2 FAJIILIAR GARliEX FLun'Eliii. 



was called the " plunging system/-' because the pot plants 

 were plunged in the clean brown fibre instead of being 

 planted in open soil. The most complete success was 

 attained in this direction^ and groups of j^lants were grown 

 for ever}^ season of the yeaXj comprising hollies and i\'ies 

 and other rich evergreens for the winter, and all kinds 

 of flowering plants for other seasons. In due time a trial 

 was made of crown imperials, and we obtained a collection 

 of about a dozen sorts, of which we potted in the autumn 

 about twenty bulbs of each. In an airy, cool plant-house 

 these came into flower about a fortnight in advance of 

 the usual time of flowering out of doors, and the}' proved 

 singularly useful by reason of the brilliant green of their 

 leafage, and the distinct tones of orange, red, and bufl: 

 of their somewhat singular flowers. After the first essay 

 we were careful never to miss a season in having a dis- 

 play of these flowers in connection with our plunging 

 system . 



The crown imperial is a meiiiber of the great family of 

 lilies. The species of Fritillaria are about thirty in number, 

 whereof only one is met with wild in England, and that 

 but rarely. This one is the " snake's-head " fritillary 

 [F. ineleagrk), of which a few }'ears since we saw a collec- 

 tion of about sixty varieties in the interesting nurseries of 

 ]\Iessrs. Krelage, in Haarlem. The grand old gardeners of 

 the times of Elizabeth and the Stuarts thought much of the 

 crown imperial. Parkinson commences his book of " The 

 Garden of Pleasant Flowers'" (Paradisus, p. :2 7) with this 

 subject, saying — "The Crowne Imperiall for his stately 

 beautifulness, deserveth the first place in this our garden 

 of delight, to be here entreated of before all other Lillies ; " 

 and he devotes two pages to the description of it, taking 



