410 On the cultivation of the .Amaryllis Belladonna. 



Art. V. On the cultivation of the Amaryllis Belladonna. 

 By the Editor. 



Few of the Amaryllideae possess more beauty than the old 

 and well known A. Belladonna. It is one of the oldest spe- 

 cies grown in our gardens, and in many collections the only 

 amaryllis that is cultivated. Blooming at a season when few 

 of the other species flower, and when the beauty of the garden 

 is passing away, the Belladonna lily is worthy of a place in the 

 collection of every amateur of plants. 



There are upwards of a hundred species and varieties of the 

 amaryllis, which are well deserving cultivation in every good 

 collection of plants. When properly treated, few plants add 

 more to the splendor of the green-house than these. Their 

 flowers, it is true, are not so lasting as some others, neither 

 are they produced successively during the year, as with 

 many plants. But their beauty is of that dazzling kind, which 

 rivets our attention and admiration for the time, and too gor- 

 geous to be constantly before us. We only regret that the 

 amaryllises are so little cultivated and appreciated among culti- 

 vators generally. 



The A. Belladonna is of the easiest growth. It generally 

 blooms in the months of September and October, and with its 

 clusters of beautiful pink flowers adds much to the beauty of 

 the green-house or the parlor. The soil best suited to the 

 bulbs is composed of one half sandy loam, one quarter leaf 

 mould, and one quarter old hot-bed manure, with sand in the 

 proportion of nearly one third of the whole. The bulbs 

 should be potted in August or September, and those with 

 flower buds will soon throw up a spike of elegant flowers. 

 The proper sized pots for blooming roots is No. 4's, and for 

 the smaller bulbs No. 3's. Give a good drainage with broken 

 potsherds, coarse at the bottom and finer above, and fill the 

 pots with the compost; place in the bulb, setting it down so as 

 to leave about one third of the top above the surface; finish 

 with a good watering through a fine rose or with the syringe; 

 and place the pots in a frame or in the green-house, where the 

 bulbs will speedily take root, and produce their flowers. 



But it is after this that the bulbs require the most attention 

 to make them bloom well another year; for upon the growth of 

 the leaves, and the great quantity of sap stored up in the bulb, 



