1878.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



183 



cratium — Delicate white sweet-scented flowers. 

 Phtedranassa — Yellow, or bright scarlet flowers. 

 Phycella — Charming flowers, yellow, red or 

 scarlet. 



Of the above we have oloomed the Crinums 

 {Capensis and Amabile) Griffinia,Hippeastrum, 

 Ismene, Serine, and Pancratium ; and have 

 cultivated Brunsvigia, Coburgia, Lycorus, Al- 

 stroemeria ; Phanlranassa, and Phycella without 

 blooming them. Our Alstroemeria died of heat 

 and a dry atmosphere. Brunsvigia, and also 

 Belladonna lily, may have been disturbed too 

 often ; they grew vigorously. The Lycorus (a 

 lovely flower) divided into two, and refused to 

 hloom. The Phycella ingloriously gave up and 

 'died. The Phsedranassa grew well, but de- 

 •clined to give us one blossom to satisfy our 

 longing eyes, and the Coburgia followed its ex- 

 ample. 



I tried for many years to learn in what 

 situation the Hippeastrum variety grew, but 

 •excepting a mention of one, by Livingstone, 

 which he found in a grassy meadow, heard 

 nothing, nor of any one that knew, till pre- 

 sented with " Herbert's Amaryllidea." In 

 this I learned that the yellow, or orange vari- 

 ety grew among the rocks, in a forest, and some- 

 times in the crotches of trees. Since then I 

 liave met a florist in Baltimore who has been 

 on several United States Expeditions, and who 

 informed me that he had seen the evergreen (or 

 fall blooming) variety growing in the West 

 Indies, in damp spots behind rocks. After that 

 a florist told me that he had been speaking with 

 a physician who had been to the West Indies. 

 "Xhis gentlemen told him that he had seen the 

 Hippeastrum in bloom, by the acre, in or near 

 the edges of forests. An English lady travel- 

 ing in the West Indies, mentions them as grow- 

 ing in the foiest. Herbert describes Crinums as 

 growing in or near ditches of water. A large 

 Tariety brought from Africa was said to have 

 been found growing close to a river. I have 

 found, too, when cultivating the Crinum, ama- 

 l)ile, Capense, Americanum, «fec., that if freely 

 watered (as freely as for a Calla) they grew 

 ■with astonishing luxuriance. 



Since writing last upon the Amaryllis, I 

 liave heard of various modes for its treatment, 

 and some very successful ones. Lately a lady 

 told me that it had been her practice, at the time 

 she removed her plants to the garden, or yard, 

 to place her Amaryllis (.Johnsonii) in the cellar, 

 putting the pots on top of a cupboard, where they 



remained, without water, till September. She 

 generally put them away in the pots, but some- 

 times without. The cellar was a slightly damp 

 one. In September they were re-potted in a 

 mixture of garden earth and chicken manure, 

 the latter being taken from the floor of the 

 chicken coops, where it was partially mixed with 

 earth. They were then put into the windows of 

 a warm sunny kitchen, and never failed to 

 bloom. 



Another lady reversed the mode just described. 

 As soon as decidedly cold weather approached 

 she placed her Amaryllis in the cellar, and left 

 there with occasional watering (the cellar being 

 a dry one), till warm spring weather, when they 

 were sunk in the garden border. They bloomed 

 after this treatment without fail, after being 

 previously kept in a sunnj' chamber window, 

 during the winter, without blooming. 



A lady of Philadelphia plants hers out in the 

 Spring, pots them in the rich earth as soon as 

 cool weather approaches, then rests them in the 

 cellar till the middle of December, when they 

 are taken into a warm, sunny room. In two 

 weeks they are, generally, in bud, and never fail 

 to bloom. One lady kept the fall-blooming (or 

 evergreen) kind out of the ground for 8 months ; 

 it was then put into the garden where it bloomed 

 finelv during the latter part of Summer. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



HORTICTTLTUKE IX JAPAN. — The Japanese, 

 after having furnished our gardens with some of 

 our best treasures, are retaliating, and our popu- 

 lar flowers now appear in their gardens. 



Lamium purpureum. — This pretty European 

 species is becoming somewhat common in culti- 

 vated ground in the North Eastern States. If 

 we must have imported weeds, it is some com- 

 pensation when they are pretty ones. 



LiLiUM Krameri. — This superb Japan lily, 

 with others has been imported, in some quantity, 

 direct from Japan, its native country, by Mr. 

 Such. We have hitherto been dependent on 

 European enterprise. 



Forest Grove Cemetery, Utica, New 

 York. Under the management of Mr. Roderick 

 Campbell, this is achieving an eminent repu- 

 tation. A newspaper article now before us 

 speaks of it in terms of the highest praise. We 

 like to note these tilings, as nothing is more 



