[ 399 ] 



LXXV. Upon the Culture of the Guernsey Lily. By 

 Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. F. R. S. §c. President. 



Read August 3d, 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 discovered, by which the bulbs 

 of that plant might be made to afford blossoms, regularly, 

 through successive seasons: and I, in consequence, ad- 

 dress 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 blos- 

 som, 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 acquir- 

 ing 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 at- 

 tained their full growth. The bulb of the Guernsey Lily, 

 as it is usually cultivated 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 



