292 GREEN-HOUSEGENERAL OBSERVATIONS. [AUGUST.** 



not to be taken out of the pots, but kept in them, while 

 dormant ; and about the end of this month give them 

 gentle waterings. When they begin to grow, take the 

 earth from the roots, and pot them in fresh soil. In a 

 few years the bulbs are curiously produced, the original 

 bulb near the surface striking a radical fibre down- 

 right from its base, at the extremity of which is pro- 

 duced a new bulb for the next year's plant, the old one 

 perishing. 



Ornithogalum, Star of Bethlehem, about sixty spe- 

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

 Many of them have little attraction. The most beau- 

 tiful that we have seen are O. lacteum, which has a 

 spike about one foot long of fine white flowers ; and O. 

 aurewn, flowers of a golden colour, in contracted race- 

 mose corymbs. These two are magnificent. O. ma- 

 ritimum is the officinale 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 seve- 

 ral 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 



