SYR 
TAM 
great favorites with the forcing gardener. 
The Persian lilac is generally grown for 
the purpose, because of its dwarfer habit, 
but its blossoms are comparatively small 
and always scentless when forced; and 
therefore seedling plants of the common 
kind would be decidedly preferable. In 
September, or as soon as the terminal buds 
on each shoot are thoroughly matured, 
the plants should be taken up with a 
good ball of roots, and potted into rich 
loamy soil; they should stand in a shel¬ 
tered part of the garden for a month, to 
allow the roots an opportunity of re¬ 
establishing themselves, when the whole 
should be taken to a pit or frame where 
they may be guarded from the severities 
of the season, but have no artificial heat 
beyond that arising from the closed lights; 
if convenience of this kind is not at hand, 
they may be placed at the back or under 
the stage of the greenhouse till it is de¬ 
sired to take them to the forcing-house; 
it is usual to introduce only a few at a 
time, so as to have a succession of bloom¬ 
ing plants, and on their first admission 
they should be stationed at the coolest 
part of the house, and for the first week 
or ten days the watering must be cau¬ 
tiously done, in fact, very little or none 
will be required, if the earth is moist 
when they are taken in, till the buds 
begin to burst; as their progress is then 
rapid, so must the encouragement be 
liberal; frequent syringing will assist the 
development of the foliage, and an occa¬ 
sional application of liquid manure will 
enable the blossoms to open with proper 
strength. About six or eight weeks are 
usually occupied by the plants in the 
forcing-house before the flowers are fully 
expanded, and as they last in perfection 
above a fortnight, the successional pots 
should be brought in at intervals of the 
same time. 
There are three varieties of the Persian 
lilac,— alba, white; laciniata, purple; anc. 
salvifolia , purple; the last two are dis¬ 
tinguished by their serrated leaves. The 
remaining species are Josikaea , introduces 
from Germany in 1833, having deep blue 
flowers, and Emodi , the Himalayan lilac 
before mentioned ; this was made known 
to us in 1844: it is dwarf in habit, grow¬ 
ing from three to five feet high; the 
flowers resemble a good deal those of the 
privet, and have an unpleasant odour; 
they are produced in April. Lilacs are 
found to thrive in all kinds of soil, and 
in nearly every position it is possible to 
imagine in connexion with a garden; they 
grow and flower in dry and poor ground 
that has not sufficient depth or strength 
;o support scarce any other vegetable 
:'orm, and in the most confined or smoky 
districts the lilac is still seen gaily ar¬ 
rayed on the return of each spring. Its 
labit of forming an immense number of 
small roots near the surface of the earth 
enables it to live where other plants would 
’ail, and the only effect of extreme drought 
is to induce an indurated growth rather 
favorable than otherwise to the produc¬ 
tion of flowers. Established plants are 
readily propagated by suckers, which 
usually spring up in abundance. 
TAMARIX, Tamarisk (Linn.) Nat. 
Ord. Tamaricaceee. There are two species 
of Tamarisk capable of bearing our cli¬ 
mate, indeed one of them (T. gallied), 
though commonly called French, is a 
native of the south coast of England, and 
the other ( T . Germanicd) was long since 
obtained from the continent, and has 
become naturalised. They are both pretty 
under shrubs, their twiggy branches being 
clothed with narrow lanceolate leaves, 
offer a pleasing contrast among other 
heavier forms; their flesh-coloured 
flowers, though individually small, are 
numerously produced on dense spikes, 
those of the first named proceeding late¬ 
rally from a little below the termination 
of the branches, while those of Germanica 
are terminal; the leaves, too, offer an¬ 
other mark of distinction: those of the 
first are subulate and clasp the stem; 
on the latter they are somewhat broader 
and sessile. They are very hardy plants, 
thriving in almost any position, though 
preferring an open one; they withstand 
the sea-breezes, and on that account are 
sometimes employed as hedge-plants on 
exposed parts of the coast. The muci¬ 
laginous sugary matter, known as manna 
of Mount Sinai, is the produce of a 
varietv of T. Gallica, which is cultivated 
