132 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



IMay, 



several severe freezine;s. Its perfume in Spring 

 is delicious. 



2. Why has not the Styrax been brou<;ht into 

 notice? It has ^one through last AVinter, at 

 Peekskill, without bein^' harmed. Tliere are 

 few shrubs that can compare with it for beauty 

 in its blossom season, and it oupht to be in 

 every garden. I can get it only by sending to 

 England for it. It is finer than Andromeda 

 arborea, which with me is not hardy enough to 

 flourish, or I am not skillful enough to make it 

 live except as an invalid. I do not know the 

 specific name of my Styrax, but I think it is 

 Styrax japonica. There are several native 

 species that deserve to be introduced to our nur- 

 series, to say nothing of scores of other things 

 unknown and unattainable now. I know the 

 reply. Nurserymen cannot afford to cultivate 

 stock for which there is no demand. True, in 

 large quantities ; but American nurseries have 

 now reached a degree of development that will 

 enable many of them to bring forward unknown 

 plants, and give them such publicity as shall 

 create a demand. Some agreement might be 

 bad by which one would fill out a special depart- 

 ment, another a different one, so that out of six 

 or eight nurseries a gentleman might secure 

 what he wished. I cannot secure from any or all 

 American nurseries the hardy Pines. Even , 

 Pinus mitis, so abundant in the fields, is a ' 

 stranger to most nurseries — not to the catalogues. 

 Oh, no ! the catalogues are all right, but orders 

 come back unfilled in a manner that leads one to ' 

 think that catalogues are copied from European 

 lists, or are made up as fancy work. j 



3. Speaking of Conifers, much is written about j 

 transplanting. My experience is, that ever- ; 

 greens may be transplanted at any time of the j 

 year when the ground is open and workable. I 

 do not lose the half of one per cent, of the hun- ' 

 dreds that I annually move. If they are ripped ; 

 up and jerked out of the ground, laid in the sun, i 

 and, worse yet, in the mud, until others have 

 been slaughtered, and then hauled in an open 

 cart, stuck into a cramped hole, chunks of dirt I 

 tlu'own in, and trodden down by one's feet, no [ 

 wonder they die. It would be a shame if they ' 

 did not. Take up the roots largely, cover them I 

 from the light as you would your children's 

 bodies, plant them in a larger hole than that 

 which they have left ; take time ; press the roots 

 as if you were combing your own hair for a 

 party, see that they are not planted an inch 

 deeper than they stood before moving, and then 



— mulch — mulch — mulch — them. After that you 

 j may wliistle at Summer drou^jhts or Winter 

 freezing. I have had as good luck in orders 

 from nurseries in September and October as in 

 March or April. I lost some — 1 always do, for 

 the most careful nurserymen are careless, judged 

 by my standard. I had as lief transplant in July 

 us in May, in November as in June. It only 

 requires a little more care. In that murderous 

 ■ season, four or five years ago, I had planted 

 many scores of Coniferous evergreens, but did 

 I not lose one per cent. — on the windy hills and 

 sharp climate of Peekskill — and all because the 

 plants were abundantly planted and abundantly 

 mulched. Mulching, Summer and Winter, is 

 supreme safety, for ornamental trees and for 

 fruit trees. 1 have saved a pear orchard by a 

 system of mulching in Summer as well as 

 Winter. 



4. I mean to write you bye-and-bye of my 

 mistakes and blunders ; successes are all very 

 well ; everybody likes to narrate them. But 

 there is great instruction in well-c-onsidered 

 blunders ; only, men are ashamed to re- 

 late them ; and so much knowledge is lost. 

 There is hardly a department of culture, escu- 

 lent vegetables, ornamental trees, fruit trees, 

 flowers, vines, etc., etc., in which I have not 

 been rich in mistakes.* Ought they to die unre- 

 corded? Enough. My paper has given out, 

 and your patience, too, doubtless. 



[It is not often Mr. Beecher makes such mis- 

 takes as that suggested by the last four words. 

 — Ed.I 



THE AMARYLLIS. 



BY MISS A. G. 



There are many plants allied to the Amaryl- 

 lis, as we find by looking through catalogues 

 and books on Bulbs. The following were 

 taken from a Dutch list of Bulbs : 



Alstroemeria — Flowers of great beauty and 

 easy culture. Brunsvigia — Large bulbs, pink or 

 crimson floAvers. Buphane — Allied to Brun.s- 

 vigia, nink or scarlet flowers. Coburgia — Green- 

 house bulbs, flowers yellow, or orange-red. 

 Crinum — Flowers resembling the Amaryllis, 

 white or rose. Griffinia — Rose, blue, or violet 

 lily-like flowers. Ilabranthus — Allied to Ama^ 

 rylis, fine for pot culture. Ilippeastrum — Gene- 

 rally known as Amaryllis Ismene. — Very pretty 

 flowers of white or yellow. Lycorus — Bears 

 beautiful flowers, golden lily. Nerine — Guernsey 

 lily the type, vermillion scarlet flowers. Pan- 



