September.'] GREEN-HOUSE OBSERVATIONS. 277 



bulbs, principally from the Cape of Good Hope. Many of 

 them have but little attraction. The most beautiful that we 

 have seen are 0. lacteum, which has a spike about one foot 

 long, of fine white flowers, 0. Peruviana, blue flowered, and 

 0. atbreum, flowers of a golden colour, in contracted racemose 

 corymbs. These three are magnificent. 0. maritimum is 

 the officinal squill. The bulb is frequently as large as a 

 human head, pear-shaped, and tunicated like the onion. From 

 the centre of the root arise several shining glaucous leaves a 

 foot long, two inches broad at base, and narrowing to a point. 

 They are green during winter, and decay in the spring; then 

 the flower-stalk comes out, rising two feet, naked half way, 

 and terminated by a pyramidal thyrse of white flowers. The 

 bulb ought to be kept dry from the end of June till now, or 

 it will not flower freely. 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Watering, and other practical care of the plants, to be done 

 as heretofore described. Frequently the weather at the end 

 of this month becomes cool and heavy. Dew falling through 

 the night will, in part, supply the syringing operation, but it 

 must not be suspended altogether. Once or twice a week will 

 suffice. Any of the plants that are plunged should be turned 

 every week. In wet weather, observe that none are suffering 

 from moisture. 



SEPTEMBER. 



During this month, every part of the green-house should 

 have a thorough cleaning, which is too frequently neglected, 

 and many hundreds of insects left unmolested. To preserve 

 the wood-work in good order, give it one coat of paint every 

 year. Repair all broken glass, whitewash the whole interior, 

 giving the flues two or three coats, and cover the stages with 

 hot lime, whitewash, or oil paint ; examine ropes, pulleys, and 

 weights, finishing by washing the pavement perfectly clean. 

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