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XXXVIII. ON THE CULTURE OF THE GUERNSEY LILY. 



[Head before the HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, August 3rd, 1819.] 



A WISH has been expressed by the Council of the Society, that a method 

 of cultivating the Amaryllis Sarniensis, or Guernsey Lily, should be dis- 

 covered, by which the bulbs of that plant might be made to afford 

 blossoms, regularly, through successive seasons : and I, in consequence, 

 address the following communication upon that subject ; believing, that 

 I can satisfactorily account for its sparing production of blossoms in our 

 climate, and point out a mode of cultivating it, by which it may be made 

 to blossom, much more freely than it usually does, though I have not 

 attained the object desired by the Society. 



Bulbous roots increase in size, and proceed in acquiring powers to 

 produce blossoms, only during the periods in which they have leaves, 

 and in which such leaves are exposed to light ; and these organs always 

 operate most efficiently when they are young, and have just attained 

 their full growth. The bulb of the Guernsey Lily, as it is usually culti- 

 vated in this country, rarely produces leaves till September, or the 

 beginning of October, at which period, the quantity of light afforded by 

 our climate is probably quite insufficient for a plant, which is said to be 

 a native of the warm and bright climate of Japan ; and before the return 

 of spring, its leaves are necessarily grown old, and nearly out of office, 

 even when they have been safely protected from frost through the winter. 

 It is, therefore, not extraordinary, that a bulb of this species, which has 

 once expended itself in affording flowers, should but very slowly recover 

 the power of blossoming again. The operation also of a cold climate, in 

 retarding its period of vegetation, must have led the plant into late 

 habits, like those of the vines, described by Mr. Arkw 7 right, in our 

 Transactions * ; and, consequently, instead of being naturalised, and 

 adapted to our climate as plants become, which propagate by seeds, it is, 

 probably, now less capable of producing a regular annual succession of 

 blossoms, than a similar variety of the same species of plant, immediately 

 imported from Japan, would be. 



Considering, therefore, the deficiency of light and heat, owing to the 

 late period of its vegetation, as the chief cause, why this plant so fails to 

 produce flowers, I infer that nothing more would be required to make it 

 blossom, as freely, at least, as it does in Guernsey, than such a slight 

 degree of artificial heat, applied early in the summer, as would prove 



* See Horticultural Transactions, Vol. III. p. 95. 



