THE AMARYLLIS 269 



The bulbs of the new hybrids sometimes weigh 

 more than six pounds, and the stalks that grow 

 from them are of correspondingly increasing size 

 and strength. And instead of putting out three 

 or four new bulbs in a season, these hybrids 

 sometimes multiply so rapidly as to produce a 

 bulb every month, and in the case of some forms 

 a new bulb every week. 



That is to say, the most prolific species will 

 produce fifty new bulbs in a year, instead of the 

 three or four of the original species. 



In point of prolific bearing, there is a corre- 

 sponding contrast. The original species had 

 seldom more than two or three stalks to a bulb, 

 with four or five flowers in a cluster. 



The new varieties often produce four or five 

 stalks to a bulb, where they have remained in 

 the ground for two or more seasons, with as 

 many as twelve flowers to the stem. 



The enhanced fecundity of the new forms is 

 supplemented by their tendency to early bear- 

 ing. They will sometimes bloom the second year 

 from the seed, and on the average they bloom in 

 three or four years. The old forms sometimes 

 require six or eight years to come to maturity. 

 As Prof. De Vries has said, I have pretty nearly 

 cut in half the time from seed to blossom in the 

 amaryllis. 



