over this trouble here at the Cape, we could grow bulbs for 

 the world. Soil and climate are perfect, and there is marvellous 

 material awaiting cultivation in quantity ; but all our efforts 

 are in vain owing to these devastating rodents. 



The seedling bulbs are left in their beds until they have 

 gone dormant for the second time. We sow in March and 

 April when the rains begin, and they take about a month to 

 germinate. Then we take them up about midsummer the 

 second season. There is nothing for it but to sift through the 

 sand with a trowel. Some of the smaller geissorhizas and 

 romuleas match the soil exactly and are smaller than a pea. 

 It is a work of patience to collect them. Lachenalias and orange 

 ixias are much easier : their tiny bulbs are white. But it is 

 not unpleasant to sit on a sack in the hot sun turning over the 

 seed beds and extracting the treasure. Of course the true 

 gardener's mind is full of a picture of these thousands of 

 gladiolus species in bloom in the spring, or of whole beds of 

 gleaming ixias and sparaxis, somehow better than they have 

 ever been before. Seeing a gardener at work, the onlooker 

 thinks what a tedious business it is, and wonders that anyone 

 can stand up to it. But the onlooker does not know half the 

 joy of the gardener : he only sees the flowers that really happen, 

 whereas the mind of the gardener is nourished and delighted 

 with the sight of flowers " that never were on sea or land ". 



