168 THE LADIES’ MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
perfume. A new charm would be added, if we could procure a successive 
variety of these; for what is likely to meet the eye several times every 
day, for months together, will soon lose its effects from monotony. We 
must, therefore, have recourse to a combination of several kinds, which 
will vegetate and flower in succession, without interfering with each 
other, upon the same ground. 
“ A few years ago, I commenced the trial of a plan, which has succeeded 
so well thus far, that I now recommend it to the attention of others, 
especially to those of the middle and southern states ; while an analogous 
course, with more hardy plants, may succeed better at the north, 
though, I think, with the protection of a bed of leaves, the same would 
withstand the winter, in the vicinity of Boston. I planted in the same 
line, and so close as almost to touch each other, one bulb of each repeat¬ 
edly ; three kinds of Amaryllidaceae, of nearly the same habit, and which 
multiply, by offsets, so fast, that they can be easily obtained in sufficient 
quantity, viz,, Zephyranthes Atamasco , Z. rosea , and Sternbergia lutea. 
Early the next spring, my row of Atamasco flowers, of the most brilliant 
white, changing to pink, was the admiration of every passer-by. They 
continued to push forth for several weeks, and, for a considerable time 
after, their leaves formed as fine a margin of green as one could wish to 
see. These leaves had scarcely begun to die away, when the flowers of 
the rosea began to appear, and kept flowering nearly all summer. The 
leaves lasted till late in the fall, when the crocus-like golden flowers of 
the Sternbergia took their place, and had a doubly cheerful effect from all 
the adjacent vegetation having fallen into 4 the sere and yellow leaf.’ 
These flowers, it is true, were more transient than the others, continuing, 
perhaps,- for eight or ten days; but they w T ere immediately followed by 
their peculiarly rich green leaves, which preserved the border fresh and 
perfect, till the Atamasco appeared again. The second year, the edging 
was very much more beautiful, from the flowering bulbs having increased 
three-fold. How long they can be permitted to remain without being 
dug up and reset, I know not yet, probably from three to five or six 
years; but if it were required to be done every year, it would be 
well worth the trouble; at any rate, I know of no better way of 
obtaining the combined grand desiderata in an edging for flower-beds, 
viz., humble growth, perpetual greenness, and variety in the colour of a 
succession of flowers. I only regret that I cannot say much about 
their perfume.” 
Having now said what my readers will probably deem quite sufficient 
on the theory of the subject, I will proceed to the practical part, by laying 
before them the working plan of a garden, which, though not original, 
