398 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 10, 1887. 
be transplanted into larger pots, and about the third 
year they will require their largest size, when they will 
probably flower if they have much good growth. 
A period of rest is necessary, but the plants should 
not be dried off to the same extent as some plants are 
treated, Encourage free growth, let this be well matured 
and the bulbs ripened by exposure to the sun, then the 
resting should consist in partially withholding water until 
the soil becomes dry, but not parched, so that either bulb 
or leaves suffer. 
The hardy Crinums of the C. capense group are excel¬ 
lent plants for well drained borders of rich deep soil in 
warm districts, such as the South and West of England 
and Ireland. Provided there is no stagnation they may 
be planted near ponds or lakes, as they like plenty of 
water, but they are more liable to suffer during winter 
in such places. A warm, moist border where protection 
can be given during severe weather is the best suited tor 
them, and if they are covered with a heap of dried leaves 
it will be sufficient in most cases, or a mat will answer 
the same purpose. Strong growing bulbs are often 
planted too near the surface of the soil, and Crinums 
should be at least 5 or 6 inches below the surface where 
the border is suitable. Travellers at the Cape of Good 
Hope have remarked how deep some of the numerous 
bulbs are found in a wild state, and have reasonably 
thought that failures in cultivation may often be traced to 
ignorance of this, especially as regards those in pots 
where a comparatively small depth of soil can be pro¬ 
vided. 
An enumeration of the Crinums known to botanists, 
or even to those alone which are grown in botanical col¬ 
lections, would require a series of articles, but a few of 
the most distinct and ornamental species may be noted. 
In extremely few private gardens would a dozen distinct 
Crinums be found, yet they might take the places of some 
other less beautiful occupants of our houses with ad¬ 
vantage. Of the tropical species the following deserve 
especial note as worth addition to stove plants— 
C. amabile, one of the most handsome of the genus, an 
East Indian plant, introduced by Dr. Roxburgh in 1810. 
It is strong in habit, with umbels of twenty or more 
fragrant flowers, the corollas 9 inches long, with broad 
recurving white divisions having a central crimson line, 
and purple stamens, anthers, tube, and ovary. This has 
a grand appearance when bearing one of its large umbels. 
C. americanum is a West Indian and South American 
plant with large flowers and bulbs, the former white, with 
spreading petals, and red stamens. C. asiaticum is 
another East Indian Crinum, its favourite habitat being 
at the side of rivers. It has an elegant appearance, the 
flowers being of good size with long narrow drooping 
white divisions, the filaments long, and tipped with red. 
The leaves are broad, and the umbel of considerable s’ze. 
C. erubescens is a South American species, but in 
general style it is suggestive of C. Hildebrandti. The 
flowers have long red tubes with long narrow white 
divisions, reddish filaments, and yellow anthers. The 
leaves are broad and furnished with a toothed cartilaginous 
edge, which distinguishes it from some selected species. 
C. giganteum is appropriately named, for in growth and 
size of flower it is the giant of the family. It is a native 
of Sierra Leone, whence bulbs were sent to the 
Marchioness of Rockhampton in 1792. The leaves are 
long and broad, the flower stems frequently 3 feet high, 
the corollas having tubes 9 inches long and 6 inches 
across at the mouth, white with a tinge of green on the 
external surface of the tube, the anthers being dark 
purple. Owing to the breadth of the oval divisions the 
flower has great substance and a bold appearance. 
C. Hildebrandti was discovered by the gentleman after 
whom it is named, Dr. Ilildebrandt, in 1875, amongst 
the mountains of the Comoro Islands, at an elevation of' 
3000 feet. In the same year bulbs were sent to the- 
Berlin Botanic Garden, but it seems uncertain whether 
any were then transmitted to England. Three years, 
later, however, Dr. J. Kirk, in honour of whom the next 
species was named, rediscovered it in its native land, and 
forwarded bulbs to Ivew, where it flowered in 1881. It 
has not become generally known, however, outside those 
gardens until Messrs. J. Yeitch & Sons recently flowered 
it, and exhibited a plant at South Kensington (fig. 51,. 
page 406). The leaves are, when fully grown, about 
2 feet long; the flower stem is 1 foot or more high, with 
six to twelve flowers, pure white, the tube 6 inches long, 
the divisions narrow and drooping. The filaments are 1 
red and the anthers very dark, affording a striking con¬ 
trast with the pure white of the other portion. 
As showing two distinct types of Crinums, the figure 
of C. Kirki (page 407) may be compared with that of 
C. Hildebrandti. In this the flower has broad spreading 
divisions, white with a clearly defined central rosy crim¬ 
son bar. It is free-growing and produces large umbel3 
of flowers. The plant was introduced from Zanzibar in 
1879, and was brought prominently into notice by Mr. 
B. S Williams a few years ago, when it was certificated 
by the Royal Botanic Society at Regent’s Park. 
The principal hardy Crinum is C. capense, but of thi3 
there are numerous varieties, and by cx*ossing with other 
species it has yielded several beautiful hybrids. It i3 
sometimes seen under the name of longifolia, an old 
synonym, but quite obsolete now and very misleading, as 
there is a tropical species named C. longifolium quite 
distinct from C. capense. The latter has long, curving, 
funnel-shaped flowers, ranging in colour from pure white 
to purplish crimson. The leavts are long, and in habit 
the plant is strong, developing a large bulb. Three of 
the best varieties are album, pure white; riparium, 
purplish; and striatum, streaked with rose and white. 
With these must be named C. Powelli, a cross between 
C. capense and C. Mooreanum, which has proved quite 
hardy and free flowering in several districts. C. Mooreanum 
and C. ornatum have been successfully tried out of doors 
in a few warm sheltered situations, but they cannot bo 
regarded as safe in most localities.—C. 
FACTS ABOUT GRAPES. 
Gros Maroc. 
Although I have never yet written much in praise of Gros 
Maroc, quite the reverse in fact, I am bound to say it is sometimes 
to be met with in really first-class condition. Innumerable good 
examples, as far as appearance is concerned, have been forthcoming 
in all directions, but, with two exceptions, all I have tasted have 
proved of very poor quality indeed. We have it on a Black Ham¬ 
burgh stock in a second early house, and this rod perfected really 
grand bunches, each weighing about 3 lbs., but the flavour was very 
second rate. In a Muscat house on its own roots it was of very 
poor quality, and those^unches now hanging on a rod grafted on a 
Black Hamburgh stock in late house are no better. This being the 
experience of others beside myself, I was the more agreeably sur¬ 
prised to find it when tasted recently altogether superior. At 
Hindlip, near Worcester, it proves one of the best and most 
pleasantly flavoured black sorts grown, being rich, yet not too much 
so, as sometimes happens in the case of good Black Hamburgh. 
Added to this the bunches were of good size, the berries large, black 
as sloes, and carrying a good bloom. It is grafted on a Foster’s 
Seedling, and Mr. Barker informs me it is invariably good on this 
stock. 
Since I saw and taste 1 these a second eatable crop of Gras 
