very much on the 

 culture of Blandfordias, which I have always 

 found difficult to grow and flower well. Mine 

 resent the kindness which I have bestowed upon 

 them ; and no wonder, for it appears that they 

 only require hard, baked clay, and flourish in full 

 exposure to Australian sun on the railway-banks 

 there, and are a magnificent sight at all the 

 stations. This they must indeed be, for their 

 large golden bells will tell out their own beauty. 

 I must fish up some of our subsoil for them, to 

 see how they like it. That they cannot bear 

 disturbance at the roots I have found to my cost. 

 One which I bought as Nobilis does better with 

 me than the other. Perhaps Australian light has 

 more red in it, which, the last new theory asserts, 

 forces plants along nolens volens. Mr. Barr also 

 admired the natural way in which Clianthus 

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