H- INDFA LLS. 



379 



ulsters to dine, took a hurried meal and hied to the 

 mountains. He vividly describes the eager glances and 

 the rush into the almost impenetrable shrubbery. 



Professor Hyams is now a very old man and in very 

 feeble health. He has one of the finest herbariums in 

 the south — Mrs. J. S. R. Thompson, South Carolina. 



Hippeastrum aulicum. — This plant is better known 

 under the name of AniaryUis aulica . It is an extremely 

 handsome, evergreen species and is blooming freely 

 here at present. The flowers are a very rich crimson ; 

 the base of the petals inside is green, and above the 

 green is a dark blotch of red-purple. The scape is fif- 

 teen inches high ; and the leaves are strap-shaped. It 

 is a native of tropical America. The bulbs were rested 

 during the summer ; but water was not entirely with- 

 held. The pots were top dressed in September, with a 

 compost of good fibry loam, sharp-sand and cow 

 manure. Since then, they have been kept in a temper- 

 ature of fifty-five degrees. When the flower scapes make 

 their appearance, they are greatly benefitted by a little 

 liquid manure. 



Small bulbs should be potted on as they require pot- 

 ting, but large flowering bulbs when they are establish- 

 ed do not require potting so often. When they are 

 started after their resting period, they only require top 

 dressing, and liquid manure when growing freely. An- 

 other important item in their culture is to give them 

 plenty of light and sunshine. Perhaps it would not be 

 out of place now to point out the most obvious differ- 

 ence between amaryllis and hippeastrum, as a great 

 number of people are perplexed to know why botanists 

 have changed them from one genus to another. The 

 difference is to be seen mostly in the seed. Amaryllis 

 has few seeds in the pod and they are large and fleshy ; 

 while hippeastrum has many seeds, membranous and 

 black. There is another important difference, in their 

 geographical destribution. According to botanists we 

 have only one amaryllis, and that is amaryllis bella- 

 donna, from the Cape of Good Hope. The hippea- 

 strums come from tropical and sub-tropical America. — 

 R. Cameron, Mass. 



The First Auction Sale of Plants in New York. 



— Thomas Hogg, a noted florist of New York, who 

 started in the year 1822 at 23d street and Broadway, 

 found so little encouragement for the sale of green- 

 house plants that he became discouraged and was on the 

 point of giving it up when a Mr. Lang, the editor of the 

 New York Gazette, recommended to him to call an auc- 

 tion. He decided to do so, and made arrangements 

 with the noted auctioneer of the city, Mr. Hoffman, 

 who was said to have been a great friend of horticulture. 

 Mr. Hoffman was to have a sale of dry goods on a cer- 

 tain day, and he directed Mr. Hogg to send him a cart 

 load of the plants. Mr. H., in the advertisement of his 

 dry goods, announced as to be sold a certain number of 

 " Pelargoniums," a new and beautiful article. The trade 

 were all alive to know what it was, but all the explana- 

 tion from Mr. H. was that they had better come and 



see and purchase. After the regular sale of dry goods, 

 it was announced that the pelargoniums would be sold 

 in one of the upper lofts, which was then opened. 

 There was a good deal of merriment at the joke, but 

 the company entered into the spirit of the thing, and 

 Mr. Hogg sold his plants at a good profit. It being 

 made known where they came from proved a good ad- 

 vertisement for the greenhouse and nursery. As the 

 auction sales will soon begin again in New York, very 

 few will believe that the first starting of the auction 

 sales of plants began back in the early twenties. — 

 Edgar Sanders, in Prairie Farmer . 



Cultivating Native Lilies. — Finding yellow lilies (Z. 

 Canadense) in the mowing several years ago, and for the 

 sake of the added zest which such an experiment gives 

 gardening, I dug a few roots for my bulb bed. The bulbs, 

 which are white and scaly, grow some inches below the 

 grass roots. They were set at the same depth in rich mel- 

 low soil, with the stems left entire. They blossomed the 

 next summer, and the following year grew to a height of 

 fifty inches, a gain of eighteen inches. There were three 

 and four blossoms on a stem, whereas this lily usually 

 has one, sometimes two, but very rarely three. Tha 

 seeds are very numerous, and are ripe by October. 

 The pod has three divisions, and each has a double row 

 of thin, yellow, triangular discs with a seed at the 

 center of each. It would be an interesting experiment 

 to plant them. 



The yellow lily is a graceful plant, especially in bud 

 and blossom. The leaves are in whorls some distance 

 apart. The long-stemmed nodding blossoms are of 

 various shades, from yellow to reddish, with brown 

 spots on the inside. The petals spread like a bell, but 

 do not roll back. The wild lily does not show at a dis- 

 advantage when planted with the Japan lily or the 

 candidum ; indeed, the latter seems by contrast to be 

 lacking in grace. A circle of the Canadense would 

 make an effective lawn decoration. 



The red field lily (Z. P/iiladelphicum) thrives when 

 transplanted, and its rich color and odd shape make it a 

 desirable plant. It has a similar bulb and grows at the 

 same depth as the yellow lily. Its stem is rarely two 

 feet tall, and the blossom is erect, bell-shaped, but not 

 reflexed. The petals are spotted with black, and are 

 set up on stems, or 'claws,' as the botanists call them. 

 This gives the warm red blossom an airy, ventilated 

 appearance. It is often found growing solitary in 

 huckleberry pastures, where it lights up the dark green 

 bushes like a torch. The plant does not seem to change 

 much under cultivation. — Amy Wightman, Conn. 



Common Things. — On my plant shelves is a thistle 

 growing in a pot. Perhaps, being in a more aristocratic 

 neighborhood than its native fields, the plant is more 

 delicate ; at any rate it has been much admired. The 

 leaves are graceful and flecked with white ; it is a rapid 

 grower. I also have a centaurea, or corn flower, the 

 favorite of the old German Emperor William. The 

 leaves are white, and makes a pretty contrast with the 

 vivid green of the geraniums. Another very curious 



