time I have had it in bloom. I must own that it was neglected 

 in its youth and had to fight its way through thick weeds, with 

 the result that it now stands eight feet high, with its nodding 

 heads of flaming orange a most conspicuous feature among the 

 proteas and silver trees. It has seven fine heads in full colour, 

 and more to come. Each head is over four inches across, the 

 brilliant orange pea-flowers being packed tightly into the 

 nodding heads. It is a great joy to see a wilding like this respond 

 to our efforts at cultivation, and to think that the seeds will 

 eventually travel, giving joy to lovers of rare plants in many 

 corners of the world. I had the seeds from a friend who collected 

 them near Cape Point a kindly act bearing fruit that the giver 

 did not live to see. 



The cooler weather has given us that spring feeling, although 

 it is really the first stirring of autumn ; and so a neighbour 

 and I set off for a tramp up the slopes a thing I have not done 

 for many a long day. At this time we are always spurred on 

 by the thought of finding a white Haemanthus. As it was, we 

 did not even find a red one ; these are in bloom now, but we 

 were on slopes too hot and dry for them, and we did not succeed 

 in reaching the intake of our water supply, below which we knew 

 they grew. We struggled through bush above our heads, and 

 were pricked and scratched, and saw never a flower ; but 

 it was well worth the effort. We had a grand view of the valley 

 with all the farms and woods below us, a ridge of mountains 

 behind us, on one side the giant range of mountains which 

 my cottage and garden face, and on the other old Simonsberg 

 with the farms running up the lower slopes and black patches 

 where the fire raged for days a few weeks back, and, above all, 

 the unchanging rocks. A grand expanse and around us 

 miles of slopes covered with bush and big coarse grasses, and 

 the only signs of life two large porcupine burrows with a 

 detached quill lying near one and the long-tailed sugar-birds 

 happy in the protea bushes, which were already in flower. 

 They were the pink and the white forms of Protea neriifolia, 

 very attractive with the brown fur decorating the edges of the 

 half-closed cups. Coming back I found some plants of Lobo- 

 stemon, from which I collected a number of cuttings. I want to 



43 



