SUNDAY, lO-ra SEPTEMBER. 



THIS MORNING I woke to a new sound. For some time it 

 remained in the subconscious stratum of my mind, though I 

 was awake enough to know it to be something entirely good. 

 Then it flashed into my waking consciousness " The swallow 

 twittering in the straw-built shed ". The straw-built shed is 

 now the telephone wire ; but the voice of the swallow is the 

 same and it evokes the same thrill. Curiously enough, about 

 an hour later I heard the Piet-myn-vrou, our cuckoo, for 

 the first time. His insistent monotonous call drives us dis- 

 tracted as the season wears on, but now we greet him warmly. 

 The morning was not at all first-class as to weather ; but we 

 have had a glorious week of hot sunshine, and the flowers 

 are out with a rush. There is nothing quite like the spring 

 display of Cape bulb flowers. 



The brilliant golden bells of Lachenalia aurea are fading, and 

 their place is taken by L. glaucina, whose soft metallic blue 

 flowers are shown up to great advantage by the glaucous 

 green stems and the leaves deeply spotted with purple. 



But the high-light in the bulb plot is the bed of Moraea villosa 

 hybrids. Their stems are so fine, and their blooms so large 

 and ethereal and so diversely coloured, that one immediately 

 gets the effect of giant butterflies about to alight ; and the 

 butterfly effect is enhanced when one studies them closely. 

 The peacock markings in the centre of each flower are indes- 

 cribably beautiful. While those found in the veld are, I think, 

 only found in varying shades of blue, lavender or white, those 

 I have in the garden, which are probably crossed with the 

 deep orange Moraea tigrina, run through every shade of blue 

 and purple, orange, bronze, pale lemon and white, and then 

 the centre markings of every one are different. They have a 

 good flowering season, as each stem carries two or three flowers 

 which open in succession. They are very hardy, and not 

 particular about soil or situation : I have seen them blooming 

 well between the paving stones of the side walks in Tulbagh 

 village streets. 



