BTTLBOFS FLOWEBS. 



37 



the glass, Ixias thrive at their ease ; in the garden, they 

 can only be grown in favoured spots by fanciers who will 

 bestow on them all the care and attention exacted by 

 tender pets. Devoted cultivators of Cape bulbs will 

 study Monographs, Treatises, and Transactions, too volu- 

 minous to be comprised in the present syllabus. All that 

 there is room to state here is, that their periods of growth 

 and rest must be carefully alternated and attended to; that 

 a wet sub-soil below and frost and heavy rain above are 

 fatal; that their general soil is a mixture of peat-earth, leaf- 

 mould, and light sandy loam, slightly enriched with the 

 thoroughly-rotted dung of an old hotbed ; and that, if 

 grown in the open border, their bed must be an excava- 

 tion properly filled, or better a raised pit built with walls 

 of brick or turf, screened by a south wall, filled with 

 light compost, and capable of being protected by lights 

 or shutters, occasionally by both. Various other expe- 

 dients may be tried, such as a stratum of dead leaves in 

 winter, oiled canvass coverings, thatchings with straw, 

 &c, if the roots be ventured out of doors ; but the truth 

 is, that, here, their proper place is under glass, in pots 

 with a stratum of small shingle at the bottom, in which, 

 according to size, more than a single bulb may be 

 planted. Indeed, the bulbs are mostly so small that a 

 great many of them would be lost by out-door culture in 

 beds. Their treatment is much the same as that of the 

 African gladioli. October is the time for planting. The 

 bulbs may remain two years without shifting; but in 

 that case, as soon as the bloom is faded, the pots must 

 be kept in a dry situation. Ixias are propagated from 

 offsets. Seedling plants often furnish pretty varieties, 

 which generally flower the third year. Ixia hulbocodium 

 is the only European species. The others are numerous 

 and in great diversities of colour ; I. crocata, the orange 

 ixia, is one of the commonest ; L polystachya is a favourite 

 with the Dutch. Persons desirous of growing ixias and 

 the families of plants related to them, will gain prac- 

 tical information by visiting the collections and study- 

 ing the lists of nurserymen. 



