436 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



either become gradually smaller year by year, or 

 has refused to blossom at all, and yet, knowing 

 the flower and the description of soil which it 

 frequents, I had every reason to hope for its well- 

 doing in some two or three instances, as every 

 requirement was apparently present. Compared 

 with the size of the flower, the bulbous root is 

 excessively small. 



Although I have never so found it myself, the 

 fritillary is said to grow occasionally in some of 

 our woods. Such localities are probably moist, 

 since it is a plant to which moisture seems a neces- 

 sity. There are two distinct varieties of this 

 flower : the one, that most common, of a greenish- 

 yellow, chequered with purple, the other pure white. 

 In shape they are very similar to a small tulip, 

 about twelve inches in height. 



I have seen it stated that the fritillary is a par- 

 ticularly easy plant to grow in one's garden. Now, 

 this assertion I cannot endorse, since I am well 

 aware that to successfully cultivate it is very ex- 

 ceptional, even under the most apparently pro- 

 mising conditions. Strange to say, in the one and 

 only instance which I can remember of its trans- 

 plantation having been entirely successful, both 

 soil and situation seemed most unsuitable for its 

 reception. I have known the plants to which I 

 refer for very many years, and although, as I have 

 before remarked, they have not increased in 

 numbers, the flowers which they annually produce 

 are finer and more perfect in every way than any 



