THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 215 



If -we compare the business liabits of this fragrant feathery bush, and the long 

 signal service it renders, we shall see the advantage it has over many of the other 

 denizens of the flower garden. The myrtle is infinitely its superior ; bat the myrtle, 

 though sweet and beautiful, is tender, and must be housed to keep it alive in any of 

 the midland and northern counties. The rose, that universal fixvourite, is hardy in 

 habit and goi-geous in flower, and not only deliciously sweet-scented, but having the 

 property of retaining that sweetness for years among the dry petals that adorned its 

 head in the hey-day of its beauty ; but for many a day the rose plant is without a 

 leaf, and eke without a flower, for it is not like Tom Moore's " silvery almond- flower, 

 that blooms on a leafless bough," and the leafless twigs of the rose, moreover, have an 

 angry look about them, and are not fit to be touched, being armed with prickles to 

 irritate, but by no means adapted to please. How difi'erent from drawing the liand 

 over the green feathery head of the southernwood for the fragrance of its homely 

 perfume ! 



The first order that I got in my first situation in England was an order from my 

 noble employer to propagate this plant ; and when I was taken round the garden to 

 see it, I could not help complimenting her ladyship on the fine specimens of south- 

 ernwood that had got prominent places therein. In the race after rare plants young 

 men frequently despise plants of- merit, merely because they are common. Easily- 

 propagated by cuttings, a stock of southernwood may very soon be got up ; and if 

 there be any gay flowers to back up, this fine green mantle thi-own around them 

 will be found very useful, for there is often a terrible baldness and want of foliage 

 to be seen in gardens gay with masses of brightly coloured flowers. 



There is a species of gardening which, for want of any definite term to express 

 it, I may call toy gardening. It has nothing to do with order, or even with common 

 sense, for the plants are grown, or rather exist, by innate force ; delved up in the 

 middle of summer, and transplanted when in flower, they eventually recover, and 

 biding their time bloom in some out-of-the-way nook, and are all the better for the 

 old stone wall or overhanging bush that seems to be smothering them ; any plant 

 requiring good sunlight, air, or attention, could not hold out against the odds for a 

 fortnight. In a densely-populated place, the prowling of cats at night would break 

 down anything tender or lierbaceous, but the stiff shrubby style of southernwood 

 fits it for such toy gardening. In a flower-pot the plant looks very well, and in a 

 box by a window among other plants the fair foliage and homely fragrance of this 

 old pet are not to be despised. — Alex, Foksxth, in Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Nelumbiums.— The Nelumiiimi speciosum, as cultivated in England, is generally 

 lost after the first or second year. Perhaps this is more owing to the manner in 

 which it is treated than to any delicacy in the plant. It is generally planted in 

 large pots or tubs, and the water is renewed from the top, while that at bottom— 

 the most Important as it is where the principal roots are — is never changed, and, in 

 consequence, becomes putrid, and the roots rot ; for there is no plant will long bear 

 putrid water at its roots. In its native country, and in Italy, it will flourish in very 

 small ponds ; but the water thus in the open air, though stagnant, is not putrid. 

 Let the pots or tubs, then, have a plug at the bottom ; at nightfall, every third or 

 fourth day, let the water be drawn oft', and the plant left for an hour or so to get rid 

 of all the water. Then close the plug, and pour on the top of the pot fresh water, 

 tepid, or such as has been exposed to the sun during the day. In winter, perhaps 

 the l)e5t way of preserving them would be to let the water drain entirely off, and 

 place the pots in any dark part of the greenhouse. 



Amaryllis. — After all that has been written on the subject pf Amaryllis, the 

 culture may be summed up in a few words. The soil should contain plenty of fibre, 

 the best staple being turf from a loamy pasture that has been laid up in ridges 

 twelve months or more. A fourth part of rotten dung and a fourth part of silver 

 sand, added to a given bulk of this loam, and well incorporated, will be the best 

 possible compost. It is murder to pot amaryllis bulbs in light shambly stuff with 

 no fibre in it. Pot with half the bulb above the surface, plunge in a tan bed or on 

 a moist surface over a tank, and the blooms will rise at once. Alter the bloom is 

 over, encourage a vigorous leaf growth in a warm moist atmosphere till the leaves 

 begin to wither, and then lay the pots on their sides to ripen the bulbs. 



