MARCH 261 



porters, and so forth, which proves that at any rate this food 

 does not make them unmuscular. They are powerfully 

 made men, and the Ni9ois are ludicrously afraid of them, 

 for they consider them capable of any act of violence. It 

 is also said that these Piedmontese suffer from a disease 

 called the ' pellagra,' caused by living on this polenta, ' one 

 of the least nourishing of the farinaceous foods.' May it 

 not be the food mixed with some form of alcohol? It 

 appears as if some disease belonged to every kind of food 

 eaten without variety and in large quantities. 



Mr. Barr gave me two years ago some small bulbs 

 of Crocus tommasinianus. I thought at first they were 

 going to do nothing; but this year they have flowered 

 beautifully, and are of a very delicate pale lavender colour. 

 He says they will come up every year, and I think they 

 are really far prettier than the large, strong, cultivated 

 Crocuses. I have often been asked, What should be put 

 into Kose beds to enliven their dull branchiness for early 

 spring ? Strong clumps of winter Aconites planted very 

 deep, to be succeeded, when the Aconites are only bright 

 green tufts of leaves, by large pale Crocuses, white and 

 light lavender, are as good a combination as I know ; and 

 when they die down a fresh top-dressing can be lightly 

 forked into the Eoses without hurting the bulbs. 



A correspondent noticed that I did not mention 

 Anemone Pulsatilla, It is quite true I have not got it. 

 In my ignorant days I bought it once or twice, and it 

 quickly died ; and I have not yet tried to grow it from 

 seed, but shall do so this year. This correspondent writes 

 from Gloucestershire, where he says it grows wild, and 

 that, when well grown, ' it is the most beautiful native 

 plant we have.' His letter is dated March 9th, and he 

 adds : ' I have one now in a twelve-inch pan, taken up 

 about three weeks ago, which has about 150 flowers and 

 buds on it. Like Lilies of the Valley, it grows in the 



