Nov. 8th, 1884. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
151 
soil in which to pack the roots closely together, before 
covering them with 4 ins. or 5 ins. thick of light garden 
soil. Then give sufficient tepid water to settle the 
soil about the roots, and make up the linings around 
the frame up to within a few inches of the sashes, to 
■exclude cold, and at the same time to impart a little 
heat to the interior of the bed and frame. The latter 
may be left covered up with mats and fern both day 
and night, until the “Grass” appears through the 
soil, when air, more or less in accordance with the 
condition of the weather and the growth of the 
“ Grass,” should be given. 
-■ ' — l ' —- 
AUTUMNAL CROCUSES. 
The season for autumnal flowering Crocuses has 
again come round—notices of some of the earlier 
flowering species have already appeared in the pages 
of The Gardening World —and this reminds us that 
we await anxiously the appearance of Mr. George 
Maw’s illustrated Monograph of the Genus, the 
coloured plates of which are understood to be in a 
forward state of preparation. Mr. Maw, however, has 
already given us a revision of the genus, as well as an 
outline of its geographical distribution, and a full 
account of the life-history of a Crocus ; and these are 
scarcely less interesting to the horticulturist than to 
the botanist, in a genus where every species is orna¬ 
mental, and some particularly so. In fact they are 
amongst the most popular of bulbous plants. The 
multitudinous purple, white, and striped varieties of 
C. vernus, and the rich golden-yellow forms of C. 
aureus, are known to the humblest garden, as well as 
to those of the greatest pretensions; while they are 
grown in thousands for room decoration. Several 
other species are frequently met with in gardens, 
though not in such numbers as the two preceding. 
Beturning now to Mr. Maw’s revision we find that 
sixty-seven species are enumerated, twenty-four of 
which flower in the autumn, the remaining forty-there 
waiting for the more genial spring. They do wait, 
too, in the fullest sense of the word. A new conn, or 
bulb, is produced each year, and the old one dies. As 
the leaves mature and die away a new conn is formed, 
after which a period of rest ensues. This period of 
rest is comparatively short in some species, and the 
flowers appear long in advance of the leaves—the 
rare and beautiful C. Scharojani, which begins to 
flower at the end of July, for instance. The majority, 
however, throw up leaves and flowers together; a few 
of these, too, are autumn flowerers, though the bulk 
of them flower in the spring. In mild winters the 
succession is only interrupted during a few of the 
early weeks of the year. 
Mr. Maw divides the genus into two groups ; Involu- 
crati, with a basal spathe springing from the summit 
of the corm ; and Nudiflora, without a basal spathe. 
The Involucrati group contains thirty species, seventeen 
autumn and thirteen spring flowerers ; while the 
Nudiflora have thirty-seven species, thirty flowering 
in spring and only seven in the autumn. They are 
still further divided by the marked differences which 
may be observed in the corm-tunics; but our object 
at the present time is to give a brief account of the 
autumnal-flowering species, with their habitats, rather 
than their botanical differences. 
C. iridiflorus. —Outer perianth-segments clear, 
rich purple, much larger than the pale lilac inner 
segments; anthers orange; stigmas purple, much 
divided. Native of the Banat and Transylvania, 
flowering in September and October. 
C. vallicola. —Outer perianth-segments pale cream- 
colour, with thread-like terminations ; inner segments 
cream-colour, with purple veins, and orange-coloured 
markings in the throat; anthers pale cream-coloured ; 
stigmas cream, subentire. Native of Trebizond and 
Laristan, at 6,000 ft. to 7,000 ft. elevation, flowering 
in August and September. 
C. Scharojani. —Perianth, deep unstriped orange; 
anthers pale yellow; stigmas orange-scarlet, slightly 
fringed. Native of North-west Caucasus and moun¬ 
tains south of Trebizond, at 7,000 ft. elevation, 
flowering at the end of July and beginning of August. 
C. zonatus. —Perianth-segments rosy-lilac, veined 
inside with clear-purple lines, and with orange throat; 
anthers white; stigmas yellow, shortly branched 
and fringed. Grows in the mountainous district of 
Cilicia, north of Taurus, flowering from the middle to 
end of September. 
C. nudiflorus. — Perianth rich bluish-purple; 
anthers pale orange; stigmas. orange, much divided. 
Native of South-western Europe, from sea-level up 
to 6,000 ft. elevation, flowering in September and 
October. 
C. ASTURicus.—Perianth segments varying from 
purple to white, with darker markings; anthers 
bright yellow, occasionally brown; stigmas deep 
orange, much divided. Abundant in the meadows 
of Asturia, up to 4,000 ft. elevation, flowering in 
October and November. 
C. serotinus. —Perianth-segments bright purple, 
with from three to five feathered darker purple lines ; 
anthers yellow; stigmas dark orange, subentire. 
Native of the south of Spain, flowering in November. 
E. Salzjianni. — Perianth-segments of varying 
shades of lilac and purple, suffused externally with 
darker feathered markings ; anthers orange ; stigmas 
orange, slightly branched. Abundant in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Tangiers, and sparingly on the flanks of 
the Lesser Atlas Mountains, flowering in October. 
C. Clusii. —Perianth-segments vinous-purple, darker 
towards the throat; anthers pale orange; stigmas 
dark orange, finely divided. Abundant at Oporto, 
Lisbon, and in pine forests south of the Tagus, 
flowering in October and November. 
C. ochroleucus.- —Perianth-segments creamy-white, 
with bright orange throat and pale yellow tube; 
anthers white; stigmas orange, slightly branched. 
Abundant on the flanks of Lebanon, in North 
Palestine, and borders of Syria, flowering from 
October to the end of December. 
C. lazicus. — Perianth-segments bright orange ; 
anthers orange ; stigmas orange, subulate. A rare 
species, not in cultivation. It occurs at an elevation of 
8,000 ft. to 8,500 ft., on the mountains above the village 
of Djimel in Lazistan. There seems a doubt as to 
the time of flowering, and it has been suspected that 
it is a very late vernal species, owing to its snow¬ 
capped habitat, as C. vernus flowers as late as July 
at great elevations. C. lazicus and C. nudiflorus are 
the only two species which produce under-ground 
stolons. 
C. Cambessedesii. —Outer perianth-segments pale 
buff, with feathered purple markings, inner segments 
white to lilac ; anthers yellow ; stigmas orange, 
subentire. Native of Majorca and Minorca, flowering 
in October and November, and sometimes in cultiva¬ 
tion as late as April. 
C. medius. —Perianth-segments bright purple, paler 
towards the base, internally veined with six or seven 
purple lines on the lower portion of the segments; 
anthers pale orange; stigmas scarlet, finely divided. 
Occurs along the mountains of the Biviera, from 
Mentone to Genoa, up to 4,000 ft. elevation, flowering 
in October. 
C. longiflorus.— Perianth lilac, the outer segments 
sometimes veined with purple; throat orange; anthers 
orange ; stigmas scarlet, entire or somewhat divided. 
Abundant in South Italy, Malta, and neighbouring 
islands, flowering in October. 
C. sativus. —Perianth bright lilac, purple towards 
the base, and suffused throughout with purple veins; 
anthers orange; the scarlet drooping stigmas about 
2 ins. long. This is the species formerly cultivated 
for saffron. It is widely distributed, occurring from 
Italy to Kurdistan, and flowering in October and 
November to early December. Mr. Maw enumerates 
six varieties. 
C. hadriaticus. —Perianth-segments pure white, 
with yellow or purple base ; anthers bright orange ; 
stigmas scarlet, entire. Native of Albania, Morea, 
and the Ionian Islands, flowering in September and 
October. 
C. cancellatus. — Perianth-segments from white 
to purple, self-coloured or feathered with purple 
markings ; anthers pale orange ; stigmas orange, 
finely divided. This species occurs from the Ionian 
Islands to Syria and North Palestine, and flowers 
from the end of October to December. 
C. caspius.— Perianth white, yellowish towards the 
throat, which is orange ; anthers cream-coloured ; 
stigmas yellow, entire. Occurs on the west coast 
of the Caspian Sea, flowering in November and 
December. 
C. Tournefortii. — Perianth bright lilac, with 
purple lines near the base, or delicately feathered with 
purple veins; throat orange; anthers white; stigmas 
scarlet, finely divided. Native of the Cyclades and 
Morea, flowering in October and November. 
C. Bonn.—Perianth-segments white, with occasion¬ 
ally a few purple lines near the base, throat orange; 
anthers white; stigmas scarlet, finely divided. 
Native of the Ionian Islands, Cyclades and the Morea, 
flowering through November and December. 
C. veneris. —Perianth-segments white, or the outer 
segments occasionally feathered with purple lines 
externally; anthers white; stigmas orange, finely 
divided. Native of Cyprus and Crete, flowering in 
November. 
C. lievigatus.—P erianth white to lilac, the outer 
segments coated with buff, and variously feathered 
with purple externally, or sometimes evenly suffused 
with rich purple ; anthers white ; stigmas yellow to 
orange, finely divided. Native of the Cyclades, and 
the Greek mountains, from sea level to 2,500 ft. 
elevation, flowering from end of October to Christmas. 
C. speciosus. —Perianth bright lilac, rich purple near 
the base, feathered with three purple lines from base 
to near summit, which lines branch into a network of 
purple veins covering the outer surface of the exterior 
segments; anthers bright orange; stigmas orange, 
much divided. It occurs through a wide range, from 
Persia through the Caucasus and Crimea to Hungary 
and Transylvania, flowering from the latter half of 
September through October. 
C. pulchellus. —Perianth bright bluish lilac, the 
outer segments with fine dark-purple branching lines 
inside; anthers white ; stigmas orange, finely divided. 
Abundant in healthy thickets bordering the Bos¬ 
phorus, and on the Bithynian Olympus, in Greece, to 
nearly 4,000 ft. elevation, flowering from the middle 
of September to December. 
Of the twenty-four species enumerated above, 
twenty-two are in cultivation. One of these is a fine 
deep orange colour, a few others are white, or creamy- 
white, some of them beautifully feathered or suffused 
with purple, and the remainder of various shades of 
lilac and purple. At the proper season, we hope to 
give a similar account of the spring-flowering species. 
—X. 
— ? v —^— 
JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES. 
What the writer on this subject at p. 131 can mean, 
when he says that “Artichoke tubers are naturally 
far from being nice,” I do not know, for I have seen 
boys peel them and eat them with as much relish as 
an Apple, and certainly if nicely boiled and mashed 
up with a little butter, they are very good and palatable. 
[The writer in question is no longer a boy, and does 
not now appreciate what was passable in his youthful 
days.— Ed.] In my early days the Artichoke bed was 
literally a fixture in the garden, for as the roots were 
required, we went and dug them out wherever we saw 
a strong stem. They were not annually taken up and 
replanted, and so were poor things. I have grown 
them here on the same plot of land for seven years, 
but they are annually taken up, the ground manured, 
and roots replanted, often at the end of February, and 
by so treating them we have a splendid yield. They 
are planted in rows 2 ft. 6 ins. apart, and nearly as 
far apart in the rows. 
In lifting them I follow a plan of my own which, how¬ 
ever, does not always suit the subordinatewho has to dig 
them out. When beginning a row, I have a good deep 
trench thrown out, and then as we proceed along we 
keep this trench open until we get to the other end. 
In this way we succeed in bringing out every tuber, so 
that none are left to come up promiscuously after the 
crop is planted again. By this plan also the ground 
gets well broken up below. In the severe drought we 
had during the summer months,- the plants looked 
wretched, short in the stems and shrivelled up, but 
when the rains came in September they recruited at 
once, and grew away until they have attained then- 
usual height. They are now in bloom, but they are 
not so evenly covered with flowers as they were last 
year, when the rainfall was double what it has been 
during the past summer, so that the peculiarity of 
flowering cannot be wholly attributed to the dry season. 
Another circumstance I have particularly noticed this 
season is the compactness of the new tubers around 
the old set. They are a splendid crop and come up in 
huge bunches, while in other years they have grown 
away some distance from the set, as some varieties of 
Potatos will do.— T. TV., North Norfolk. 
