AND HIS PLANT SCHOOL 77 



The most beautiful blossoms were only four or five 

 inches across. The bulbs, ordinarily, were about the size 

 of small apples, usually having one stalk to a bulb, and 

 two or three flowers to a stalk. A plant seldom produced 

 more than one new bulb a season. Choice conservatory 

 bulbs were sold at from one to five dollars each; conse- 

 quently, only the wealthier people could enjoy the blossoms. 

 Seeds were not commonly planted, as it required from four 

 to five years for a plantlet to mature, bloom, and prove its 

 quality. The blooming period extended over a few weeks 

 in the spring. 



Some of the pupils came from South Africa, a large 

 number from Central and South America, while those from 

 the conservatories were grown in different parts of Europe 

 and the United States of America, but from whatever land, 

 they were known by unpronounceable Latin names. 



These amaryllis pupils were patiently trained. It was 

 eight or ten years before the master could see much im- 

 provement, but when he fully understood their habits, large 

 quantities of seeds resulted. These were planted, and 

 frequently there were many thousand amaryllis pupils in 

 the school at one time. The delicate hothouse plants 

 combined with those more hardy, and those with beauti- 

 ful blossoms mingled with the dull, unattractive ones. 



When the master succeeded in producing a beautiful, 

 sturdy class, he continued to train for an earlier, larger, 

 and more abundant bloom, and to lengthen the blooming 



