456 GeJieral Notices. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. General Notices. 



Cape Bulbs. — I am glad to see your correspondent " Micklewell" appear 

 again in your pages, treating on Amaryllids. I have just now a bulb of 

 Cyrtanthus obliquus, throwing up a strong flower-scape — the third speci- 

 men I have flowered in these twenty years, and I should much wish 

 " Micklewell" to try its pollen on those Vallotas he mentions, particularly 

 those grown in the cottage windows, as they are more likely to seed than 

 those we cultivate with more care in gardens. I could send him some 

 anthers in a letter, and if the Vallotas to be dusted were placed in a saucer 

 of water as soon as the flower-scape appeared, it would assist the plants to 

 make seeds. It would also be desirable to dust some with their own pollen, 

 and if these did not seed nor those dusted by the pollen of Cyrtanthus, the 

 question of the union of the two plants would still be left open. Dr. Her- 

 bert was long of opinion that the Vallota and the two evergreen Cyrtanthi 

 would unite by their pollen, although in his arrangement he placed Gas- 

 tronema between them. If " Micklewell," or any other of your readers, 

 happen to flower Brunsvigia Josephinae this autumn, I would be much 

 obliged by a few anthers of it, cut off before they open, and folded in a 

 packet of tissue paper to be sent in a letter, as I had lately to renew the 

 border in which our plants of Josephinee grew, and I fear this has disturbed 

 their roots so much that they will not flower this season, although they 

 ripened ample foliage. When these Brunsvigias are growing in a free 

 border they gladly receive any amount of water and liquid manure, also 

 from Christmas up to the beginning of May ; and so do the Ha?manthi. I 

 want the pollen of B. Josephinae to see if I can push a cross between it 

 and the Belladona, — a cross which, I believe, has not yet been effected ; 

 but Dr. Herbert obtained seeds from Amaryllis blanda by the pollen of 

 Josephinae, and as A. blanda is hardly to be met with now, I should be 

 content with a cross from the less showy Belladona. Another pollen I am 

 most anxious to obtain is that of Gastronema clavatum, a little African 

 Amaryllis which I could never flower, and which is often received among 

 Cape bulbs under the name of Amaryllis pumilio, and is said never to pro- 

 duce more than two flowers on a scape, often only one. There is no ques- 

 tion now but pollen, if carefully preserved, will retain its virtue for some 

 years. It is more than twelve years since I stated that you might gather 

 pollen on the Alps of Thibet, carry it home safer than seeds from the same 

 plant, and apply it successfully at home, and I have seen no reason to alter 

 this opinion. If Dr. Hooker or Mr. Low had sent home the pollen of 

 those beautiful rhododendrons they met with in the east, there is no doubt 

 but it would fertilize our hardier varieties here, and thus procure new 

 crosses of great and general interest. — {Gard. Chron., 1849, p. 468.) 

 Roses. — " Devonian" states that he cannot get the larger roses to blossom. 



