AMARYLLIS. 



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AMELLUS- 



America ; but which have been in- 

 creased in number tenfold by hybrids 

 and varieties raised in England, prin- 

 cipally by tbe Hon. and Rev. W. 

 Herbert, and tbe late Mr. Sweet. 

 All the kinds are eminently orna- 

 mental, and they are all of easy cul- 

 ture ; tbe great secret being to give 

 them alternately a season of excite- 

 ment and a season of repose. To do 

 this effectually, the plants should be 

 abundantly supplied with water and 

 heat, and placed near the glass when 

 they are coming into flower, and 

 water should be withheld from them 

 by degrees, when they have done 

 flowering, till they have entirely 

 ceased growing; when they should be 

 kept quite dry, and in a state of rest. 

 When in this state they may be placed 

 in any obscure part of a stove or 

 greenhouse where it is dry, and of a 

 temperature not under forty or fifty 

 degrees. If kept in such a situation 

 during winter, some kinds may be 

 turned out into a warmer border in 

 spring, where they will flower ; and if 

 the season be fine they will renew 

 their bulbs in time to be taken up 

 before tbe approach of frost. The 

 chief value of these plants, however, 

 is to produce flowers in the winter 

 season, which they readily do if they 

 are kept dry and dormant during the 

 latter part of the summer and autumn. 

 Indeed, by having a large stock of 

 these bulbs, a regular succession of 

 flowers might be procured during 

 every month in the year. When the 

 dormant bulbs are intended to be 

 thrown into flower, they should be 

 fresh potted in sandy loam and leaf 

 mould, and put into a stove or hot- 

 bed, the heat beginning at fifty degrees, 

 and ascending to sixty or seventy de- 

 grees ; and when the leaves appear, 

 they should be supplied abundantly 

 with water. Where seeds are wanted 

 the watering must be continued, though 

 somewhat less abundantly, after the 



flowers have faded, till the seeds are 

 ripe ; and when these are gathered, 

 they ought to be sown immediately in 

 light sandy loam, and placed in a 

 frame, or near the glass, in a moist 

 part of the hothouse. If the young 

 plants are potted off as soon as they 

 are an inch or two in height, and 

 shifted frequently in the course of the 

 growing season, they will attain a 

 flowering size in from fifteen to 

 twenty months. The pots in which 

 these and all other bulbs are grown, 

 ought to be thoroughly drained by a 

 handful or more of pot-sherds (broken 

 pots) laid in the bottom of each pot, 

 and covered with turfy peat ; and the 

 mould used should also be turfy, in 

 order the more freely to admit the 

 passage of water. 



Amberboa, Dec. — Composites. — 

 Sweet Sultan. Well-known half-hardy 

 annuals, natives of Persia, the seeds of 

 which may be sown in the open border 

 in April or May. 



Ambrosia. — Composilce. — Weedy 

 plants of no beauty, with spikes of 

 very small greenish flowers, and cut 

 leaves, which, when bruised, have 

 rather an agreeable smell. Though 

 among the annuals in some of the old 

 seed catalogues, they are now scarcely 

 ever grown except in botanic gardens. 



Amelanchier.— Rosacea. — Deci- 

 duous shrubs or low trees, with showy 

 white flowers, which appear in April. 

 A. vulgaris and A. botryapium, tbe 

 snowy Mespilus, are very desirable 

 species for shrubberies. They are 

 commonly propagated by grafting on 

 the hawthorn, and they will grow in 

 any soil, and require very little prun- 

 ing. Like other rosaceous shrubs, 

 however, they are very liable to have 

 their foliage injured by caterpillars. 



Amellus, Dec. — Composite. — 

 There are only two species, one a 

 greenhouse perennial, and the other an 

 aster-like annual. Amellus annuus, 

 which was formerly called Kaulfus- 



