ON SOME INTERESTING ALIENS 



consisted of increasing the size of the blossom, 

 making it semi-double, giving it added brilliancy 

 of color, and to some extent rendering it resistant 

 to disease. This has been accomplished by the 

 usual method of selection, strings being tied about 

 the better specimens, and finally the one best being 

 saved for seed. Very great improvement was 

 made, considering that this was a wild plant never 

 before under cultivation. The selected varieties 

 do not as yet breed true from the seed. 

 THE TRIBE OF CRINUMS 



In an earlier chapter mention was made of 

 hybridizing experiments in which certain mem- 

 bers of the amaryllis tribe were crossed with cer- 

 tain of the Crinums. It is desirable to make addi- 

 tional reference to some experiments in which the 

 crinums themselves were variously developed and 

 hybridized with rather striking results. The hy- 

 brid Crinums are a really splended group of 

 bulbous flowering plants in which the bulbs are 

 in many cases of enormous size, and the leaves 

 are broad and long, making the plants very con- 

 spicuous. 



Some of the leaves, indeed, are of gigantic size, 

 and the stalk that bears the flowers may grow to 

 a height of from four to six feet. The flowers 

 themselves are of variant color, from white to rosy 

 pink, and sometimes almost purple. They are 



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