Plate 167. 



AMARYLLIS MENDELI. 



Amongst the many varieties of Amaryllis brought out during the last few years, and 

 for which there is such an ever-increasing admiration and demand, the subject of our 

 present plate is decidedly one of the finest. Amaryllis Mendeli bears a profusion of 

 flowers (the subject of our plant bore five) of immense size and substance, and of the 

 richest possible crimson-scarlet colour. For decorative purposes the Amaryllis stands 

 almost unrivalled on account of its fine bold and geometric form, often gorgeous and ornate 

 coloration, and last, but not least, its very easy culture. The bulbs are during three or 

 four months in the year in a dormant state, when they should be kept under the stages 

 or in some other situation where the water can be kept from them ; they should be brought 

 out a few at a time, and as the bulbs begin to grow the amount of water should be 

 gradually increased ; by these means a good supply of blooms may be kept up for many 

 months in the year. A mixture of loam, leaf-mould, and manure in about equal parts, 

 with a good supply of sand, will grow Amaryllids well. Our figure was taken from a 

 plant in the collection of Mr. B. S. Williams, of the Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, 

 Upper Holloway, whose collection of these plants, we are assured, is unrivalled. Certainly 

 Mendeli is in the strongest possible contrast with Mr. "Williams's snow-white A. virginalis 

 figured by us in our last volume. We understand that there are no less than ninety-four 

 distinct and named varieties in the Upper Holloway establishment. 



Plate 168. 

 IRIS IBERICA. 



Last year, when Mr. II. E. Chitty, of Paterson, New Jersey, called upon us in England, 

 we promised to figure for him his fine variety of Iris Iberiea, as flowered at the Bellevue 

 Nursery Company in America, and in now doing so we cannot do better than refer to Mr. 

 C bitty 's own remarks in our number for March last, and to state that our plate was taken 

 from flowers produced by the American rhizomes sent over to this country last year to be 

 bloomed for the Floral Magazine. Iris Iberiea was introduced to English gardens a few years 

 ago by Mr. T. S. Ware, of the Hale Farm Nursery, Tottenham, and we can well remember 

 the sensation his flowering plants produced at the meeting of the Eoyal Horticultural 

 Society at that time. During the last few years various nurserymen have exhibited 

 it, and several varieties have been figured, but in our estimation no other form is so fine 

 either in size or colour as the plants grown in America. Iris Iberiea is a native of the 

 Caucasian Mountains, and is found growing at an altitude of from six to seven thousand 

 feet ; it has proved perfectly hardy both in this country and America, where the tests of 

 hardiness are more severe — for instance, on April 17th last the thermometer at the Bellevue 

 Nursery registered twelve degrees below freezing point, and on the 13th April the snow 

 lay on the ground a foot deep. Iris Iberiea grows freely and well in a light sandy soil, and 

 is suitable for almost any situation in a garden — indeed we have seen it flourishing and 

 flowering in a very heavy soil ; care should, however, be taken not to plant the rhizome too 

 deeply or it will perish ; just beneath the surface seems to be sufficient. In winter it should 

 be kept comparatively dry. 



