Cultural Notes on Amaryllis Hippeastrum 



By John Scheepers, New York. 



It is very gratifying to notice the interest that has been 

 shown in recent years, by owners of private estates in 

 this country, in the collecting of rare varieties of this mag- 

 nificent plant, Amaryllis Hippeastrum, of which one can 

 see such marvelous collections in European countries. 



After carefully canvassing some of the few growers in 

 this country, I find about as many dififerent ways of 

 handling these bulbs as there are collections existing ; 

 after studying eminent data, I have compiled a short 

 treatise which, if followed up, will insure success to the 

 careful grower. 



Purchase the highest quality bulbs obtainable and, if 

 you are willing to spend substantial sums, you can pro- 

 cure bulbs of types that will produce immediate fine re- 

 sults ; but in case you are desirous of working up a beau- 



FIG. 2. 



tiful collection, and you cannot afford to invest a large 

 amount of money, it is advisable to purchase a certain 

 quantity of unnamed seedlings, in which sometimes one 

 may find a very rare and unusual color. Every private 

 place should have a small batch of these Ijeautiful plants, 

 discarding from year to year the common colors and sav- 

 ing only that which is best, adding from year to year a 

 few unusually fine varieties, hybridizing from those. 



Owners of rare varieties in Europe hold their finest 

 colors at very high prices ; in fact, one is but rarely able 

 to induce a sale at any price ; this is the reason why I 

 consider it of great importance that we raise and improve 

 our own varieties in this country. 



After you get your bulbs, keep them dry and protect 

 them from the frost ; keep them fairly warm ; plant them 

 in pots when the frost is over, about March. Do not plant 

 the bulbs too far into the pots (see Fig. 1) and put them, 

 pot and all, under a good deal of earth, in other words, 

 plunging them. 



In England the pots are plunged in tan bark on the 

 benches, and this is a very good way of growing them, 

 but One must see to it that the tan bark is carefully lev- 

 elled ofT, and we must also caution our friends that the 

 tan bark in England may contain different properties 

 than the article <loes in this country. 



Amarvllis Hippeastrum wants to make roots over the 

 top of the pot and likes to be placed on top of the pot. 



Immediately when put into the greenhouse one should 

 take care to give them bottom heat, having the space un- 

 derneath the bench boarded up, doing so, at least, until 

 growing has fully begun ; it is still better doing so a few 

 weeks longer. 



This type flowers first and makes leaves thereafter, and 

 they scarcely need any water until the bud has fairly come 

 out (see Fig. 2). Then watering should take place with 

 very slightly heated water, in order not to cool the soil. 



When summer is over do not water them any more, but 

 allow them to dry off until October. 



Take the pot out, cut the leaves and make the bulb half- 

 way bare. (See Fig. 4.) 



The roots keep much longer in this way. Bring them 



to their winter quarters, but do not plant the pots into the 

 earth; better put them on boards and heat them (stove 

 heat from above) to dry roots quickly and keep them 

 warm (not hot) throughout the winter. When the frost 

 is over, take them from their pots and put them in others 

 with fresh earth ; but take care not to use pots that are 

 too large, they like a pot which they can fill in one year's 

 growing ; they must be thoroughly and firmly established. 



As to forcing, one may follow the same directions, only 

 plant them as early as possible and do not water them 

 until the bud is fairly half way up.' (Fig. 3.) Give them 

 enough heat to grow quickly, but mind to give them 

 fresh air (but not too cold) in order to have strong flow- 

 ers and sufficiently strong stalks. 



\\ hen the flowers are gone, do the same as if the)' were 

 planted in March, not cutting the leaves before October, 

 and you will have strong bulbs as the result. 



Pot growing is to be preferred above open ground 

 growing, as the bulbs are of a better substance and give 

 more plentiful flowers. 



The deciding point is this, that when grown in pots the 

 roots are kept alive and bulbs start growing on these, 

 while open ground bulbs always lose their roots and have 

 to make others first, which makes a difference as to early 

 flowering and growing, which is easy to understand. 



Hybridizing. . 

 Select the best varieties and cross the flowers the latter 

 part of February, taking care only to work with those 

 plants, which in your judgment produce the best flowers 

 and what you consider the finest colors. Perform the 

 pollinating on a bright sunny day, when you will usually 

 get very large capsules of fine seeds and several hundred 

 to a capsule. Plant the seeds on benches in rows J/2 inch 



FIG. 3. 



FIG. 4. 



apart and 2 inches between rows, in 2 inches of rich soil, 

 about the middle of May. They germinate in about 2 

 weeks. 



As soon as three leaves are perfected put them into 

 three-inch pots, using soil not quite so light in texture as 

 the seed bed, to which is added thnroughly decomposed 

 cow manure. 



In November the seedling plants are shifted into 5-inch 

 pots. 



In the spring they are again shifted into their flowering 

 pots, six or seven inches, and grown on in a temperature 

 of from 65 to 70 degrees. With Ihis treatment nearly 

 half of the bulbs will flower in 20 months. 



To get a number of bulbs into flower at the same time, 

 a good plan is to store the plants in fall, after the first 

 flowering, under a bench in a cool greenhouse, the pots 

 lying on their sides, and leaving them that way until the 

 following January, when they can be placed on benches 

 in a light greenhouse and started into growth in a tem- 

 (Contiimed on page 188.) 



