180 On the Culture of the Guernsey Lily, $c. 



The same general observations, as to culture, are applica- 

 ble to almost the whole of the genus Coburgia,* though 

 Coburgia (Amaryllis) Belladonna is hardier, while some of 

 the others, with whose habits we are less acquainted, per- 

 haps require a little more heat to promote their shoot. The 

 leaves of C. Belladonna are not only hardier, but more willing 

 to delay their full growth till spring, and therefore the bulbs 

 thrive in the open ground ; but the consequence is, that 

 unless the summer is hot and dry, the flower stem is de- 

 layed too late in the autumn, and perishes, and it will then 

 be thrown out of the ground in a half rotten state, at the 

 time when the leaves sprout vigorously in the spring. I have 

 seen this happen four years successively. Last year, in con- 

 sequence of the great drought which suspended the vegeta- 

 tion of the Belladonnas early, they flowered with me abun- 

 dantly in a south aspect, but a bulb which was in an eastern 

 border, and watered, did not flower in the autumn, but threw 

 up its dead blossom in the spring. The object, therefore, in 

 managing those bulbs, should be to promote the early growth 

 and early decay of their leaves. There is no such thing really 

 as a spring variety of Belladonna : such a circumstance de- 

 pends upon accidental causes, or upon favourable situations, 

 in which the bud has been preserved through the winter, 

 instead of perishing, as it generally does, when delayed too 

 late in the autumn. I am certain of this by experience. 



Coburgia blandaf is too rare to have been planted out 

 by me, but I find it flowers extremely well if placed in the 

 stove while it is dry ; being brought out into the conserva- 

 tory when in flower, and replaced in the stove to promote 



* See Bot. Mag. p. 21 13-4. f Amaryllis bknda. Bot Mag. 1450. 



