THE PUREST WHITE 

 IN NATURE 



STRIKING COLOR CHANGES IN THE WATSONIA 



BULBS are not usually measured by the cord. 

 But I do not know how better to give an 

 idea of my work with the Watsonia than 

 to say that in recent years I have destroyed about 

 eight cords of bulbs of this plant each season. A 

 cord, it will be recalled, is 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, 

 and 4 feet high. 



If you will picture in your mind's eye eight 

 cords of wood piled together, and recall that the 

 Watsonia bulbs have corresponding bulk in the 

 aggregate, and that each individual bulb is of the 

 size of a small gladiolus, you will gain a* fairly 

 clear conception of one of the least satisfactory 

 aspects of the plant experimenter's work. 



These discarded bulbs, it should be understood, 

 would produce very beautiful flowers. It seems a 

 pity to destroy them, when so many people would 

 be glad to have them for cultivation. But past 



[VOLUME IX CHAPTER IX] 



