160 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



otherwise no flowers will be produced. Forced 

 Snake' s-head flowers may be bad as early as March 

 with care. The bulbs of this species, as well as those 

 of most other Fritillaries, keep best in sand daring 

 the time they are out of the ground, but this should 

 be as short as possible. 



F. pudica. — This little Californian plant is quite 

 hardy, but owing to the absence of certain condi- 

 tions, such as a protracted dry period in this country, 

 it cannot be left to take care of itself in the open 

 border. It is therefore best to grow it under the 

 same treatment as that recommended below for F. 

 recurva. It is a dwarf-growing plant, with no dis- 

 tinct leafy stem as in most other Fritillaries. It 

 produces a tuft of grassy leaves, and sends up nu- 

 merous one-flowered flower-stalks a few inches high. 

 The flowers are bell-shaped, about one and a half 

 inches long, bright golden-yellow, and nod grace- 

 fully on slender stalks. The little F. armozna of 

 Asia Minor is a similar species ; one variety has 

 yellow flowers as in F. pudica, the other is a dark 

 purple. 



F. Pyrenaica (Pyrenean Fritillary). — Among the 

 Fritillaries having flowers of a vinous-purple hue — 

 a colour singularly prevalent in the genus — the Py- 

 renean species is one of the handsomest, and being a 

 strong grower capable of holding its own, even in 

 the wild garden, it is most desirable. The flowers 

 are not showy, but being of a beautiful bell-like 

 form, and produced several together on tall slender 

 stems, they have a remarkably pretty appearance in 

 masses. The odour of the flowers, however, is not 

 pleasant. Of similar aspect and of equal robust- 

 ness, the following species ma}- be conveniently 

 classed under the same head: — F. nigra, lutescens, 

 Lusitanica, Hispanica, Jfcssanensis, involucrata, 

 racemosa, acmopctala, Fontica, lanceolata, cirrhosa, 

 parviflora, and atropurpxrea. These all have vinous- 

 purple flowers of various shades, more or less 

 chequered, and bell-shaped, produced on slender 

 stems, varying from a few inches to one and a half 

 feet high. They all possess a quiet beauty which 

 true lovers of flowers appreciate quite as much as 

 that produced by brilliant colours. Being all hardy 

 and for the most part of strong constitution, they 

 are able to take care of themselves, and no place 

 suits them better than a hardy plant border which is 

 left undisturbed from year to year. They flower 

 plentifully about the beginning of summer, and con- 

 tinue in bloom for some weeks. 



F. recurva, one of the Californian Fritillaries, is 

 perhaps the most beautiful of all as regards the 

 colour of the flowers. It is so different from the 

 European species in the bulbs, that botanists have 

 separated it as a sub-genus under the name of Lilio- 

 rhiza. It is of slender growth, the steuis varying in 



height from a few inches to as much as two feet, 

 and even three feet in height, the latter height 

 having been attained in an English garden. The 

 number of flowers varies from one to as many as 

 twenty on the strongest stems. The flowers, pro- 

 duced about the beginning of May, are bell-shaped, 

 from one to two inches in length, and droop grace- 

 fully on slender stalks. The colour is a bright 

 orange-scarlet, with mottlings of yellow. It is not 

 an easy plant to manage, for while it is not quite 

 hardy, it dislikes confinement in a house ; therefore, 

 the best way to treat it is to plant the bulbs out in a 

 bed of light and weH-drained soil, under a frame or 

 hand-light in full exposure. The lights of the 

 frame should only be placed over the bulbs in very 

 cold or very wet weather, and every advantage should 

 be taken to give the plants the full benefit of sun, 

 particularly when growth is perfected, and the bulbs 

 require to be thoroughly ripened. Some of the most 

 successful cultivators of this bulb assert that if the 

 bulbs are lifted annually and kept out of the soil a 

 few weeks and then planted, they are more likely to 

 keep in a healthy condition. It is a native of the 

 Sierra Nevada. 



F. tulipifolia.— With this species may be classed 

 several of a like description, characterised by slender 

 flowers, for the most part of a deep purple. Among 

 these are JSkrkarti, tenella, dasyphylla, oblique t, Idiacea, 

 and Ruthenica. F. tulipifolia grows about a foot high, 

 and has slender stems generally bearing a single bell- 

 shaped flower of a deep reddish-purple. The others 

 named above are somewhat similar, and all are quite 

 hardy, and thrive in any ordinary border. 



THE PEACH AND NECTARINE 

 UNDER GLASS. 



By William Coleman. 



GENERAL MANAGEMENT. 

 Ventilation. — The Peach, like all other stone- 

 fruit trees, when placed under glass requires a 

 liberal supply of ventilation, particularly through 

 the early stages, including the setting of the fruit, 

 and again when it is colouring and ripening. With- 

 out air the flowers open pale and weak, pollen is 

 deficient and infertile, and as a consequence the fruit 

 does not set. The wood-buds, too, are drawn out in 

 advance of the flower-buds, when the growths be- 

 come long-jointed, weak, and sparely furnished with 

 triple buds capable of furnishing fruit and wood in 

 the succeeding year. The fruit, deprived of a supply 

 of oxygen, is pale, watery, and inferior in flavour, if 

 it docs not ripen prematurely when it ought to be 

 taking the last swelling. 



