AMARYLLIS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



AMELANCHIER. 42! 



in a hot bed, pricking out the seedlings in a 

 hot bed, and plant out about the end of 

 May. The cultivated kinds embrace bi- 

 color, tricolor, atro-purptireus. A. melan- 

 cholicus ruber, a useful bedding plant 

 with bright crimson leaves, A. Henderi, 

 A. salicifolius, and A. s. Princess of Wales 

 may be used in the summer garden with 

 good effect. Amaranthus order. Old and 

 new world. 



Amaranthus (Prince's Feather). 



AMARYLLIS. Showy bulbous tropi- 

 cal plants few of the species of which are 

 hardy, though the beautiful Belladonna 

 Lily (A. Belladonna] may be grown well 

 in the open air, and is, in fact, almost too 

 free in some soils in Cornwall. It is a 

 noble bulbous plant from the Cape of 

 Good Hope, from i ft. to 3 ft. high, 

 blooming late in summer, the flowers, 

 as large as the white Lily, and of 

 delicate silvery rose in clusters on stout 

 leafless stems, arising from the large pear- 

 shaped bulbs. To grow it in inland and 

 less favoured districts choose a place on 

 the south side of a house or wall, take out 

 the whole of the soil to the depth of 3 ft. 



and place about 6 in. of broken brick 

 in the bottom. Over this put some half- 

 rotten manure to keep the drainage open, 

 and feed the plant. If the natural soil is 

 not good, add some sandy mellow loam, 

 or if stiff, a few barrow-loads of leaf 

 mould, and one or two of sharp sand mixed 

 with it. Having trod this firm, plant 

 the bulbs in small groups. Each clump 

 should be about i foot apart, and if the 

 border is of such a width as to take a 

 double row, the plants in the second 

 should be alternate with those in the first. 

 In planting, place a handful or so of sharp 

 sand round the bulbs to keep them from 

 rotting. If planted in autumn, or at any 

 time during the winter, it will be well to 

 protect them from severe weather by half- 

 rotten leaves, cocoa-nut fibre, or fern. 

 The plants begin to push forth their new 

 leaves early in spring, and upon the 

 freedom with which they send forth 

 these during summer the bloom in the 

 autumn depends. During dry weather 

 give an occasional soaking of water, and 

 with liquid manure once or twice. As 

 soon as the foliage ripens off remove it, 

 and clean the border before the blooms 

 begin to come through the soil. A. B. 

 blanda is a variety with larger bulbs, 

 bearing noble umbels of white flowers, 

 turning to pale rose in summer, and there 

 are other varieties. 

 Amberboa. See CENTAUREA. 

 AMELANCHIER (Snowy Mespilus, 

 June Berry}. Pretty hardy shrubs and 

 low trees, or medium sized, associa- 

 ting well with the Almond, Laburnum, 

 the Cherry, Plum, and such things. A. 

 canadensis is one of the most precious 

 of our flowering trees, nothing" giving 

 better general effect or more distinct, and 

 long before it comes into flower it is pretty 

 with its soft brown-grey masses. It has 

 also the advantage of being perfectly 

 hardy in our country, thriving as well on 

 sands as on stiff soils ; and beinga Canadian 

 tree, no cold ever touches it. It is more 

 slender in habit than many of our flower- 

 ing trees, and often weakened in the 

 crowded masses of the shrubbery, where 

 everything is so often sacrificed to hungry 

 evergreens. In its own country it varies 

 very much in size, some forms being mere 

 shrubs, whilst others make trees 4oft. and 

 even more in height. In botanic gardens 

 and nursery catalogues we find the names 

 of several other trees of this genus, but 

 there seems to be little distinction among 

 them, and none quite so good as this, 

 though the one which grows in the 

 Maritime Alps (A. vulgaris] should be 

 worth a place. The Americans have 



