238 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The finest, and indeed the only one in general cultivation is 

 Clivea miniata, and it, by the gardener's art, has been improved 

 until now we have a fine series of distinct named varieties raised 

 from seeds in Europe, which are one and all better than the 

 imported type. The variety " Marie Eeimers " is a good 

 example, and there are numerous other kinds equally attractive, 

 but different in some respect. Some have flowers approach- 

 ing to the blood-red tint, others have a white eye, and one 

 which I saw exhibited in this hall at the last meeting may 

 be said to have a creamy-white flower, the segments broadly 

 edged with orange. 



All the bulbs hitherto mentioned do well in a cold green- 

 house or conservatory all the year round, subject to the remarks 

 before made as to summer treatment in a cold frame. But if 

 more convenient, in a frame from which the frost is ex- 

 cluded in winter will do, or if needs be, and no better accom- 

 modation can be given, in an unheated frame if the pots are 

 plunged in dry leaves, and three or four inches of dry leaves such 

 as are swept up in parks and gardens be placed lightly over them 

 at the beginning of winter, and kept over them while the frosts 

 last. If the last mode of culture is attempted care should be 

 taken that the winter finds the plants dry in the pots. 



The proper method of culture where it can be compassed, 

 and the one which will give the best results as regards flower, is 

 to winter these things on a cool greenhouse shelf — for it is through 

 that season that Nerines and many other Cape bulbs grow — and 

 to keep them for the summer months in a cold frame, the 

 deciduous ones being kept at one end, for at that season they 

 require no water, and the Cyrtanthi of the evergreen section, 

 which require water more or less all the year, at the other. If I 

 may be allowed to travel from the subject too, and to touch on 

 other than Cape bulbs, I should like to say that the Zephyranthes 

 Coburgias, Stenomessons, and other South American bulbs should 

 be grown with those touched on in this paper, and treated like 

 them. The fine Zephyranthes carinata also comes into the list 

 of those bulbs of whose hardiness I have no doubt. 



Soil, &c. 



My experience of all the bulbs we are here dealing with is 

 that as a potting material nothing suits them better than a good 



