Plate 211. 



AMAEYLLIS— " THALIA." 



Amaryllis " Thalia " is confessedly one of the very finest Amaryllids yet raised. It was 

 exhibited at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, on the 15th March last, and 

 was of necessity awarded a first-class certificate. Messrs. Veitch and Sons received their 

 A. Leopoldi and A. pardinum through their late collector, Mr. Pearce. These two varieties 

 have been used, says a recent writer, to hybridise some of the finest species and varieties 

 now in cultivation ; and the one which has produced the best results is the brilliant-coloured 

 dark-crimson variety, A. Ackermannii pulcherrima. As to the culture of these plants, a 

 compost of good turfy medium loam, mixed with well-decayed stable manure and a little 

 sand, is the best. Six- inch pots are sufficient for the largest bulbs, and the best time to pot 

 is when the bulbs are at rest. After carefully draining the pots place some very rough 

 fibrous loam over the drainage, then fill the pot with the compost. The bulb should not be 

 planted deeply ; quite two-thirds of it should be above the surface, and the mould should be 

 pressed in quite firmly. The bulbs should be started in a temperature of 55 degrees, 

 increasing it (if the flowers are required early) to 65 degrees at night after the flowers show. 

 Some growers recommend that the pots be plunged in bottom-heat at the time they are 

 started into growth. The atmosphere of the house should be kept moderately moist. The 

 flowers sometimes show before the leaves ; sometimes flowers and leaves come up at the same 

 time, and not unfrequently the leaves make considerable progress before the flowers throw up. 

 Like most bulbous plants the Amaryllis comes to its full development very rapidly. Two to 

 four flowers are the usual number on the stalk, and when the first that opens is about fully 

 developed the plant will keep in beauty for a week or ten days. Of course if they have been 

 in a night temperature of 65 degrees, it will not be good management to expose them all at 

 once to the free air of a greenhouse or conservatory ; draughts of air certainly injure the 

 flowers. 



Plate 212. 



DENDROBIUM WAKDIANTJM LOWII. 



"We are indebted to Messrs. Veitch and Sons, of the Royal Exotic Nursery, King's Road, 

 Chelsea, for the opportunity of figuring a specimen of the extraordinary thick-stemmed variety 

 of Dendrobium Wardianum, which was sold at Stephens's last spring. One specimen had 

 eighty flowers in nine growths, and two-thirds of the flowers were in good condition at the 

 same time. A writer in the " Gardeners' Chronicle " states that his plant was grown on a 

 heavy block of charred teak, three feet long, and that the roots extended over nearly the 

 whole surface of the block. About an inch of sphagnum had been kept on the block, and 

 changed as soon as it became sour, without disturbing the roots which were firmly 

 attached to the block. Some of the growths reached a length of eighteen inches. 



