242 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 



but I find as a rule that it does well in my garden, and 

 is not nearly so much given to dying off as G. Elwesei. 

 There is a garden at Chapel, in the valley of the Leader, 

 near Earlston, where this species thrives luxuriantly. 

 The soil is a heavy clay, not such as one would natur- 

 ally suppose Crimean snowdrops would grow well in ; 

 nevertheless, I have measured clumps of from two to 

 three feet across, of a very fine form of this plant. It 

 is one of the most vigorous I have tried, and is known 

 now in cultivation under the name of G. Chapell. Mr 

 Allen has raised a large number of very good seedling 

 forms of this plant, one especially, which he called 

 " Dragoon." This is certainl}' one of the earliest and 

 also most beautiful snowdrops in my garden. This 

 species, like all the rest, varies much in the shape of 

 the leaf Some are long and narrow ; others, like G. 

 Chapeli, are short and broad; but all have the plicate 

 leaf A few years ago there was introduced from the 

 shores of the Bosphorus what was thought to be a new 

 species, under the name of G. Byzantinus, which appears 

 to be intermediate between G. plicatus and G. Elwesei, 

 and it is more than likely that it is a natural hybrid 

 between these two species. 



The third, and last, species includes all the snowdrops 

 with broad green leaves, among which are 

 Galanthus to be found several fine forms. The one 

 latifolius. which is perhaps best known by name is 

 G. latifolius, but with me it is very 

 unsatisfactory. I have bought bulbs and planted them 

 many times, but I have never yet succeeded in estab- 

 lishing one healthy clump. There are, however, other 

 two which I would like to say a good word for, namely, 

 G. Fosteri and G. Icarice. Before going further, however, 

 I may mention a variety of G. latifolius, which does 

 not deserve the bad character of its progenitor. This 

 is one called G. Alleni, which originated in a bulb 

 selected by Mr Allen from an importation of the latter, 



