28 



THE PLOWEB GABDEK. 



and only require separation and replanting at intervals of 

 several seasons. Of late years, several foreign and highly 

 ornamental species of Gladioli have been introduced, and 

 from these not a few showy hybrids have been raised. 

 They are all more or less tender, safest under pot culture 

 or in raised beds covered with shutters or sashes in win- 

 ter, requiring light soil and the complete absence of 

 moisture during their period of rest. If ventured out in 

 the open ground, they must have a well-drained spot, 

 and be covered in winter with six inches of dry litter, 

 sawdust, or withered leaves. Established thus, they 

 bloom magnificently ; but there is always the danger that 

 some unusually severe frost or extraordinary continuance 

 of cold and wet may destroy the whole collection. 

 Deservedly admired species are G. cardinalis, psittacinus, 

 grand iflor us, gandavensis, blcmdus, versicolor, CohUlii, and 

 ringens, besides varieties and hybrids too numerous to 

 specify here. 



Guernsey Lily — Nerine Sarniensis. — A native of 



Japan. It is an old story that a ship homeward bound 



from thence was wrecked on the Gruernsev coast, 



■ 



where the Asiatic bulbs have ever since thriven so well 

 as to be objects of export. The plant produces in 

 autumn a head of eight or ten bright red flowers. After- 

 wards, the bulbs are mostly thrown away, from the diffi- 

 culty of getting them to bloom afterwards, or even to 

 survive. The care and appliances they would require to 

 perfect their foliage are mostly bestowed on more valuable 

 plants. Indeed, they are hardly worth the trouble they 

 give. They are pretty, and that is all. Plant the bulbs, 

 as soon as they arrive, in pots of sandy loam, in the sun- 

 niest part of the greenhouse. 



The Hyacinth — Hyacinthus orientalis. — There are 

 three modes of growing hyacinths ; in glasses, in pots, 

 and in beds. The former may be speedily dismissed; 

 for the powerful and headache-causing odour of the 

 flowers renders them unsuitable for living rooms, except 

 in small numbers in vast apartments. Early hyacinths 

 are more agreeable as decorations for the entrance-hall ? 



