16 



Culture qflridece in the Island of Jersey, 



free from weeds, and moving or stirring it occasionally with a 

 small fork, which greatly accelerates the growth. The different 

 varieties flower in succession, from the middle of May to the end 

 of June, and large beds of them produce a beautiful effect. I 

 would observe that the distance given above is only meant for 

 the dwarf-growing varieties, such as Sparaxis tricolor, and S. 

 grandiflora purpurea, and other seedling varieties ; as also Tri- 

 tonia crocata, T. squalida, 7'xia longiflora, and /, longiflora rosea, 

 which do not exceed from 6 in. to 8 in. in height : the tall and 

 more robust-growing sorts, such as /'xia viridiflora, /. lilacma, I. 

 crateroides, /. flexuosa, and others, require at least 6 in. between 

 each root, and from 9 in. to 10 in. from row to row. By thus early 

 planting, they get well established, and will resist a very hard 

 frost; as a proof of which, dui'ing the severe frost of 1837 and 

 1838, when the thermometer was as low as 18° Fahrenheit (see 

 the details in my paper in the Garde?ia-'s Magazine for 1838, 

 p. 328.), my ixias, &c., were preserved by a covering of about 

 2 in. of dry sand spread over the beds ; scarcely a root was 

 injured. 



It is now about twenty years since I commenced their cul- 

 ture on a small scale : finding those succeed, I anxiously sought 

 for more, and have since received several supplies from the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and many fine varieties have been obtained 

 from seed in Guernsey and here, which ripens very freely in the 

 open air. H. Dobree, Esq., jun., of Guernsey, has been very 

 successful in i-aising several splendid varieties, some of which 

 have been figured in Harrison's Floricultural Cabinet. I am 

 also indebted to him for many of those which I have under 

 cultivation, which are as follows : — 



Thus may this beautiful tribe of bulbs be cultivated to any 

 extent in these islands. I am still anxious to procure new 

 varieties worth cultivation ; and should this meet the eye of any 

 of your numerous readers, who possess sorts different from those 



