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CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



followed next day by another, and so on until all the 

 buds are expanded. Being a Peruvian plant it 

 requires a warmer treatment than C. Herberti. C. 

 gracilis, a pretty plant, is rare. 



Cyrtantlms. — This genus of South African 

 bulbs has not come under general cultivation in this 

 country, although some of the species comprising it 

 are extremely pretty, and particularly valuable during 

 the winter season for supplying cut bloom, as it is 

 then they habitually flower. There are some fif- 

 teen species in the genus, but only about half a 

 dozen are in cultivation. The introduced kinds 

 all require green-house culture, some being ever- 

 green, the rest deciduous. Those which retain their 

 leaves always are the most difficult to grow well, 

 as their resting period is not so plainly indicated 

 as in the case of those that lose their leaves as 

 soon as the bulbs are ripened. Any ordinary light 

 potting soil suits them, and the general directions 

 given for green-house bulbs are applicable to them. 

 All are small-growing plants, having narrow grassy 

 foliage, and bearing their flowers in umbel-like clus- 

 ters on the top of slender stems, which generally 

 overtop the foliage. The flowers are tubular and 

 usually long and drooping, varying in colour from 

 white to red and yellow. They have no definite 

 flowering season, but most of them bloom during 

 winter and spring, when, of course, their blooms 

 are most appreciated, especially as they are so en- 

 during when cut and placed in water. The follow- 

 ing are the principal species in gardens, all of which 

 are well worthy of culture : — C. Mackenii is probably 

 the most beautiful of all, the flowers being pure 

 white ; C. carneus, pale red ; C. obliquus, orange-yel- 

 low ; C. hitescens, yellowish-white; and in C. odorus 

 they are red and fragrant. 



Drimia.— Cape of Good Hope plants allied to 

 Scilla, but not worth general cultivation. The same 

 remark applies to the genus Drimiopsis. 



Elisena longipetala. — A handsome plant, a 

 native of the Andes, and belonging to the Amaryllis 

 family. Its bulbs are long and cylindrical, pro- 

 ducing flower-stems from two to three feet high, ter- 

 minated by clusters of about half a dozen flowers 

 each. These are large, having very long white sepals, 

 and a large cylindrical curved corona, also white. 

 It is deciduous, and requires the same treatment as 

 recommended for warm green-house bulbs. There 

 are two or three others, but this is the commonest. 



Erythroninm [Dog's-tooth Violet). — These are 

 among the prettiest of the hardy bulbs, extremely 

 elegant and very easily grown. The commonest 

 kind, E. dens-canis, has been a favourite in English 



gardens from time immemorial, having been grown 

 long before Gerarde's time, upwards of three cen- 

 turies ago. Still we have it as our forefathers grew 

 it, unchanged, except perhaps we have one or two 

 additional varieties. Any one who knows this old 

 garden plant would at once recognise the other 

 members of the genus, as there are certain characters 

 common to all the species. They are all of dwarf 

 growth, the largest being not more than a foot high. 

 All have lanceolate leaves, more or less broad, and 

 generally mottled with a dark hue. The flowers of 

 all the species are turban -shaped, and range from 

 pure white to rosy-pink and yellow. Asa rule, the 

 flowers are borne singly on slender erect stems, but 

 in some species, as E. grandiflorum, they are borne 

 several together on each stem. 



The genus is not a large one, numbering only 

 about a dozen species and varieties, and nearly all 

 of these are grown at present in English gardens. 

 For such a small genus its geographical distribution 

 is very wide. It has its representatives as far east 

 as Japan, others are found in Europe, but the head- 

 quarters of the genus is in Western North America, 

 chiefly in California ; only two, E. albidum and 

 Amerieanum, being found in the Eastern States. The 

 following list includes the principal species and 

 varieties. 



E. Amerieanum (Yellow Adder' s-tongue). — This is 

 a pretty American species, common in the low copses 

 in the Eastern United States. It is very dwarf, with 

 the leaves heavily mottled. The flowers are smaller 

 than those of the common E. dens-canis, of a bright 

 canary-yellow, borne singly on stalks about six 

 inches high. It flowers in May. It is by no means 

 a common plant in this country, being the most 

 difficult to manage of all the Dog's-tooth Violets. 

 Those who have been most successful with it are of 

 the opinion that it requires to be grown where its 

 roots may be confined, in order to flower it well. 

 Therefore, it is best to grow- it in pots with the 

 bottoms out and plunged into the soil, or planted in 

 a stone pocket-like compartment in the rock-garden. 

 In requires a partially shady spot, in light peaty 

 soil, and as its bulbs dislike disturbance, it should 

 be allowed to remain for years in one spot. It is 

 such a pretty plant that it is quite worth a little 

 extra trouble. It is also known under the names of 

 E. Niittallianum, E. lanceolatum, and E. flavum. A 

 variety of it is named E. bracteatum, but is not in 

 gardens. There are two allied species, also natives 

 of the Eastern States, named E. albidum and E. pro- 

 puttans. These are both similar to E. dens-canis, 

 but inferior in beauty. They have flowers about 

 an inch and a half across; bluish-white in albidum , 

 rose-pink in propullans. The foliage of both of 

 these species is unmottled. 



