46 MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



in fine bloom, which now make pretty dwarf ornaments in the greenhouse, and 

 appear to be likely to do so for most pait of the winter. 



Newport place, Dec. 4, 1843. T. Sackett. 



Growing Amaryllis Belladonna in Pots. — This is a plant of the easiest 

 growth, generally blooming in September and October, and adding much at 

 that season to the beauty of, the greenhouse or parlour. The soil best suited to 

 the bulb is composed of half sandy loam, quarter leaf-mould, and a quarter 

 old hotbed manure, with sand in the proportion of nearly one-third of the 

 whole. The bulbs should be potted in August or September, and those with 

 flower-buds will soon throw up a spike of elegant flowers. Give good drainage, 

 with broken potsherds, coarse at the bottom and finer above, and fill the pots 

 with the compost ; place in the bulb, setting it down so as to leave about one- 

 third of the top above the surface ; finish with a good watering through a fine 

 rose, or with a syringe, and place the pots in a frame or in the greenhouse, where 

 the bulbs will speedily take root, and produce their flowers. But it is after this 

 that the bulbs require the mest attention, to make them bloom well another 

 year ; for upon the growth of the leaves, and the great quantity of sap stored up 

 in the bulb, depends entirely its future excellence. As soon as the flowers have 

 faded, the stem may be cut off just above the bulb ; good supplies of water 

 should be administered, and leaves will begin to put forth ; in the course of two 

 or three months they will have acquired their full size, and watering should then 

 be gradually diminished until the foliage is completely dried up. During their 

 growth the plants should be placed in a sunny situation, and as near the glass 

 as convenient. When the bulbs have completed their growth, which will pro- 

 bably be in the month of Febiuary or March, they should be placed away on a 

 dry shelf, turning the pots upon their sides, but not shaking out the bulbs. Here 

 they may remain until August or September, when the operation of repotting 

 should commence again. — Hovey's Magazine of Horticulture. 



On Digging the Ground between Shrubs. — Having travelled to a con- 

 siderable extent through the Midland Counties during the last two months. 

 I was much pleased to observe that wherever it appeared to be practicable a 

 shrubbery uf some extent was an ornamental appendage to the dwelling-house. I 

 was struck with the mode of management however, which in numerous 

 instances prevailed, viz., digging to some depth around the shrubs, which in 

 every case I saw produced an injurious effect on the shrubs, especially those 

 planted nearest to view at the front of the borders ; and most of such are the 

 handsomest kinds ; the fact was numerous specimens were so injured by it as 

 to be stunted in growth and of a sickly appearance, 1 now allude to evergreen 

 shrubs. It has been my practice for the last ten years to regularly spread over 

 the surface of the border, to the extent of my best shrubs, all the leaves which 

 drop from them, and at the end of November, if not earlier, just to cover them 

 over with a sprinkling of fresh soil ; this nut only retains them where placed 

 but they rot by the spring and form the must natural nutriment for the surface 

 fibrous roots of the plants, and I have invariably found the plants to be much 

 benefited by it, growing and blooming more vigorous : the surface of the border 

 too is as neat as if dug, &c, according to the custom I deprecate, and the evil 

 of cutting and lacerating the best (fibrous) roots is obviated. 



I had not a shrubbery before I came to my present residence eleven years 

 back ; when 1 came here I found a shrub border of a hundred yaids long forming 

 a direct line on the east side of the front of my dwelling ; being along the termi- 

 nation of that side of the grass lawn, it had been annually dug, and along the 

 front, nearest the grass, a quantity of herbaceous perennial, biennial, and annual 

 flowers had been grown, this did not accord with my taste, I therefore had the 

 border raised with soil, and turf laid along the front of the border so that the 

 lower branches of the shrubs lay upon the grass and the twigs formed the boun- 

 dary line for future ; the effect was much more natural and pleasing, and I 

 formed my flower border in a situation in accordance with the nature of the 

 plants. 



Vicarage, Huntingdonshire, Clf.ricus, 



