292 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[October, 



ing of plaster of Paris covered all around them, 

 (or some such substance) such as I have seen on 

 mains of heating pipes when passing through 

 passages where their heat would be too strong. 

 The trees mentioned in the article referred to are 

 certainly in a bad condition, and will soon die, as 

 the soil they are in will become more impregnated 

 every day with the gas. 



Government Grounds, Ontario, Canada. 



AMARYLLIS IN THE SOUTH. 



BY MRS. J. S. R. THOMSON. 



Under this heading in August number I read 

 with much pleasure and interest the above referred 

 to article, and can corroborate and add to what 

 " P. H. O." has so well said. I am well acquainted 

 with and cultivate some five or six varieties, and 

 am e.xperimenting with others. 



Whilst in Charleston, S. C, in April, some five 

 years since, I saw one border 3 feet wide by 30 feet 

 long, with hundreds of bulbs of A. Johnsonii in 

 full flower, some stalks having as many as ten 

 flowers. I could scarcely credit my eyes when 

 this dazzling sight first presented itself, for I had 

 always considered it as purely a greenhouse plant 

 and had tenderly cared for my one prized bulb as 

 such for years, and made an exhibition plant of it 

 whenever in flower ; and here spread at my feet 

 were hundreds upon hundreds of those exquisitely 

 beautiful flowers in open border. Becoming ac- 

 quainted with the owner of the place, 1 questioned 

 him and was assured they were A. Johnsonii and 

 as hardy as a Narcissus. He kindly gave me 

 bulbs, which have flowered since regularly in open 

 border. I am now in negotiation with a friend 

 who proposes sending me one bushel of small 

 bulbs for equal quantity of Narcissi ; which goes 

 to prove their abundance in Florida at least. 



Another variety, A. Hallii, I see offered by 

 Hovey, Boston, as hardy that far north, is quite 

 pleasing. Bulbs often size of pint cup, procum- 

 bent leaves lyi inches wide by 24 to 30 inches 

 long; flower (only fully expanded one day) pale 

 flesh with deep rose stripe down its centre ; flow, 

 ers followed by seed-pods often size of an egg. 

 Second day, flower begins to fold up, assumes the 

 form of a trumpet and deepens in color to a pleas- 

 ing pink. Two bulbs in my garden this spring 

 each threw up 2]4 feet high flower stalks, with ten 

 flowers each, making 60 in all to two bulbs. This 

 variety I find does not multiply rapidly — as it had 

 no increase whatever in the five years I had them. 

 On Decoration Day, in the same city, where the 



graves of many of our loved Confederate soldiers 

 are, I saw dozens of wreathes, crosses, lyres, an- 

 chors, composed of this and a white variety — 

 name not known. 



Of the A. Sarniensis or true Guernsey Lily, so 

 high priced and enjoyed at the North only by 

 forcing, I have seen in one yard great clumps 

 (equal in size to Hemorocallis lutea) of them, 

 with from ten to fifty flowers in full perfection. 

 This, to me, is the best of the whole section and 

 differs so widely in its habits that even if tiresome 

 I will describe minutely. After obtaining bulbs 

 and planting, they remain dorm.mt until about the 

 15th of September, when the glory of our gardens 

 is fading, and we begin to realize that stern 

 winter, with cold blasts, is approaching. Walking 

 through our grounds you are attracted by a spathe- 

 covered bud pushing through the soil, which in a 

 few days unfolds and presents a dazzhng gleam of 

 scarlet, appearing in sunlight as if sprinkled with 

 gold dust. A stout stem, one foot high, with the 

 flowers arranged in whorls on top of stem, from 

 five to seven, generally six, in a perfect floret. 

 These individual flower-petals are }<-inch wide 2 

 inches long, with beautiful wavy outlined edges, 

 recurved so as to touch the flower stalks, furnished 

 with numerous stamens and pistils also recurved; 

 pure red, which makes the flower appear like a 

 round gossamer ball. When the flower fades then 

 the tardy leaflets appear, yi inch wide by 8 inches 

 long ; close to the ground with pale white stripe 

 down the center. There this brave green thing 

 remains, cheering the eye with its bright color 

 during our hardest and dreariest weather. In 

 later spring it, too, dries off to reappear again 

 in new beauty in fall. The bulbs multiply with 

 great rapidity, and in a peculiar manner, — as usual 

 with all bulbs by small ones at side — but in addition 

 by a bulb forming upon the neck of the bulb, ;. e., 

 between the parent and the surface of the ground ; 

 looks as though the stalk had grown through a 

 young bulb. I have in old established clumps often 

 found six to eight in this way. 



Still another one, called Amaryllis by early 

 botanists, but now merged into Zephyranthes — 

 Z. Atamasco^ — is a native here and known exten- 

 sively as Fairy Lily in cottage gardens. By 

 florists this beautiful variety of Amaryllis is too 

 well known and too profusely written about to 

 need description. Suffice it to say, that it well 

 deserves a place, and honored one, on the list. 

 No flower I cultivate gives me such generous 

 returns for the care bestowed. Bulbs small and 

 almost the tiniest give you from one to three 



