124 OX THE CULTIVATION OF THE 



tious watering. The difficulty is to find a light soil which has a little 

 tenacity. There is a yellow earth of that nature, in which I have 

 observed Erica cinerea thrive with much greater vigour than in any 

 black soil, in the neighbourhood of the New Forest, which would 

 perhaps suit the Cyrtanthi. In a soil of that nature all Mr. Wood- 

 ford's Ericfc were cultivated at Rickmansworth. The earth of 

 Mitcham Common was so congenial to the Ixias, that in it I have 

 had seventy-two flowers from one bulb of Ixia longiflora, and nearly 

 as many from one of Spiraxis grandiflora ;. whereas, the confluent 

 soils of this neighbourhood, though favourable to the hardier Gladioli, 

 destroy the Ixias and Babianas, and are not favourable to Sparaxis. 



ON HIPPEASTRUM. 



" There is some difference as to the cultivation of the various species 

 of Hippeastrum, in consequence of the several latitudes, altitudes, 

 and situations in which they are found. Capricious watering is their 

 bane; they should be watered pretty freely while they are making 

 leaves, more sparingly after they are grown, and not at all when at 

 rest. Aulicum I have found very difficult to manage ; I have had 

 but two or three roots of it, and have not been satisfied with their 

 treatment. Calyptratum flourished well with me in light soil on the 

 hothouse flue, growing all the year round, till I was told by a gentle- 

 man that they had been found to succeed better in the greenhouse ; 

 and, having transferred them according to his advice, I lost all my 

 bulbs of that species. Psittacinum, and the beautiful mules between 

 it and Regio-vittatum, are hardy greenhouse plants, recpiiring absolute 

 rest in the winter, and flower freely in the spring; they grow weak 

 in the stove, and will not flower without rest. Solandriflorum and 

 Stylosum are tender stove plants, but should rest in winter time. 

 Vittatum is a greenhouse plant, requiring rest in winter, and may be 

 brought into the stove in spring to flower it. In Surrey it lived well, 

 flowered yearly, and sometimes ripened seed in the open ground near 

 the south front of my house, a small heap of ashes being thrown over 

 it in winter. The mules between Psittacinum and Vittatum would 

 perhaps bear as much exposure if the wet could be kept from them 

 in winter. Reticulatum and Striatifolium are tender stove plants, 

 and I believe the former is nearly lost, and its habitation has never 

 been exactly ascertained. Of latter years the striped-leaved variety 



