238 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 



them to the late Rev. H. Harper Crewe. Among these 

 was a bulb which proved to be a snowdrop flowering 

 in autumn, usually in October. Mr Harper Crewe 

 mentions that this snowdrop was found near Scorfitza, 

 or Conchi, in Albania, some fifty or sixty miles North 

 of Corfu. I quote Mr Allen's remarks on this variety : — 

 " The first bulb Mr Harper Crewe had to spare he sent 

 to me ; and it has always been true to its autumnal 

 habit of fiowering. I am sorry to say that it is some- 

 what delicate and apt to disappear. It also increases 

 very slowly with me. In Mr Boyd's garden at Faldon- 

 side, it seems quite at home, a single bulb having given 

 five blooming roots the first year after planting. Mr 

 Boyd recommends that the snowdrops belonging to this 

 section, should be lifted directly the foliage dies down, 

 and not replanted for two or three months." This 

 opinion was given in 1890, but I have had reason to 

 considerably modify^ my opinion since then, as I find 

 now that this plant is exceedingly difficult to manage 

 and keep. In spite of all the care and attention 

 possible, it has died out with me not only once, 

 but several times; and I find that all these autumn- 

 flowering varieties have a tendency to become later 

 and later in their time of flowering, and I believe 

 if they could be kept in health they would ultimately 

 revert to the normal time of flowering in this country. 

 When Professor Mahafiy, Dublin University, was travel- 

 ling in Greece in 1886, he collected a quantity of 

 bulbs and tubers on Mount Hymettus, which he sent 

 home to Mr Burbidge. One of these bulbs proved 

 to be a snowdrop flowering in October and November. 

 This variety is called 0. Rachelce, and is of the same 

 type as G. Octoberensis. It seems to have a slightly 

 stronger constitution than that variety. It also differs 

 in being a week or ten days later in flowering. Mr 

 Allen says "that a gentleman residing in Corfu kindly 

 sent me by parcel post some bulbs, then in flower, of 



