330 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ October 27, 1863. 



is merely excluded. The time to shake out the bulbs and 

 stai-t them must be regulated by the time you requu'e them 

 to flower. However, unless your bulbs are strong- and healthy, 

 it wUl be best not to interfere with them till February ; then 

 shake them entirely out of the old soil, and repot them in 

 soil consisting- of two parts tm-fy loam, one jiart leaf mould, 

 and one jiart well-decayed cowdung, with a sprinkling of 

 sand mixed in along with these proportions. In potting 

 them they may be put into their flowering-pots at once. 

 Presuming that they are moderate-sized bulbs, you may 

 put one in an eight-inch pot. Place the bulb deep in the 

 pot — say 3 inches below the surface of the soil. The prin- 

 cipal feeding-roots are thrown out idtimately on the stem 

 between the top of the bulb and the surface of the soil : 

 hence the value of deep potting in this case. Some start 

 them in small pots, and then shift them, potting them deeply 

 when transferred into larger pots. Either way does well 

 enough, but the former is attended -with lepst trouble. Tf 

 you have a number of bulbs that are likely to flower and 

 you desire large specimens, then you may put six or eight 

 into a 12-inch pot. In the case of bulbs that are small and 

 not Ukely to flower, by far the best way to get large bulbs 

 quickly is to plant them out in a deeply-trenched, light, 

 rich, loamy soil. Here they increase in size and multiply 

 far better than when confined to pots, and are much less 

 trouble. A greenhouse temperature is suflicient to start them 

 in, and after all danger to the young stems from Irost is over, 

 place them in a sheltered but fully exposed jjosition out of 

 doors, and so that worms cannot find then- way into the pots. 

 Amaryllis. — In the absence of more minute information 

 than that which yoiu- letter contains it is impossible to say 

 whether you may yet expect them to flower or not. If they 

 have fully erjianded theii- foliage, and have not j-et flowered, 

 they will not now flower till they have fully matured their 

 growth and have had a season's rest. If your bulbs are in 

 this stage you must nov^ place them for a time in an inter- 

 mediate temperature between that of a stove and green- 

 house, and let them have as much light as possible, so that 

 the leaves may be kept in vigorous healthy action, for on 

 this depends the quantity of nutritive matter prepared and 

 deposited in the bulb, which is essential to their flowering 

 next season. Give just sufficient water to keep the leaves 

 fi'om drooping, and very little indeed will be required for 

 that. There are a few simple points connected with the 

 culture of the Amaryllis which if attended to will be certain 

 to be followed with success. These are, to use for soil a 

 r.ather adhesive loam that does not become powdery when 

 <li-y, perfect drainage so that a puddled state of the soU never 

 can take place, no more water should ever be applied 

 than is just sufficient to keep the foliage erect and green 

 when gi'owing, full exposure to all the light possible during 

 the growing season, complete rest by being kept cool and 

 dry after they have matured their growth. By varying the 

 season of growth and rest in different sets of buAs these 

 may be had in bloom everv month in the year ; and ti-om 

 their great beauty we are not surprised that they should 

 have taken their name from a nymph of the ancient po e ts.] 



AMMOXIAUAL GASES IJN" HOTHOFSES. 



In reference to Mr. D. Thomson's article on " Insects 

 and the Atmosphere of Hothouses," eight years ao-o when 

 apprentice at Whittingham, Haddingtonshii-e, I, accordino- 

 t-o dii-ections, had to fill the evaporating-pans, which were 

 cast in the covers of " the rickety old flues," nio-ht and 

 morning, in all the houses at work, with diluted liquid 

 manure from the farm; but my master never liked it so 

 strong as to affect the eyes, not even to smart in the nose. 

 Once I remember having slightly overdone it, and next morn- 

 ing a few of the young leaves were black. 



In houses heated with pipes, to fill the evaporatino-- 

 troughs with the manure water, and siphon the latter from 

 the former with a piece of old flannel on to the pipes, o-ives 

 the desired effect to any extent. — ^A Young Gaisdener. 



Sale of Japanese Plants. — At the sale of the valuable 

 plants brought by Mr. Robert Fortune from Jap.an, and 

 ■n-liich took place at Stevens's Kooms, Covent Garden, on 



Wednesday and Thursday last, a sum of between .£600 and 

 i6700 was realised. Among the lots were included the 

 original imported plants of Sciadopitys, Ketinospora, Loni- 

 cera aureo-reticulata, variegated Euryas, Euonymus, Osman- 

 thus, &c., as well as of the true Aueuba japonica. The 

 latter, from 2 to 3 feet in height, brought from £5 10s. 

 to £[) each ; Euonymus radicans variegatus, 18s. to £i 4s. ; 

 Sciadopitys vertieUlata, £2 10s. to £o ; Osmanthus ilici- 

 folius and its dwarf variegated form, from los. to .£2 ; 

 LUium auratum, £2 4s. to £5 10s. ; Deutzia crenata flore 

 pleno, £1 5s. to .£2 ; Ilex Fortuni, 17s. to .£1 7s. ; Eurya 

 latifoUa variegata, £1 to ^£2 12s. Gd.; Euonymus japonicus 

 variegatus, 17s. to XI 10s. ; Retinospora pisifera, 14s. to 

 £1 3s. ; Nageia japonica, 12s. to £1 3s ; Taxus Fortuni, 

 £1 4s. Lots of ten Pinus densiflora were sold at 10s. and 

 lis.; of six Sciadopitys at 14s. to 16s.; and larger ones, 

 6 inches high, at 23s. per pair. Altogether there were 

 628 lots oifered for sale, and realised between X600 and ^£700. 



HABDT AQUATICS. 



(Concluded frmti jmge 313.) 



Aponogeton distachton and A. angustifolium are pretty 

 white-flowering, hall'-liardy plants, 2)robably quite hardy in 

 the south of England. They grow S inches high. They 

 are fr-om the Cape and Southern Africa generally. 



Saububus (Lizaa-d's-tail). — Very curious plants. S. cer- 

 nuus gi-ows 8 feet high, and is from Vii-ginia ; and S. luci- 

 dus grows li foot high. Both are perennials, and have 

 apetalous flowers in September. 



Polygonum. — P. amphibium, a native plant, has pink 

 flowers, and gi-ows 1 foot high. P. mite, from North America, 

 has red blooms. P. salsugineum is a pretty species from 

 the Caucasus, with jjink flowers. The last two are annuals, 

 growing a foot high. P. senegalensis is an annual, fr-om the 

 Senegal, in Guinea. It grows li- foot high, and has red 

 flowers in July and August. P. coceineum, with scarlet 

 flowers in June and July, growing 1 foot high, is a very 

 pretty plant. From North America, and a perennial. 



Elatine (Waterwort), are minute and curious annual 

 plants. E. hydropiper and E. tri])etala are the only repre- 

 sent.atives ; both are natives of this country, and of Europe 

 generally. 



Herpestis. — H. cuneifolia is a very pretty perennial, 

 from North America, with wedge-shaped leaves, and blue 

 flowers in August. H. ami^lexicaulis, H. rotundifolia, and 

 H. micrantha have blue flowers in July and August. They 

 grow but a few inches high, and are from the swamjis of 

 Carolina. The last three are half-hardy. 



Limosella aquatica is a pretty little annual with flesh- 

 coloured flowers .appearing in July .and August. 



SiBTHOBPiA EUROP.EA is a pretty trailing plant, with 

 yellow flowers in July and August. Useful as well as orna- 

 mental for covering rocks in moist shady places, and for 

 that reason I have introduced it. It is not an aquatic. 



Cardamine (Ladies' Smock). — C. latifolia, from Spain, 

 gi-ows l.j foot high, and has purple flowers from June to 

 August. C. dentata, fi-om Russia, has white flowers from 

 April to June. C. pratensis (Cuckoo-flower), and C. p. plena 

 (double-flowered), are really very pretty perennial plants, 

 growing a foot high, and having purple flowers in April and 

 May. Britain. C. amara is also a British species, growing 

 but a few inches high, and has white flowers in April and 

 May. C. uliginosa, fi-om the bogs of Tauria, is a minute 

 and very pretty plant, w-ith white flowers in April and May. 

 They are all perennials, and requii-e to be planted at the 

 margin of the water. 



Subulaeia aquatica, with awl-sh.aped leaves, is a curious 

 little annual with white flowers in July. It inhabits the 

 lakes on both sides of the Tweed. 



TvpHA (Cat's-tail). — T. latifolia grows in wide ditches and 

 stagu.ant pools of water, is 4 to 6 feet high, and produces a 

 close cylindrical head of brown inflorescence on a cane-like 

 stem. A noble reedy plant, commonly known in the north 

 as BuUrush. T. mimosa grows in mai-shes, attaining a 

 height of 2 feet. T. angustifolia has narrow leaves, and a 

 large, close, cylindi-ical cluster of catkin-Uke flower-heads in 

 Jidy ; it grows 4 feet high. T. minima is a dwarf species, 

 growing but a foot high ; from the Swiss lakes. AH are 



