January 27. 
THE COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 
319 
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I 
I 
remembering that with dark coverings, and the bud in 
an expansive state, what is termed “ drawing,” by prac¬ 
tical men, will take place; and the best way to put 
this practical technicality into plain English, is to call 
it “weakening”—weakening the functions of those 
parts in course of expansion and development, on which 
not only the fruiting tendencies depend, but the very 
energies of the unfolding wood-buds from which future 
crops sbovdd be raised. 
As an ordinary maxim, I may add, withdraw your 
canvass at least every second day, unless some serious 
reverse of weather take place. But our readers will 
very naturally desire to know what is meant by reverse; 
what the trees will endure, and what they ought not to 
he compelled to endure. First then, our wall trees, in 
general, will endure unharmed, under ordinary circum¬ 
stances, some ten to fifteen degrees of frost, rintil their 
buds are actually swelling. I do not, of course, speak 
this irrespective of condition in the tree, for it may have 
been a late wet and glutting autumn, the trees rather 
gross, and all their vessels gorged with watery matter. 
It need scarcely be observed here, that the more succu¬ 
lent the habit, the greater the chances of a rupture of 
the vessels and delicate structure of the wood. These 
remarks are intended to apply to ordinary winters, and 
trees under ordinary circumstances. 
To proceed, the trees, up to the time of the real open¬ 
ing of the bud, or when the very first symptoms of the 
interior and more delicate parts appear, will endure any 
amount of what are termed cold winds, providing the 
thermometer does not indicate above three or four 
degrees of frost. Indeed, I prefer these refrigerators, 
welcoming them in the character of retarders; but if 
wet comes on, the case becomes slightly altered; a 
modification of practice is then requisite. If, unluckily, 
your man is caught napping, and has left the canvass 
off under the pressing and doubtful circumstances here 
alluded to, and you discover early the next morning 
that your irnfolding buds ai-e sealed up with an icy 
covering, my advice is, take care that the sun does not 
shine on them ; canvass them over directly, and if your 
wood has been ripened well, fear not. 
To meet all difficult cases, such as appear in the 
inquiries of anxious fruitists, young in experience, but 
old in emulation, would be to write a big book, which 
few would have patience enough to carry a mile on 
their shoulders ; and shall I say, fewer still liave time or 
patience to read. “Touch and go,” is the motto in 
these days; and all I can add is, let all interested study 
a little those principles to which the mind is here 
directed. R. Ereington. 
BULBS. 
{Goutinucd from page 303.) 
Calostemiia. —This is a genus of very pretty Austra¬ 
lian bulbs, belonging to the Bancratioid section of 
Amaryllids, and requiring about equal quantities of 
peat and yellow loam, with a little sand, to grow them 
in pots; but they will grow and flower out in a warm 
border during the summer, and increase themselves by 
offset bulbs The flowers are not individually large, 
but the colours are gay, and there are many flowers in 
each head or umbel. The cup, to which the stamens 
are joined, is nearly up to the middle of the flower, and 
the edge of it is fringed round with triangular teeth ; it 
is from this frill it has been called the Gay Crown, or 
Calostemma. The stamens rise only a little way above 
the edges of the frilled crown, and they carry small erect 
anthers; these, with a sharp-pointed style in the middle, 
add much to the siguificancy of the name. 
Calostemma purporeum. — This is a rich purple 
flower; and when the bulb is strong, and in good con¬ 
dition, there will be from fifteen to twenty flowers in 
one head (umbel), and each flower has a short footstalk 
(peduncle). The flower scape, or the stem which carries 
the head, is about a foot long, and the leaves a little 
longer. There is a midrib to every division of the flower 
in this genus, which is continued down to the seed-pod ; 
and in this species the rib is as purple as the rest of the 
flower. 
Calostemma ldteuji.— A very pretty thing, but very 
scarce. Yellow flowers, with green midribs, and a rich 
purple at the bottom of each division of the flower, 
about the same size as the last; but this and the next 
require more sand in the compost than purpnreum if 
they are grown in pots. 
Calostemma albuji. —A much:scarcer bulb even than 
the last, from which it differs only in the colour of the 
flower, unless, perhaps, that the fringe on the cup has 
the teeth a little sharper and smaller. 
Calostemma oarneum (Flesh-coloured). — This is 
another very pretty plant, and is more hardy than the 
others. The flowers are bright pink, and about the same 
size as those of the others. From all appearance, and 
from our knowledge of kindred plants, there is every 
probability that the whole four will cross with each 
other ; and if they do, they promise as much diversity 
as the Gladioli. Sir Thomas Mitchel found this species 
on the summit of a chain of rocky mountains; he 
sent it to the Horticultural Society, in whose garden 
it flowered here, for the first time, about a dozen years 
back. There is another species called Gunningliamii, 
but I know nothing of it. 
Carpodetes. —The accent is on the o. There is only 
one bulb in this genus known to us—a native of Peru, 
near Obragillo, in the province of Canta, where the 
natives call it Chihuanhuaita. It is figured in the “ Flora 
Peruviana,” where it is called Pancratium recurvatum. 
In those days every flower of this form was called a 
1 Pancratium, just as we might say to-day that a Tulip, 
a Hyacinth, or a Fritillaria, is a Lily. This bulb is 
I middle-sized, oblong, and with a long neck, purplish, 
with black spots. The leaves are an inch wide, and ten 
inches long, and blunt at the point; the flower scape is 
stout, shorter than the leaves; the flowers are between 
purple and yellow, and the seed-pod is narrowest in the 
middle—a very unusual shape, so that the whole plant 
is easily known. Pure yellow loam, with a little sand, 
suits it best. It is a summer-growing bulb, which in¬ 
creases slowly by offsets, and is more safe in a pit. 
Carpolyza spiralis. —This is one of the smallest 
bulbs which belongs to the order of Amaryllids, and 
one that has puzzled more learned heads than any of 
them. Jacquin called it Crinum tenellum, but it bears 
the same relation to Crinum amahile, as the JEgilops 
does to the Talavera wheat. In the “ Botanical Reposi- 
j tory” it is called Crinum spirale. Le Heritier makes it 
Amaryllis spiralis, and the younger Linnffius calls it 
I Hoemanthus spiralis, in the “Hortus Kewensis.” As late 
' as 1834, it was named Strumaria spiralis, in the “ Bota- 
i nical IMagazine.” Hr. Herbert, commenting on all this 
confusion, very justly remarks, “ when each successive 
writer refers a plant to a different genus, as in this case, 
it may with great probability be surmised tbatit belongs 
to none of them; ” and so it turns out with this one. 
Carpolyza, which is now adopted by common consent, was 
the name given By the late Air. Salisbury, in his “ Para- 
disus Londinensis.” The flowers of this little bulb are 
very pretty, star-shaped, blush-white inside, and pinkish 
outside, quite pink in the tint; the scape carries two or 
three of them, and they are about the same size as 
those of Anomatlieca cruenta; the leaves are not much 
stouter than those of a young onion three weeks old, 
and much in the same way, curiously twisted; the 
bottom of the scape has also three or four turns of twists, 
for which it is called spirale. It is a native of the Cape 
