November 10. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
or 
time their bloom is rising; and this, I find, is accom- 
! plished by giving them the culture here adverted to in 
the end of October. We first take a scythe, in order to 
i save time, for labour is precious, and mow the top of all 
1 runners between rows: we then set a garden line, and 
chop out the digging line, which, as before described, is 
down each centre, “chopping out” on each side, and 
leaving a centre of about ten inches for the spade opera¬ 
tion. The coarser part of the detached runners being 
raked oft', manure or compost, in a rotten state, is shaken 
along the line from baskets, and the centres are then 
dug about eight inches in depth, the manure, of course, 
going to the bottom of the trench, or rather blending 
with the soil in the operation. It is almost needless to 
observe, that all the extreme ends of the fibres are cut 
away in this operation; indeed, such is the design—a 
root-pruning, call it. Now, frequent examinations have 
proved that the Strawberry may be thus excited 
collaterally as well as upwards, by surface-dressing; 
and I have to observe that the latter principle is , 
combined with it, for in the month ot April we apply 
a surface-dressing of half-decayed leaves, the rakings ot 
the shrubbery, about three inches in thickness; and 
his induces a host of surface fibres, sustains a surface 
moisture, and assists in keeping the fruit clean. Thus 
tave I proceeded annually with a certain plot, for 
several years, and! am not aware they have declined in 
produce. 
The spring dressing consists in cutting all foliage 
away about the middle of March, or just before the 
young leaf sprouts; if they have commenced growth, 
much care must be taken not to destroy the new growth. - 
At this dressing, all poor looking buds in the interior of 
the shoots are thinned away, and finally, the soil is drawn i 
close to the crowns with an iron rake. I dress nothing ! 
away in the autumn but the runners, for, unquestionably, j 
it is a serious injury to take away that clothing which 
is wisely destined to protect the crowns during severe 
weather. By this practice, it will be found that the 
foliage receives a check in point of spring exuberance, 
and more of the strength arising from the new fibres 
is thrown into the blossom truss; we cannot expect 
high flavour if the bloom is smothered with foliage. 
Those who want to grow large sliow-berries must not 
resort to this practice, the frequent runner-system has 
the advantage in this respect. I may also add, that I 
have not tried this mode with any but the Keen's 
Seedling ; with that it was commenced as an experiment, 
and is now continued by choice ; but I do not think it 
: would be expedient to retain them more than six or 
seven years. R. Errington. 
BULBS. 
(Continued from Vol.’S.,, page 480.) 
LYCORIS. 
I passed over this genus in its proper place, and were 
it not that custom sanctions the practice of growing it 
in pots, I would not include it among the half-hardy 
bulbs; but when I saw my old plant of Aurea in the 
collection at Shrubland Park, last September, in a pot, 
and looking as well as usual, I determined to give it 
the same position as Ixiolirion —the bulbs we have ot 
both these genera being, to the best of my knowledge, 
quite hardy, but very scarce indeed in this country. 
LYCORIS AUREA. 
This is one of our oldest bulbs, the Amaryllis aurea 
of all our books, with the same habit as Nerines, to 
which section of the Amaryllids Lyeoris properly 
belongs. When aurea is in leaf it is easily known 
from all other bulbs in cultivation, but it is not so easy 
to tell how that is. The leaves come from the bulb 
“ all in a bunch;” there are from eight to fourteen of 
them, all of the same size, from six to nine inches long, 
and scarcely half-an-inch wide, linear , as they say in 
botany, that means the leaf is not flat; if you lay one 
of them on its back on the table, the middle or centre 
line only will touch it; the two edges turn up a little, 
and that is a linear leaf; those of aurea are more 
uniformly milky-green than any of the same size known 
to us. It is a very gay flower, of a golden-yellow colour, 
and from six to fifteen flowers on one umbel, according 
to the age and size of the bulbs; the flowers spread out 
and stand upwards from the scape like those of Nerine, 
but without the segments waving or reflexing; the oniy 
drawback is that they come before the leaves, and 
generally in August or September; the bulb grows all 
the winter, and ought to go to rest before the end of 
May, but under the influence of beat and moisture it 
will often keep green from year to year, and then it 
never flowers. It likes very sandy soil, but not peat, 
and exactly the same treatment as the Bella Donna j 
Amaryllis, only that it is more pliable in a pot. 
LYCORIS STRAMINEA. 
This is quite a new bulb, very nearly allied to aurea, '• 
and quite as handsome, but besides the straw-colour j 
and a pink line along the midrib of the segments, there i 
are botanical points of sufficient difference to separate 
the two as distinct species. They are both from the 
extreme east, China and Japan. Mr. T’ortune sent over 
this species to the Horticultural Society in 18-17. 
LYCORIS RADIATA. 
This, also, is a very old bulb in cultivation, but if not 
lost it must be very scarce indeed; the flowers are light 
crimson. Thirty years ago, every flower like this was 
called Amaryllis, and put into the stove as soon as they 
were introduced, and from that day to this, nine gar¬ 
deners and nurserymen out of ten give too much heat 
to all their bulbs, and the consequence is, that they 
either do not flower them, or if they do, they lose them 
after a few years. I do not think, however, that any 
heat or bad treatment would kill aurea; 1'or I have seen 
it under all sorts of names and bad treatment in my 
day. 
ORNITHOGALUM. 
i 
The common Star of Bethlehem, in the flower-borders 
1 at Beaufort Castle, above Inverness, was the first bulb 
that I learned the name of, after the Onion, and the first 
1 Ornithogalum, and the last of them that I cultivated, 
J and yet I know less of Omithogalums, by name, than 
i of any other family of bulbs. I have grown some very 
; good ones of them, imported direct from the Cape, both 
white and yellow ones, but they were never very great 
favourites with me, and I did not study them so thoroughly, 
that I can feel confidence enough to make a selection of 
a few of the best that would please others; therefore, 
leaving the selecting from this numerous group to in¬ 
dividual taste, I shall merely observe that the strong, 
large bulb of them, will grow in any good garden soil, 
but those little white bulbs, so much like Onions for 
pickling, which we often receive from the Cape, require 
very sandy loam, and well-drained pots, with a little 
white sand round the bulb. Peat is poison to this tribe ! 
of delicate bulbs, unless they are shaken out of it every ' 
rest season, to be preserved in dry sand while they are 
at rest. They are not so excitable as the Ixias to start 
late in the autumn, and it is more sale in the dry sand 
till Eebruary. 
PENTLANDIA MINIATA. 
There are three dark-looking bulbs from Cusco, and 
other ports of Peru, which, from the looks of their 
flowers, any gardener would pronounce to be Steno- 
messons, but there is a little want, in the inside of the 
