36 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



are thrown up frorn the base of the bulbs. These offsets are produced 

 more or less freely by bulbs which have originated from seeds, but 

 I cannot remember having seen an offset on a bulb which had been 

 grown from an offset. The experience of others might, however, be 

 different in the latter respect. 



The offsets must not be severed from the parent bulb until they 

 have independent roots, and have formed bulbs an inch or more in 

 diameter. This size is usually attained by the end of the second 

 year's growth. 



The best time to separate the offsets and pot them up is at the 

 beginning of February, just before the plants begin to make new 

 roots. Having divided them carefully, the offsets should be placed 

 in well-drained small pots, using a soil composed of three parts of good 

 loam, half a part leaf-mould and half a part well-decayed manure 

 and some coarse silver sand. The pots may then be placed in a 

 light position on a front bench, or on a shelf, in a temperature of 

 from 55° to 60° F. to start into growth. Very Httle water should be 

 given to the plants until growth commences, a daily sprinkle overhead 

 with the syringe usually being all that is necessary for the first ten 

 days or so, providing the soil was in a properly moist condition at 

 the time of potting. 



Propagation by seeds proves a ready and interesting method of 

 increasing the stock of plants, and at the same time it is possible, 

 by judicious crossing and selection, to produce beautiful and interesting 

 varieties, of which a fair percentage may be superior to their parents. 

 As in the case of other flowers, indiscriminate crossing is not likely 

 to effect much improvement, except by accident, and therefore it is 

 necessary to have a definite object in view when pollinating a flower, 

 and to keep it constantly in mind when making subsequent crosses, 

 until the object be attained. 



Of course, when a flower is to be fertilized by pollen from another 

 plant its stamens must be removed before the pollen is shed, otherwise 

 it will probably become self-fertilized. The plant should also be 

 isolated, because, on a sunny day when the pollen is dry, the draught 

 from the ventilators is sufficient to send it floating in the air, ready 

 to pollinate any stigma with which it may come in contact, and so 

 spoil the work of the hybridizer. When there is no house with a 

 suitable temperature available for isolation, the flower may be en- 

 veloped in a sheet of tissue paper, which, being tied closely to the 

 flower stem, will, with care, answer the purpose fairly well. 



Plants flowering in April and May ripen their seeds in June and 

 July, the bursting of the capsule indicating when the seeds are ripe. 

 It would be difficult to imagine anything more unlike the ordinary 

 conception of a flower seed than are the seeds of the Hippeastrum. 

 They are extremely thin, about the size of a threepenny piece, 

 and look like round, black satiny pieces of tissue paper, slightly 

 thickened in the centre. 



Although the seed will germinate freely at any time, it should be 



