December 2, 1875. ] 



joubnaij of hortioulture and cottage qardenbb. 



489 



cient for pots. O. pyramidale and 0. umbellatum are suitable 

 for borders. LiRht fibroiia loam, with the compost named for 

 Schizoetylis, will bo suitable for Oruithofialuma. Free water- 

 ing during growth is necessary, keeping the soil just moist 

 when the plants aro at rest. 



Leuco.ium. — L. veruam, which blooms in spring (March) has 

 the soeut of a Wallflower, and is very beautiful from its pearly 

 whiteness and tips of clear yellowish green. L. iBstivum is 

 also white tipped with green, and flowers in Juno or earlier. 

 L. autumnali.? has bell-shaped flowers, white tinted with rose, 

 and flowers in September. Like monster Snowdrops the Snow- 

 flakes are very valuable for cutting from, and should be grown 

 extensively. They will grow freely in any ordinary garden 

 soil, and delight in moisture. Plant 3 inches deep in an open 

 situation. 



Er.YTHRONiuMs. — Theso have very beautifully-spotted loaves, 

 which aro useful and forco readily ; the flowers are also useful, 

 and comein in March or April. These plants will grow almost 

 anywhere, doing best, however, in light loamy soil with leaf 

 soil and peat. 



Gbiffinias. — G. Elumenavia has delicate rose-striped flowers, 

 and G. hyacinthina has white flowers striped with sky blue. 

 Than these there aro no finer autumn-flowering Amaryllids, 

 having large clusters of beautiful large Lily-like drooping 

 flowers, produced successionally for from six to ten weeks. 

 They are stove piauts which ought to be extensively grown. 

 The plants require a light position throughout the year, and 

 should be potted in spring. They should be copiously watered 

 during growth, and not at any time the leaves allowed to flag, 

 for they are evergreen, and the plants ought never to be dried- 

 off so as to lose the foliage. 



AiiApANTHos uMBELLATus. — This is a fiuo old plant, and with 

 A. umbellatus albus flowers in spring (April) in a greenhouse, 

 and if the piauts are wintered iu a cool house and subse- 

 quently placed outdoors they flower in August. The flowers 

 are very useful for cutting purposes. Water very freely during 

 growth, and keep dry in winter, but let it be that sort of dry- 

 ness which will keep the foliage fresh, for they are evergreens. 

 Pot in spring or after flowering. Three parts fibrous loam, 

 and a part each leaf soil and fibroiis peat, will grow them well. 



Antholyza lExnioncA is a desirable plant, and requires the 

 same treatment as Schizostylis. 



Triteleia unifloba is also useful for affording out flowers, 

 and is as easily cultivated as the Crocus. 



TRiLLiujt 0RANDIFL0BU5I (Wood Lily) is a fine plant for 

 moist ground, and if potted in the autumn and brought for- 

 ward in gentle heat flowers early iu spring, and is beautiful. 



PoLiANTUES TUBEHosA (Tuborose) . — This well-known favourite 

 produces its flowers in tall spikes, and having soft stems tbey 

 are good for cutting, for the buds will open successively to the 

 last, whilst for bouquets, or the hair, every pip is available. 

 The single variety may be said to have gone out of cultiva- 

 tion, but it will make its appearance occasionally amongst the 

 Double White Italians. These are good, but the Americans 

 are decidedly more vigorous and more floriferous, and are in 

 every way superior. The variety, if I mistake not of Ameri- 

 can origin, named The Pearl, is of dwarf habit, not growing 

 more than two-thirds the height of the old sorts ; it has also 

 finer flowers, and when it is more moderate in price it will 

 drive its taller brethren out of the field. The tubers are not 

 to be had until December, and an early bloom being desired 

 they should be potted at once, removing the offsets and taking 

 out all the buds except the centra! one, and then pot them iu 

 6-inch pots moderately drained, and covering the tuber with 

 soil, leaving only the apex clear of it, surrounding the tubers 

 with silver sand, using a compost of light fibrous loam three 

 parts, one part each of leaf soil, old cow dung or well-rotted 

 manure, and silver sand well mixed. The pots may then be 

 plunged in a hotbed of 70 ' to 75'. The top heat for at least a 

 month ought uot to exceed (iS" by artificial means, nor should 

 it be less than rjiv. No water should be given until the foliage 

 appears, and then commence to bring the soil into a moist 

 state by watering around the inside of the pot ; the top heat 

 after this must be maintained at 60° to 65° at night, and 70° 

 to 75° by day, with the usual fluctuation of 10° to 15° or more 

 with sun heat, giving abundance of air. When the piauts 

 have made a good start they should be gradually withdrawn 

 from the hotbed, or its heat should be allowed to decline, so that 

 the plants will not receive a sudden check. In any light airy 

 house with the temperature above-named they will, if placed 

 near the glass, succeed admirably. The plants ought — when 

 the pots aro filled with roots, and before they are curled and 



twisted into a mat— to be shifted into 7 or 8-inch pots, watering 

 moderately for a time, and when the pots are filled with roots 

 water twice a-week with weak liquid manure. Syringe the 

 plants two or three times a-day to prevent Iho appearance of 

 red spider, and if tho syringing be not enough take two sponges 

 wet with a solution of soft soap 2 ozs. to the gallon, and one in 

 each hand commence at the base of each leaf and draw up- 

 wards, the leaf being between the sponges. A batch should 

 bo started every three weeks up to April ; tho first will flower 

 in May, and some of the latter being placed in a greenhouse 

 when in good foUage after being started in heat they will flower 

 in August if warm, or September if cool, whilst the others of 

 the April batch will, grown in heat, bloom late in .July or early 

 in August, and a later lot potted in April but not started until 

 May, and when growth commences forwarding iu a greenhouse 

 will produce blooms in October. In all cases I prefer to pot in 

 a moderate-sized pot, and to shift, before tho stem rises, into 

 pots that will admit of at least 1 or 1\ inch of fresh compost 

 all around, draining well at the last potting, as the watering 

 must be copious — not soddening, nor on the other hand allow- 

 ing the foliage to flag. 



Edcuaeis amazonica. — This is essentially a lady's flower, 

 both for hair and dress, combining purity of colour with 

 delicate fragrance. Some can scarcely command a bloom of 

 this plant at all, others flower their plants twice a-year, and 

 some four times, which moans never-out-of-bloom. Some 

 forco them into flower with bottom heat, and others starve 

 them — that is, they rest them in a pit or greenhouse, and 

 flower them in a stove. When there is such a diversity of 

 opinion how is anyone to decide correctly ? 



There are at least two if not more varieties of E. amazonica, 

 or the species are confounded. There is a kind which com- 

 mences growing iu December or .January, and this has very 

 much stouter petioles aud very much shorter, with considerably 

 broader and thicker leaves, deeper in colour, and has larger 

 heads of bloom, and more numerous blooms than a variety 

 which commences growing or flowering in May, and which 

 is remarkable for its long leaf petioles, its thiuner-textured, 

 smaller and paler-coloured leaves, and smaller flowers with a 

 paucity of them. Is not the former E. grandiflora syn. ama- 

 zonica, and the other E. Candida ? I think so. 



In .January the bulbs are to be shook-out of the soil or the 

 soil removed, and four or five of the largest potted in a 10 or 

 11-inoh pot, aud draining well, using a compost of three parts 

 turfy loam and one part each of well-rotted cow dung and 

 fibrous peat, and pot so as to just cover the bulbs. Three 

 bulbs may also be placed in an 8 or 9-inch, aud one in a 6 or 

 7-inch pot. Place in a warm stove 60° to 65° at night, 70 to 

 75° by day, and keep very moist, and in March or April they 

 should flower, aud for blooming they may be placed in a 

 cooler house, and afterwards be returned to the stove, when 

 the plants not unfreciuently flower again iu .July. It is better, 

 however, to rest the plants for a time after flowering, say six 

 or eight weeks, in a cool stove or a cold pit after May, which 

 by judicious air-giving is a stove, watering only to prevent tho 

 leaves flagging, and introducing to heat again, when the plants 

 will flower in August or September. Plants may be had iu 

 bloom at almost any time by growing them iu brisk heat 

 aud affording abundant air-moisture and water, and when the 

 growth ceases rest them near the glass in a warm greenhouse 

 (55-50° min.) with water only to keep the foliage from flag- 

 ging, and with a syringing overhead once a-day they will 

 scarcely need water until reijuired for starting. The rest 

 should uot be less than six weeks. Another mode of culture 

 is not to diy the plants at all, but after flowering, or when the 

 growth is complete, to place them in a house of about 10° less 

 heat than that in which they are grown, but lig'it and airy and 

 by no means so dry as to affect the foliage, and with ten weeks 

 of this cool treatment to return them to heat, giving plenty of 

 it, for they enjoy strong moist heat and liberal watering during 

 growth, and after flowering and completion of growth rest in a 

 cooler house. — G. Abbey. 



TOPIARY WORK. 



On page 221) wo inserted notes and an illustration of the 

 topiary work for ornament at Elvaston Castle, and we now 

 add another example of the useful topiary work at the same 

 residence — in other words, of the clipped evergreen hedges in 

 its garden. 



No one who has not tried the experiment by the aid of a 

 thermometer can duly estimate the superior protection afforded 



