CAPE BULBS. 



233 



getting down to the bulbs, and what is of still greater importance, 

 when the thaw comes the return of warmth to the bulbs is 

 gradual. I would advise anyone who contemplates trying these 

 showy bulbs outdoors to set apart for them a narrow border at 

 the foot of a wall, or in front of a plant-house, and in such a 

 situation the Crinums and other bulbs may be planted close to 

 the wall, so that they need not interfere with other things 

 planted on the border, nor be disturbed themselves. So planted 

 and left alone these bulbs grow to a great size, and form huge 

 masses producing a wealth of bloom every year. From such a 

 situation the late Sigismund Rucker, of West Hill, Wandsworth, 

 essayed to get for me a bulb of each of two varieties of what is 

 now known as C. Moorei, but which at the time I speak of — 

 some twenty years ago — was growing in his open garden. The 

 bulbs were in a dense mass, and were so firmly rooted that the 

 root crowns were broken in lifting them, although every care was 

 taken. 



EXPEEIMENTS IN " PLANT PROTECTOR." 



Nearly four years ago I set up a range of " Plant Protector," 

 as this kind of span-roof cold frame with glass-slab sides is 

 called. No trouble was taken to make the different parts fit 

 well, and the bulbs stored in it winter and summer were 

 practically outdoors. Indeed, the effect in it of last winter, 

 resulting in the death of Amaryllis Belladonna (one of our 

 prettiest of hardy bulbs), Crinum Moorei, and several others, 

 which passed the winter in perfect health in the open ground, 

 proves to me that the test was actually more severe than it 

 would have been had all the bulbs been planted out. But, 

 grown in pots, I had the advantage of having them always 

 under observation. It is well, perhaps, that I did not relate 

 my experience before the present severe and protracted w r inter 

 or I should undoubtedly have pronounced many things to 

 be perfectly hardy which the experience of the year just past 

 will not allow me to do, as the death-roll among those which had 

 hitherto escaped has been very heavy. 



First, then, as to the Cyrtanthi, the species experimented on 

 being : 



1. Anoiganthus (Cyrtanthus) breviflorus, yellow, Eastern 

 Provinces of the Cape, alt. 5,000 feet. 



G 



