290 On the cullivaiion of Lachenalias. 



by placing in bottles, in the neighborhood, such flowers from 

 other varieties. 



I have no doubt that many a bed of good strawberries has 

 been rooted up as worthless, which would have produced an 

 abundance of fine fruit, if properly supplied with fertilizing 

 plants. 



I do not think It probable that any of your seedlings produce 

 perfect flowers, as you have not yet succeeded in finding any. 

 The original plant was probably exclusively pistilliferous or fe- 

 male, and, as there is generally only one original plant in each 

 new variety of cultivated fruit, you must seek your fertilizers in 

 other kinds. This is a matter of no moment; for it seems 

 well established, that whether a pistil-bearing flower is fertil- 

 ized with the pollen of its own, or of any other variety, is a 

 question of no consequence as to the flavor of the fruit, what- 

 ever may be the difference of effect on the seed which is im- 

 bedded in it, and the new variety raised therefrom. 



Boston, July, 1S42. 



Art. IV. On the cultivation of Lachenalias. 

 By the Editor. 



Among the small number of plants which are adapted to 

 parlor cultivation, we may name some of the species of the 

 Lachenalirt. Of dwarf stature, scarcely ever exceeding a foot 

 high, of delicate growth, and, withal, possessing a variety of 

 coloring, rarely found in any other plant, they can well claim a 

 place among the many showy ornaments of the parlor window; 

 equally desirable are they to the amateur cultivator of a small 

 collection of green-house plants, offering, by the green, yellow, 

 and scarlet tints of their neat spikes of pendulous bells, a succes- 

 sion of blossoms in the early spring months, which add to the 

 gaiety of the neatest group of plants. The lachenalias belong 

 to the liliaceous tribe of plants, and there are upwards of forty 

 species and varieties; we have, however, only cultivated three 

 of them, which we believe to be the L. quadricolor, tricolor, 



