1:he flosal woelu and garden guide. 



il 



supply, and a week after, make up the 

 fruiting-bed, and turn it several times to 

 get a sweet heat. Pot the young plants 

 as soon as the sded-leaves are full grown. 

 Use sixty-pots, one plant in each, and 

 stand the pots on a warm, moist bottom. 

 This is better than potting in pairs, as 

 they turn out with complete balls. 



Crristrs. — We have had Atleeana in 

 fall bloom ever since August last, and the 

 plants ai'e now loaded from head to foot 

 with racemes of buds. It is certainly the 

 best of the family for all small collections. 

 None of them are particular about the 

 position they have. Those coming into 

 bloom now require a little weak manure- 

 water occisioually. 



Fruix-trees. — This is a good time to 

 clean up trees affected with blight, and to 

 thin out crowded spray and foreright 

 shoots on espaliers. Beware, however, 

 not to lop old trees severely. The saw 

 does more harm in orchards than all the 

 blights and mildews together. See vol. i. 

 p. 28. 



GERAJflUllS. — The delicate variegates 

 must have a warm place. Such as Dandy, 

 Lady Plymouth, and Golden Chain, do 

 best on a warm, dry shelf, where they can 

 have every ray of sunshine possible, and 

 water only when they thoroughly need it. 

 Show pelargoniums to have just enough 

 fire-heat to keep them moving, and not a 

 drop of water on the foliage. 



Pansies in the open ground must be 

 hooped over during frost, and after frost 

 be made firm if lifted. Sow one or two 

 pans for an early lot of seedling blooms. 



Peas and BEA^'■3 sown on lengths of 

 turf now may be transplanted without 

 disturbing the roots, as soon as weather 

 permits. Sow in the open ground Sang- 

 ster's No. 1, or Early Champion; sow also 

 Mazagan and Longpod beans. A few 

 French beans in pots or boxes will pay ; 

 they may stand on a rather cool flue or 

 in any odd corner until they break ground, 

 by which time there will probably be room 

 for them near the front lights ; to have the 

 same treatment as potted strawbemes. 

 Newington Wonder is the best for the first 

 crop. 



Pits to be kept clean and aii'y. It is 

 a mistake to allow the plants to get dust 

 dry, but very little water must be vised, 

 and not a dead leaf allowed to remain. See 

 vol. iii. p. 168. 



Radishes may be sown on wai-m 

 slopes, where they can be covered with 

 straw or bean haulm during frost. Early 

 short top for the first lot. 



Ro3E3 in pots to be looked over, and 

 those with the ripest wood and plumpest 

 buds to be started, along with caiuellias 

 and azaleas, for early bloom. Planting in 

 the open ground had better be deferred. 

 Tbose planted in November to be kept 

 securely staked, as the rocking caused by 

 wind will injure the newly-formed roots. 



Sea-kale. — Keep up a succession by 

 covering a fresh lot from time to time, ac- 

 cording to the consumption. Add fresh lit- 

 ter each time, to keep up the fermentation. 

 Strawberries. — Give as much air to 

 forced plants as possible, or the fruit will 

 be flavourless. See vol. iii. p. 30. 



AMAETLLIS. 



This is such a strange family of plants, | 

 that, in attempting a brief sketch of their 

 cultural requirements, one scarcely knows 

 where to begin. The truth is, the order 

 was always in confusion, from the day 

 that Linnteus instituted it ; aiid though 

 the late Dean of Manchester brought the 

 confusion within limits, he did not en- 

 tirely succeed in evoking perfect order 

 from it. But there is always a way of 

 escape from a botanical dilemma if the 

 object is to set forth culture only, be- 

 cause, from a horticultural point of view, 

 we can make as many exceptions as may 

 be necessary ; and so on this plan we may 

 remark at once, that all amaryllids will 

 not endure the same uniform method of 

 treatment. It is very much a question 

 of natural habitat, and no horticulturist 



will ever make a figure as a gvower of 

 amaryllis without inquiry as to the soui'cea 

 of species at least, if he does not follow 

 varieties to their several origins. There 

 is, perhaps, no man living who could now 

 do with the members of this family what 

 Mr. Sweet did for them in his day. He 

 understood their geographical history, and 

 was a master of hybridization as well as 

 an industrious cultivator, and he origi- 

 nated more hybrids than have been pro- 

 duced dvu'ing the whole period that has 

 elapsed since he ceased his labours. Those 

 that come most under the notice of gar- 

 deners are A. belladonna, A. pallida, A. 

 Bhmda, Brunsvigia grandiflora, and their 

 hybrids, all natives of the Cape, and as 

 such the easiest divisions of the tribe to 

 manage, being strictly seasonal in tlieii* 



