FREESIAS AND LACHEN ALIAS. 



35 



older plants. Plenty of air is essential for all Freesias, and seedlings 

 are no exception to the rule. A small number will flower in March, 

 April, and May— that is, in from seven to nine months from the 

 date of sowing. The general treatment to be followed is much the 

 same as that for older bulbs. From the beginning of March until 

 the yellowing of the leaves tells us that the little bulbs are wanting 

 their period of rest, some mild stimulant should be given once a 

 week in a liquid form. Then, when August comes round, the pots 

 should very carefully be emptied of their contents so that the mother- 

 bulbs and any little off-sets that may have been formed are not 

 separated, but are kept together ready to put in the 3j-inch pots, 

 in which they are to spend their second cycle of growth. 



Lachenalias. 



Lachenalias when they first came to Europe must have attracted 

 attention in horticultural circles, otherwise the series of pictures in 

 Trattinick's " Archiv " and elsewhere would never have appeared. 

 As this is not a botanical treatise there is no need to enumerate the 

 various species or to group them scientifically. It is sufficient to 

 speak of those which, together with a goodly number of seminal 

 varieties, are to be found as cultivated plants at the present time. 

 Why their number is not greater, and why man has not taken them 

 in hand as he has done in the case of other families of bulbous plants, 

 is not easily explained. They are quiet, unassuming creatures, which 

 do not by stature, scent, or colour " stir it and stump it and blow 

 their own trumpet," and so under modern conditions of success 

 are out of it. Their whole being seems to be out of harmony with 

 our bustling, strenuous life, and so they have never become fashion- 

 able and their devotees have been " few and far between." 



Between 1770 and 1830 was, roughly speaking, the first era of 

 Lachenalias in Europe, although Miller, in his " Dictionary " in 

 1752, refers to L. orchioides as an old inhabitant of our greenhouses. 

 In the second edition of the " Hortus Kewensis " in 1811 eleven 

 varieties are enumerated, and in 1836 thirty-six in Swfet's " Hortus 

 Britannicus." Of these last two or three may be no longer Lachenalias 

 but the number is sufficient to show that some interest was then 

 taken in their cultivation. 



The next era may be taken to have started about 1870. The 

 Garden newspaper did much to encourage the growing of these bulbs 

 by references and articles from the pens of Mr. F. W. Burbidge, 

 the Rev. J. G. Nelson, Rector of Aldborough, Mr. W. B. Hemsley, 

 and others, but all to little purpose. Mr. Nelson raised seedlings of 

 which L. Nelsonii, first exhibited in 1881, is a lasting memorial of 

 his work. A brother clergyman, Mr. Marsh, Rector of Cawston, 

 did the same. Then Sir F. W. Moore, of Glasnevin, tried his hand 

 and gave us some beautiful varieties. He also contributed a most 

 instructive paper to the R.H.S. Journal (vol. xiii. [1891]). 



