A I L 



A I L 



all over nappy. The flowers from the top and 

 folks, solitary. The flower-stem rises near a 

 foot or a foot and a half high, and the flowers 

 grow in umbels on the top of the stalk, and are 

 of a bright red colour. It flower3 in July, and 

 the seeds ripen in September. It is a native of 

 the mountains of Switzerland. 



Culture. — In cultivating these plants all the 

 'ingle kinds may be easily propagated by the 

 seeds, which may be sown either in the spring 

 or autumn on a bed of common earth ; and after 

 'the plants have attained the height of about three 

 inches, they should be pricked out into another 

 bed, at the distance of six or seven inches from 

 each other, water being immediately applied in 

 not too large a quantity, and afterwards occa- 

 sionally repeated. In the autumn or spring 

 following the plants will be in a proper situa- 

 tion to be transplanted into the places where they 

 are to remain for the purpose of flowering in the 

 ensuing summer months. And as the plants 

 frequently come up from the self-sown seeds 

 with equal strength and vigour, these may be 

 transplanted in the same manner, and often suc- 

 ceed fully as well. 



As the double sorts afford no seed, they can 

 only be propagated by parting the roots; which, 

 as they mostly afford abundance of offsets, may 

 be easily effected. This should be performed in 

 the autumn, as soon as the flowering is over, every 

 head being parted that can be slipped oft" with 

 roots. These should then be planted out in fresh 

 ground that has not lately received any manure, 

 at the distance of six or seven inches from each 

 other ; water being applied in a sparing manner 

 until they have taken fresh root, after which it 

 must be wholly omitted, as much moisture is 

 very prejudicial. In the spring they should be 

 put into the situations where they are to remain 

 for flowering. 



A few plants may likewise be placed in pots 

 of good fresh mould, in order to be set out in the 

 yards or other compartments about the house. 



The second sort admits of the same methods 

 of cultivation, but succeeds best in a rather moist 

 soil, where the situation is somewhat shady. 



Both the species and all varieties are well 

 suited for the purposes of ornament, affording a 

 very agreeable diversity in clumps and borders. 



AILANTHUS, a genus comprising a tree of 

 the hardy exotic kind, and of lofty growth. 



It belongs to the class and order of Polygamiu 

 Monoccia. 



Its characters are : that it has male and female 

 hermaphrodite flowers : the calyx of the male is 

 a one-leafed, five-parted, very small perianthium : 

 the corolla has five petals, lanceolate, acute, con- 

 \oluie at the ba^e, and spreading : the stamina 



have ten filaments, compressed, of the length of 

 the corolla: the antherse are oblong and versatile : 

 the calyx of the female is like that of the male, 

 permanent ; the corolla the same : the pistillum 

 has from three to five germs, curved inwards : 

 the styles are lateral, and the stigmas capitate : 

 the pericarpium has as many capsules as there 

 are germs, compressed, membranaceous, sabre- 

 shaped, acute, on one of the edges emarginate : 

 the seeds are solitary, lens-shaped, bony, close 

 to the cmarginature : the calyx of the herma- 

 phrodite is the same with that of the male and 

 female: the corolla the same as in the male: 

 the stamina have two or three filaments, as in 

 the male : the pistillum, pericarpium and seed as 

 in the female. 



There is only one known species, which is 

 the A. glanduloms, or Tall Ailanthus. 



It rises with a straight trunk to the height of 

 forty or fifty feet : the bark is gray, slightly fur- 

 rowed, and has white marks on it : the young 

 twigs are covered with a fine velvet down. The 

 leaves are large, smooth, alternate, unequally 

 pinnate, and disposed horizontally. The com- 

 mon petioles form an angle more or less acute, 

 or sometimes a right one with the branch : they 

 are slender, and from one to two feet in length. 

 The leaflets are from twenty to thirty, alternate 

 and opposite, from two to three inches in length, 

 and from one to two in breadth, standing on a 

 short petiolule; and laterally towards the base 

 are some blunt teeth glandulose beneath : the 

 rest of the leaflet is commonly entire. The 

 flowers are of a white colour, very numerous in a 

 close terminating panicle, usually in groups on a 

 common peduncle, each flower being on its proper 

 pedicel : they are male and female, with a tew 

 hermaphrodites : the males are the most nume- 

 rous. A disagreeable odour is said to issue from 

 the flowers. It was supposed to be a species of 

 Rhus, before the nature of its fructification was 

 understood. It is a native of China. 



In this climate it has yet produced only male 

 flowers ; but in France and Holland it has borne 

 female flowers and fruit : the latter, however, 

 has not ripened. Some years it bears only male 

 flowers ; but in France, about twice in ten years, 

 it has produced both male and female flowers. 



Culture. — In the propagation of this tree, the 

 best and most easy method is that by the young 

 plants which proceed from the root near to the 

 surface of the ground. These should be taken, 

 up in the early part of the spring, and then be 

 planted out in good land, in an open exposure, 

 at the distance of a foot or eighteen inches from 

 each other, where they may remain for two or 

 three years. They may afterwards be 'rap- 

 planted into the proper situations. 



