AMARYLLIS TRIBE OF PLANTS. 123 



will always be dangerous to them. Those with persistent leaves 

 should be cautiously watered in winter, the deciduous species not at 

 all. C. carneus is one of the most difficult to manage; twice I lost 

 it, notwithstanding the greatest care, and have at last succeeded in 

 establishing one with better hopes, by giving it water but very seldom 

 the first year, and rather more after it had formed a strong leaf, 

 keeping it as much as possible in a draught of air in the greenhouse. 

 It is planted in a mixture of white sand with a little light loam, with 

 an open under drain. 



" With respect to the other species, there is some peculiarity in the 

 soil congenial to them which it is very difficult to analyse. When I 

 lived at Mitcharn, in Surrey, C. angustifolius was a weed with me, 

 ripening seed freely ; and the seedlings quickly came to a flowering 

 age, and were vigorous, being potted in the soil of Mitcharn Common, 

 which was a light brown earth, with a little admixture of dead furze- 

 leaves on a gravelly substratum. Since I lived in Yorkshire, I have 

 been able to find no soil that suited it; and, although many changes 

 were tried, the plants dwindled, and all perished ; nor have I found 

 any species of Cyrtanthus succeed well in the soils to which I have 

 access here. Mr. Rollison had equal success with C. angustifolius, at 

 his nursery at Tooting, near Mitcharn. C. lutescens has, I believe, 

 never been in Europe, but Dr. Burchell has many specimens of it. 

 It has very narrow leaves, and comes very near to C. odorus, except 

 in its colour, "which is invariably a yellowish white. Ventricosus, 

 figured by Jacquin, under the name Angustifolius, is only known to 

 us by his plate and description. It was probably one of Mason's 

 plants from the East Coast, and is allied to Collinus. Mr. Ker con- 

 ceived that Jacquin had, by mistake, represented a scape of Spiralis, 

 with the foliage of Angustifolius ; but it is evident that his plant had 

 not the inflorescence of Spiralis. 



" The recollection that Hippeastrum equestre, single and double, 

 which will not exist in the light soils to which I have access in York- 

 shire, thrive exceedingly with me at Mitcharn, in Surrey, in the same 

 s-.oil that peculiarly suited Cyrtanthus angustifolius, and that all the 

 Cyrtanthiform bulbs are disposed to rot in light earth at Spoflbrth, 

 persuades me that when their cultivation is found difficult, a soil 

 that is more disposed to set firm, and not fall to pieces when turned 

 out of the pot, should be substituted, with good drainage and cau- 



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