By John Wedgwood, Esq. 115 



Had I seen your paper on this subject, before I planted 

 them out in May last, I have no doubt I should have had 

 both more flowers and those earlier, a point of great conse- 

 quence in obtaining their seeds, but I think it probable that 

 when planted in a poor gravelly soil, no tubers whatever will 

 be formed. 



I met with an instance, bomething similar to this formation 

 of tubers, last spring, on a decaying leaf of an Ornithogalum. 

 I do not know the name of the species, or even if it is de- 

 scribed, the bulb being given to me by a gentleman, who 

 brought it from the Cape of Good Hope. This curious plant 

 vegetates and flowers one year, but remains dormant the next, 

 not producing even leaves ; last year it flowered early in the 

 spring, and when the stem and leaves were decayed, I ob- 

 served the ribs of one of the leaves covered with small bulbs. 

 Were not these produced by the superabundant alburnum, 

 which had not an opportunity of wasting itself in forming 

 seeds, for I regularly cut off the flowers, from the lower part 

 of the spike as they withered ? 



I remain yours, &c. 



Etruria, Staffordshire, Oct 22, 1808. 



John Wedgwood. 



