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LXXXV. On the Culture of the Amaryllis Sarniensis, com- 

 monly called the Guernsey Lily. In a Letter to the Secre- 

 tary. By the Rev. William Williamson, A. M. Cor- 

 responding Member of the Horticultural Society. 



Read October 5, 1819. 



Sir, 



In the list of Desiderata, published by the Council of the 

 Horticultural Society, in May last, I observe, that a Paper 

 is required on a method of cultivating the Guernsey Lily, so 

 as to make it produce its blossom in successive years, after it 

 has been planted in the garden. The experiment which I 

 am about to detail was in progress before the publication of 

 that list, and was made in order to ascertain how soon the 

 roots might again be brought into a flowering state after they 

 have flowered the first time in this country ; but as they came 

 to maturity in a much shorter period than I expected, and 

 as it seems to point out, at the same time, a method of effect- 

 ing the object of the Society, I hope the following remarks 

 will not be unacceptable to it. 



Having cultivated this bulb for some years and given it 

 the most attentive consideration, I am inclined to think, 

 that it is impossible to naturalize it so completely to this 

 climate, as wholly to supersede the use of artificial covering, 

 except in some highly favoured spots ; for in the island of 

 Guernsey, where the weather during the winter is much 

 milder than with us, the beds are usually covered with sand, 

 and even then, so many of the bulbs are lost in severe win- 

 ters, that a scarcity of them is the consequence ; and fre- 



