468 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 14,1894. 
first. After one set of pseudo-bulbs have been made fill up with 
moss and charcoal to the usual convex mound. The rhizome 
should then be notched half way through between each bulb, and 
these disposed equally all over the surface by tying or pegging 
down. Nearly every pseudo-bulb will start, and neat well furnished 
specimens will quickly be obtained. Light surfacings of moss 
should be given yearly ; any pseudo-bulbs that are spent must be 
removed, and their places filled by pegging down the last year’s 
growth. 
B. Candida and B. fragrans are more compact in their growth, 
and do not need this special treatment ; but it is important that 
each year’s roots have fresh material to run in, and that no decay¬ 
ing substance is allowed to remain about them. Directly after 
flowering is the most suitable time for repotting or surface 
dressing. 
As before hinted, Burlingtonias are very liable to be attacked 
by white scale. This must be kept in check by frequent spongings, 
the sheathy bases of the leaves being carefully examined and 
cleaned, at the same time avoiding tearing or puncture.— 
H. R. Richards. 
FLORAL FACTS AND FANCIES.—2. 
During a large portion of the history of civilised man the 
flower garden has not only been to him a source of recreation and re¬ 
freshment, it has been closely associated with most of the memorable 
events in his public and domestic life. From the records of distant 
ages we find that flowers figured at the celebration of religious 
festivals, victories, and games, as well as at the social events of 
family reunions, marriages, and funerals; they were employed to 
express reverence, grandeur, love, joy, or grief. Wild flowers from 
woods and fields were no doubt first used, but when a taste for 
horticulture developed showy and fragrant plants were cultivated, 
not merely to adorn the garden ; they yielded besides a supply of 
flowers that had a symbolic meaning. Both easterns and westerns 
believed that most flowers, and leaves too, had a language; floral 
decoration, therefore, with suitable species answered the same 
purpose as putting op inscriptions. Hence places were lavishly 
adorned, and crowns or garlands worn ; though amongst some 
nations there existed an idea that wearing flowers implied 
effeminacy, and was a fashion befitting women, not men. 
Oddly enough, it was also believed long ago that if a woman 
put together a bouquet, this indicated she was in love. “ The 
wreathing garland in a woman is the usual symptom of a lovesick 
mind,” a poet has said. Something in the beauty and delicacy of 
flowers seemed to link them to what we used to call the “ softer 
sex,” hence the feminine appellations given in former times to 
many species. But it has been remarked that the name of the 
nymph Amaryllis ought not to have been conferred upon a tribe of 
plants which are notable for qualities that we would not wish to believe 
womanly. Since the Amaryllids, as an order, are deceptive species, 
beauty is frequently displayed in their flowers, while a dangerous 
poison may lurk within stem or bulb. Some persons have sup¬ 
posed that the handsome A. lutea is the Lily of Scripture, but 
probably that is the scarlet Martagon Lily, which delights in the 
Syrian valleys, though also found about mountains. Very regal, 
however, is the former with its golden blooms ; common in Greece 
and Turkey, it is often planted upon graves as a token of the love 
of survivors. The showiness observable in the genus Amaryllis 
has made them, symbolically, the representatives of “vanity.” 
Quite a contrast to these is the lowly Snowdrop, “ herald of the 
flowers,” says Westwood, which comes forth bravely holding its 
white flag of truce, and entreating stern winter to free its 
many brethren from their long imprisonment. Its familiar name 
points us to the old legend, that, when Eve was grieving at the first 
snowstorm, an angel assured her the spring would come again, and 
as a token, taking some of the snowfla’Kes he transformed them 
into this flower. Hence the Snowdrop may mean both “ consola¬ 
tion.” and “ hope.” 
Like many of its relatives, it has acrid qualities in its roots ; 
so too has the Daffodil or Lent Lily, so-called, but properly a 
Narcissus. There is a quaintness about its longer English name 
of Daffodowndilly, which is allusive to its sometimes covering 
dells as a wild flower. One poet, Herrick, regarded the golden 
Daffodils pensively, seeing in them a comparison to the brevity of 
human life :— 
“ We have short time to stay like you, 
We have as short a spring.” 
Jean Inglelow speaks of it, but not in terms of praise ; it is a plant 
of evil omen, though by some of the writers on plant meanings the 
species is taken to imply “regard.” The Narcissuses, we re¬ 
member, are named from the crazy youth of classic story who 
gazed upon his own image in the stream till his excessive admira¬ 
tion of his shadow ended his life. When the nymphs mourned 
for him, and sought his body, they could only discover this floral 
memorial of him, the Narcissus, seemingly the N. poeticus, with 
its white petals and yellow nectary. But some have fancied that 
the Narcissus of the ancients was a purplish flower, not this poet’s 
Narcissus, which, however, is likely to continue a symbol of 
“ egotism.” 
That quality, or self-conceit, might be supposed to characterise 
the majority of our showy garden Tulips. Many-hued, their name 
is said to have been suggested by the turban-like appearance of the 
flowers. Special significance, however, is attached to some kinds, 
for a red Tulip bears the same meaning as do other flowers of that 
colour. Its resemblance to a blush symbolises “ love declared,” but 
it is not so obvious why a striped Tulip should remind us of 
“ beautiful eyes,” and “ hopeless love” might be expressed, it seems, 
by banding to anyone a yellow Tulip. Yet another meaning is 
said to belong to the whole Tulip tribe by some authors. They are 
flowers that represent fame, because their size and brilliancy make 
them conspicuous; their beauty is not hidden or concealed like that 
of some species. I should have noted, when referring to the 
Fritillarias, that one variety, the Crown Imperial Lily, passes for 
an emblem of majesty or power, rightly enough, and “ persecution” 
is another symbolic meaning given to the spotted varieties. The 
Gladiolus is a flower that may be considered as particularly 
suitable for the decoration of members of our Volunteer Fo. ces, 
since it signifies that one is “ fore-armed against all foes.” 
We always welcome the Crocus (so too does our enemy the 
sparrow) a harbinger of spring, its name expressing the general 
colour of the tribe. Its apparent courage in braving the rough 
winds of March has made it an example of “ cheerfulness,” also, 
according to some, of “ youthful gladness ; ” and the early purple 
variety suggests “ hope ” of successive flowers as the season 
progresses. To the Saffron Crocus much more importance was 
given by our ancestors as a garden plant than it receives in the 
present day, our Saffron supplies coming chiefly from abroad. 
Formerly Saffron was valued not only medicinally, and as a dye, but 
also employed in household cookery, so that it had a recognised 
place amongst garden plants, being both ornamental and useful. 
A memory of it lingers even in central London, where Saffron 
Hill, near Holborn, is named from the crops of the plant which at 
one time grew upon a spot when it was part of the garden of old Ely 
House. Though there has been some discussion as to the symbolic 
meaning of this historic plant, which has its name from the Arabic, 
there is very little doubt that the warning, “Be not too trust¬ 
ful,” was thought to be conveyed by its flowers. Our garden Aloes 
are representatives of Oriental plants of aromatic nature, largely 
used at one time by the ancients in embalming, and at funerals, 
hence the plant represents “ superstition,” also “ grief,” ’tis said. 
Conspicuous in many lands on the borders of rivers, or beside 
the sea, are the Arums, our beautiful white species being commonly 
called the Nile Lily, though really of another family. In flower 
language they represent “ardour,” or “enthusiasm,” appropriately 
perhaps. Curious and numerous are the names given to our native 
A. maculatnm, a plant which it is needful to caution children 
against, for the scarlet berries are apt to attract during summer. 
Wake Robin, Cuckoo Pint, Lords and Ladies, Parson in the Pulpit, 
are familiar to us as appellations, the last of these reminding us of 
the time when all preachers were enclosed in a box, with sounding 
board overhead. But the point may be doubtful, whether the 
purplish soikes are the lords or the yellow and green ones.— 
j. R. s. c: 
THE NUTRITION OF ROOTS. 
I AM sorry if I have run off the rails in this matter. I have 
now re-read Mr. Raillem’s original communication (page 388). 
The point appears to be whether plants take in their food in the 
form of water or as vapour. Mr. Raillem seems to infer that it is 
not exactly either, for he speaks of “ vapour moisture, which has 
not yet passed into actual vapour in the air.” Now, as far as I 
know, water exists only in two forms—water and vapour. Water 
will hold in solution all the matters that go to form plant food, 
vapour will not hold any of them. The conclusion is obvious.— 
D. Gilmour. _ 
Being pleased with the article by “ W. R. Raillem ” (page 388), 
and as I had been cogitating on the same subject of late, I give my 
opinion for what it is worth. Some plants other than aquatics 
grow in water and in boggy places. Some of these marsh plants, 
too, thrive in a dry soil, and others prefer the banks of a stream, 
where the roots dip in the water. I cannot classify the above, but 
it is sufficient for my purpose to know such things. Some plants 
subsist wholly in the air attached to others, although not strictly 
speaking parasitic. 
