FREESIAS AND LACHEN ALIAS. 



37 



Naturally, to get the best results in either pans or wire baskets, the 

 bulbs should be carefully graded before they are planted. It will 

 generally be found that there are a good many small ones hardly 

 as large as a sweet pea. These may be planted in seed-pans and 

 grown on if they are those of varieties which we wish to increase. 

 Six bulbs in a five-inch pan or low pot, eight or nine in a six-inch 

 one, is a rough guide to go by in planting. Larger pans must be filled 

 in proportion. Feeding during the period of growth, and especially 

 when the flowers are past their best, until the time when the foliage 

 begins to turn colour, is necessary, and it is well to remember that they 

 like their " tipple " a little stronger than that which suits Freesias. 



Seedling-raising. — All who grow Lachenalias should raise seedlings. 

 The young plants are so vigorous and strong that it is well worth doing. 

 Hand-fertilization is necessary, for when they are left to themselves 

 but little seed is produced. Seed should be sown in early August, 

 and the pots or pans should be placed in a cool greenhouse and the 

 seedlings kept growing as long as possible the following spring and 

 early summer. After their period of rest the tiny bulbs should be 

 taken out of the soil and replanted — one in a three-inch pot, or very 

 thinly in good-sized pans. A few flowers will appear in the following 

 flowering season, but it will not be until they have passed through 

 another cycle of growth and have once more been potted up — this 

 time in, say, 4-inch pots, keeping all bulbs of each sort together — 

 that they will be seen at their best. In other words, seed sown in 

 August 1919 will produce an odd bloom or two in February and 

 March 1921, but their real flowering for the first time will not be 

 until a year later. In sowing, every seed should be half an inch 

 away from its nearest neighbour. 



General Remarks. — Few flowers last longer in perfection than 

 Lachenalias. Tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils cannot compete with 

 them in this respect. They are popularly known as ' Cape Cows- 

 lips/ but they might be more appropriately called, from their general 

 shape and look, ' Yellow Wood -hyacinths.' I have seen splendid 

 results attained yearly when they have been grown from start to 

 finish in a dwelling-house, without even the help of a cold frame. 

 Common-sense, care, and a knowledge of the plants' requirements 

 have brought this about. 



Varieties to grow. — Glaucina or orchioides (for their delightful 

 scent) ; ' Rosemary,' ' Cawston Gem,' Nelsonii, * Brightness,' ' Ruth 

 Lane,' ' W. E. Gumbleton,' ' John Geoghegan,' and luleola maculata. 

 When they come into commerce, ' Greenland,' ' Holland,' and 

 ' Burmah ' should be included. 



LIST OF AWARDS MADE BY THE R.H.S. 



Freesias certificated in London^ 



Amethyst (Tubergen), April 16, 1907, A.M. 

 Aurea (Wallace), May 28, 1902, A.M. 

 Bartley Mauve (Dalrymple), April 8, 1919, A.M. 

 Bartley Rose (Dalrymple), April 8, 1919, A.M. 



