368 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDEXIXG. 



pale lilac, siootted with, yellow. The flower-tube is 

 long and slender in this plant also. 



B. ringe)is is another singular species in this 

 section, but very rare, and the same remark ajDplies 

 to B. sainbucina, spathacea (one of the dwarfest 

 species in the genus), and pijgmcea. 



The sub-genus Acaste is by far the most important, 

 from a garden point of view. As previously re- 

 marked, it includes all the numerous varieties of 

 Babiana sold under popular names. Taking B. 

 stricta as the original, it may be well to describe 

 it. An illustration of it occurs in the Botanical 

 Magazine (tab. 621). It is there represented as a 

 dwarf-growing plant, having narrow, erect, and 

 ribbed leaves, and short flower - spikes, bearing 

 flowers as large as a florin, and of the richest 

 blue imaginable. This same plant may still be 

 found pure in Dutch gardens, after being a hundred 

 j^ears in cultivation. It has given rise to many 

 beautiful seedling varieties, having a blue tint in 

 their flowers. The wild varieties of B. stricta, 

 which were introduced from the Cape as species at 

 the close of the last century, are the following : — 

 angustifoUa, like the original, but with paler and 

 less showy flowers, and narrower leaves ; purpurea, 

 with deep reddish -purple flowers; ohtusifolia ; rubro- 

 cyanca, a most beautiful plant, the flowers ha%dng 

 a strange mixture of dee}) blue and red, the latter 

 tint forming the centre. This is still pure, and 

 does not appear to have yielded any varieties in a 

 similar way. It may still be obtained under its 

 original botanical name, and if only one Babiana is 

 grown this should be the selected one. B. sulphurea 

 has pale yellow flowers, and B. vlUosa a deep rich 

 crimson. The most desirable of the foregoing- 

 kinds are B. ruhro-cyanea, stricta, and villosa. 

 These may be found, in all probability, under 

 popular names in collections of Cape bulbs, but 

 without trustworthy illustrations of the originals 

 for comparison, it is a difficult matter to identify 

 them. The Dutch bulb growers now catalogue many 

 varieties of Babiana more or less distinct from each 

 other as regards colour. These are offered in 

 this country in collections of named varieties and 

 mixtures. In one of the chief catalogues, about 

 twentj^ named sorts occur. A selection from the list 

 would include the following -.—atro-cyanea, purple- 

 blue, marked white ; Attraction, dark-blue (probably 

 the true B. stricta); Cclia, vose and white; General 

 Fr 00 me, \iolet, spotted white; General Scott, lavender, 

 suffused with white ; Hellas, pale yellow (probably 

 the original sulplturea) ; Julia, white and blue ; 

 kermesina, crimson - magenta (identical with B. 

 villosa) ; La'ly Carey, rose and white ; rosea grandis, 

 rose-purple anl white; speciosa, mauve and blue. 

 These range from Is. 6d. to os. 6d. per dozen, the 



dearest being B. ruhro-cyanea, which happens to be 

 in most demand, as it is the finest. 



Culture. — The true, or long-flowered Babianas, 

 being rare, require special pot culture in a fmme or 

 green-house, following the same treatment recom- 

 mended for Cape bulbs in general, always bearing 

 in mind that the chief consideration is to obtain 

 as fine growth as possible, so as to insm-e large 

 bidbs, and also to thoroughly ripen the bulbs by 

 exposing them to all the sun it is possible to give 

 them in this coimtry. This done, the bulbs wiU rest 

 safely in a dry place until potting-time in early 

 spring. The species flower in succession from 

 sjjring to the end of summer. The common Babianas 

 of the Dutch gardens, being more plentiful, do not 

 need so much attention ; they may be either gi-own 

 in pots plunged in ashes under a fi-ame, or placed on 

 a green-house shelf, or planted out under a frame in 

 a bed of suitable light and well-drained soil, treated 

 in the same way as other Cape bulbs. Though not 

 so free-flowering as Ixias and Tritonias, they make 

 an attractive display if gi'own in quantity, and as 

 the flowers open in succession they are beautiful for 

 some weeks. All Babianas may be increased more 

 or less freely bj' offsets, or by seed, which is pro- 

 duced during favourable seasons. 



PEOPAGATION. 



Bt W. Watsox. 



THE multiplication of a plant by means of por- 

 tions of its stem or branches, commonly desig- 

 nated cuttings, is perhaps the most frequently used 

 of artificial methods employed in their propagation. 

 Although there are many instances of plants having 

 hitherto proved incapable of being propagated in 

 this way. it may be stated as a general rule that 

 nearly all plants bearing buds upon their stems and 

 branches may be propagated by means of cuttings. 

 The exceptions to this rule may be due to our 

 ignorance of the treatment that would prove success- 

 ful, rather than to absolute incapacity on the part 

 of the plants to be increased in this way. There 

 are many instances of right treatment ha^-ing re- 

 vealed itself only after repeated experiments upon 

 the plants and their cuttings ; and hence the neces- 

 sity of further experiment where success does not 

 follow the first. Patience and perseverance are 

 essential to the successful increase of the large num- 

 ber of new, unknown, and delicate plants which are 

 being introduced yearly. 



To render our instructions both complete and easy 

 of reference, it may be well to di%-ide this portion of 



