260 On the Cultivation of the Amaryllis Sarniensis. 



The Gardener possesses many means of making trees produce 

 blossoms ; by ringing, by ligatures, and by depressing their 

 branches, and the increasing thickness of the bark of these ne- 

 cessarily obstructs the course of the descending fluid, and thus 

 tends to render them productive of blossoms. But none of these 

 mechanical means can be made to operate upon the habits of 

 bulbous rooted plants; and I thence inferred, that in the 

 culture of these, 1 should best succeed by adopting such 

 measures as would first occasion the generation of much true 

 sap, and subsequently promote such chemical changes in 

 that, as would cause it to generate blossoms; and under 

 these impressions I made, amongst others, the following ex- 

 periments, the results of which have in every respect an- 

 swered my expectations and wishes. 



A bulb of the Guernsey Lily, which had flowered in the 

 Autumn of 1822, was placed in a stove as soon as its blossoms 

 had withered, in a high temperature, and damp atmosphere. 

 It was planted in very rich compost, and was amply sup- 

 plied with water, which held manure in solution. Thus cir- 

 cumstanced, the bulb, which was placed in the front of a 

 curvilinear roofed stove, emitted much luxuriant foliage, which 

 continued in a perfectly healthy state till spring. Water 

 was then given in smaller and gradually reduced quantities 

 till the month of May, when the pot, in which it grew, was 

 removed into the open air. In the beginning of August the 

 plant flowered strongly, and produced several offsets. These, 

 with the exception of one, were removed; and the plant, 

 being treated precisely as in the preceding season, flowered 

 again in August, 1824. In the autumn of that year it was 

 again transferred to the stove, and subjected to the same 



