132 



ON AMAUYLL1DS. 



the straw will be quite clean and free from smell. It then 

 forms an excellent safeguard against heavy rain dashing grit 

 over the fruit, a tiling much to be guarded against. I have 

 found this plan much better than that of using clean straw or 

 short grass, but if plenty of liquid manure can be had the case 

 would be altered. 



Mr. Braithwaite, of Weymouth, once sent me a cask of schist, 

 a bituminous earth ; I tried it and found the effect excellent 

 upon young cucumbers, melons, potatoes, strawberries, and in- 

 deed upon plants in general. 



I may add, in conclusion, that the runners from pot plants 

 always bear a week earlier than those from plants that have 

 never been in pots. 



The above is my plan of treating this fine fruit, so universally 

 grown and liked, but which, I believe, I should be justified in 

 saying has been more roughly treated than any other plant, ex- 

 cept, perhaps, the potato ; and this too in places where better 

 things might have been expected. It is only a year since persons 

 were advocating, in the Gardening Periodicals, the barbarous 

 system of mowing down the leaves, the consequence of which 

 is a new growth of the plant, too late in the autumn to form 

 buds for the next year's crop, not to speak of the drain on the 

 system of the plants that takes place in consequence of the 

 operation. Such a proceeding must be the result of experiment- 

 ing without thought or purpose, and it would be much better to 

 leave Nature alone than interfere with her in such a way. 



Sound cultivation can only be founded on observation of the 

 natural tendencies of plants, so that by artificial means we may 

 favour their unfolding in the particular direction we require. 

 Thus we lead Nature to furnish us with products which, under 

 common conditions, are not developed, and this without injury 

 to the plants ; but all attempts to Jorce the production of par- 

 ticular results, in opposition to natural tendencies, must either 

 fail or be accompanied with the destruction of the health of the 

 subject. 



XIX. — On Amaryllids. By D. Beaton, gardener to Sir William 

 Middleton, Bart., Shrubland Park, Ipswich. 



(Communicated Dec. 11, 1849.) 



When the late Dean of Manchester had split up into fragments 

 the mass of bulbous plants which formerly passed as species of 

 Amaryllis, and divided them into separate genera, which he dis- 

 tributed into the different sections of the order, I well remember 

 the discontent and heartburnings which obtained among many 



