THE CULTIVATION OF HIPPEASTRUMS. 



35 



THE CULTIVATION OF HIPPEASTRUMS. 

 By C. R. Fielder, V.M.H. 



[Read April 7, 1914; Prof. F. Keeble, D.Sc, F.R.S., in the Chair.] 



A FEW words concerning the origin of hybrid Hippeastrums may 

 not be without interest to those who are unacquainted with the 

 subject. The species from which the hybrids of the present day have 

 descended are natives of South America, and those most extensively 

 used have been Hippeastrum vittatum, a very beautiful species with 

 white flowers having red stripes on each petal ; H. psittacinmn, a very 

 striking flower, green and scarlet ; and H. pardinum, cream, spotted 

 with crimson. 



Beautiful as these species are both in form and colour, they are 

 immeasurably outshone by their offspring of to-day. This great 

 advance is due to the work of hybridists both on the Continent and 

 in this country, amateurs and nurserymen having begun to raise 

 new varieties upwards of a hundred years ago. 



As early as 1799 a watchmaker named Johnson, of Prescot, 

 Lancashire, began hybridizing, and by crossing H. Reginae and H. 

 vittatum produced H. Johnsoni. Hybridists on the Continent began 

 the work still earlier. The Messrs. de Graaff, of Leiden, had raised 

 hybrids in 1790, and I believe the firm still continues the work. Messrs. 

 Lee, of Hammersmith, were very early raisers of hybrids in this country, 

 and were followed by Messrs. James Veitch of Chelsea, Williams 

 of Holloway, and Kerr of Liverpool. Notable among the collec- 

 tions of amateurs in this country is that of Sir George Holford at 

 Westonbirt, where many fine varieties have been raised, and the 

 plants splendidly cultivated during the past fifty years or more. 



I believe many people have refrained from taking up the cultivation 

 of hybrid Hippeastrums on account of an idea that they require 

 great heat, in addition to a hotbed for their successful cultivation. 

 ISIo doubt they may be well grown under those conditions, but my 

 experience, after having grown them largely for upwards of twenty 

 years, is that they may be thoroughly well grown in a minimum tem- 

 perature of from 55° to 60° F., and entirely without the aid of bottom 

 heat or hotbed. My point is that those who have hitherto been 

 deterred from growing these magnificent bulbs by inability to provide 

 them with high temperature and bottom heat need not deprive them- 

 selves of the pleasure on that account. 



Hippeastrums are propagated by seeds, and by offsets which 



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