LACHENALIAS. 



221 



the colour of the flowers. The material is prepared in the 

 spring, and well turned over three or four times before it is 

 used. I use 7- inch pots for the strong-growing sorts, and put 

 from eight to fifteen bulbs in each pot — eight of L. pcndula and 

 fifteen of L. tricolor. It is necessary to sort the bulbs well, 

 keeping the stronger bulbs to themselves, and weaker bulbs to 

 themselves, as when mixed they sometimes flower irregularly. 

 The strong bulbs flower earlier than the weaker. Basket cul- 

 ture may also be resorted to with advantage. In fact they grow 

 rather better in baskets than in pots ; the foliage is stronger, 

 and so are the flower- spikes. The effect produced by a basket of 

 Lachenalias with forty to fifty flower- spikes all open together is 

 very fine, and such an effect can be secured without much 

 trouble. The finest Laclicnalia Nelsoni I ever saw was sent to 

 me by the Rev. Theodore Marsh from a basket. He informed 

 me that when carefully tended these baskets need not be dis- 

 turbed for three or four years ; but I have always remade them 

 each year. The same soil does for baskets as for pots. The 

 baskets should, however, be lined with Sphagnum before putting 

 the soil into them. 



General Treatment. — When the bulbs have been- potted they 

 are well watered, and the pots are put in a light airy house on a 

 shelf near the light. The glass is not muffed, or in any waj r 

 shaded. The ventilators are kept open day and night until the 

 middle of September, when they are closed on cold nights. As 

 the soil gets dry the pots are again watered, and so treated until 

 the leaves appear in the course of a few weeks, after which the 

 soil should never be allowed to get quite dry. Watering must be 

 carefully attended to, as the roots decay if the soil be too wet, 

 such species as L. glaucina and L. orchioides being much more 

 sensitive than L. tricolor or L. Nelsojii. The temperature in 

 the house should not be allowed to fall below 45 deg. Fahrenheit, 

 and plenty of air should at all times be given. Should the day 

 be dull or cold a little heat is turned on when the ventilators are 

 opened, as a cold draft is less injurious than a damp stagnant 

 atmosphere. So treated they will commence to flower early in 

 December, and at present several species are still in flower. As 

 the plants come into flower they are fed with liquid manure 

 once weekly, and this is continued until the leaves die down. 

 Much of next year's success depends u on this being carefully 



