402 
AMAKYLLIDACE^E. 
dently to C. cruentum, and it should be removed from the 
place assigned to it, and stand No. 12, between cruentum 
and 13. erubescens. Its spathe this year was cleft, not tubed, 
as before. 
Crinum Seed. — See the representations of the seeds and 
germen of several species, pi. 43. The seed of the tropical 
species of Crinum will often lie for a very long time without 
vegetating. It may be made to grow immediately, by cut- 
ting carefully off a portion of the fleshy mass, so as to ex- 
pose the point of the embryo, after which the seed should be 
set edgeways in a small pot of earth, just covering the radi- 
cle. The operation requires, however, a cautious hand ; for 
if the point is cut by the knife, the vitality of the seed is 
destroyed, and its direction is uncertain, though more likely 
to tend towards the hilum or scar than elsewhere. Small 
bits of the flesh should therefore be pulled off with the point 
of a knife, rather than cut, till the embryo is discovered. 
Eucrosia Bicolor.— The habitation of this plant is de- 
termined by a specimen in Sir W. Hooker’s herbar. Jamieson, 
1836, on the descent towards Jaguachi ; elevation 1000 feet. 
Flued Borders. — The vigour with which mules of the 
genus Crinum, and many other plants, grow out of doors 
against the front wall of a stove, persuades me that a great 
variety of plants might with a little care be cultivated better 
in the open ground than under glass, if the border in which 
they are to grow were flued underground, and a tarpauling, 
or any waterproof covering, placed over them at the times 
when it might be requisite to exclude either rain or cold. 
The covering might hang on the two sides of a strong longi- 
tudinal pole like the two slopes of a roof, and be made to roll 
up either with or without a spring. There are many plants 
which seem to enjoy a cool atmosphere, but will not flower 
or thrive vigorously without the stimulus of heated earth at 
the root. Having chosen a situation where a furnace and 
boiler could be placed under ground, I would carry the 
smoke-flue as far as its heat would extend on one side, and 
hot-water or steam-pipes in a different direction, as might be 
found convenient, enclosed in a stone or brick flue, to as 
great a length as its influence might reach. In such a border 
I believe the genus Hedychium, and many others, would 
flower perfectly with the assistance of fire in the summer, 
requiring nothing in winter but a covering to throw off the 
wet ; and the heat might be turned into other pipes for the 
