In his elaborate account of Amaryllidacee, Mr. Herbert 
notices four varieties of this plant. But I conceive that one 
of them (No. 2.), the A. lineatiflora is more referable to 
A. pulchra than to Ligtu, if it is not different from both; 
and another (No. 4.), noticed from dried specimens in my 
herbarium, to A. Pelegrina. 
It is not intelligible why those very beautiful flowers 
should not be more generally cultivated, for surely there is 
no genus more likely to reward the care of a skilful gar- 
dener. It would appear however that they are not general 
favourites, for although the Horticultural Society have en- 
couraged the growth of them by assigning the genus a 
separate place in the list of objects for which medals are 
oftered at their Garden meetings, yet there has at present 
been little competition. For the information of those who 
are disposed to turn their attention to the subject, and 
who have the opportunity of procuring new species from 
South America, where the most showy species still remain 
to be introduced, the following extract is taken from 
Mr. Herbert's excellent work. 
* Being chiefly natives of alpine situations, these beau- 
tiful plants require free air, and (with the exception of 
Caryophyllacea amongst those we possess) very little pro- 
tection, except from severe frost. A. Hookeri, planted in 
front of one of my stoves, formed a large patch, the foliage 
resisting all frost in that situation, and flowered throughout 
the summer ; but the two last dry summers have greatly re- 
duced it. "They are very thirsty plants in the season of their 
growth, and should be abundantly watered in dry weather 
at that time.” 
“A. psittacina, as well as heemantha and aurantiaca, 
flowers well in the open ground, if covered with straw or a 
thick coat of leaves in the winter. The soil should be light, 
and the tubers set pretty deep; and any heading that would 
throw the wet off in the winter will be found advantageous. 
It is absolutely necessary to pick the slugs off the border, 
which will otherwise devour every shoot at its first appear- 
ance above ground ; and it will be found advantageous to 
cover the bed in the spring with dry sawdust, which the 
slugs do not like to crawl over, and will keep moisture in 
the ground. A top covering of peat is also disagreeable to 
slugs, which I find very troublesome in biting the flower- 
stalks of Gladioli on sandy loam, but they rarely do so on a 
border of black earth.” 
4 
El 
ü 
