THE CULTIVATION OF HIPPEASTRUMS. 



37 



sown as soon as it is ripe, to allow the seedlings to make good 

 headway before winter comes. The seeds may be sown thinly in 

 a pan, or in 5-inch pots filled with a soil composed of two parts loam, 

 one part leaf-mould, and some sand. A quarter of an inch of fine 

 soil should be sifted over the seeds. After giving them a watering 

 the pots should be stood in a warm moist hothouse, preferably under 

 a handlight or propagating frame, where the seeds soon germinate. 

 The pots should then be placed on a shelf under the shade of a thin 

 blind and the watering carefully attended to. Here the seedlings will 

 make sturdy growth, and when they have begun to make the third 

 leaf they should be potted singly into thumb pots, using the same 

 compost as before. The plants should again be placed on a shelf, 

 and so long as there is room for the plants to grow without touching 

 the glass, there is no better position for them, until they require larger 

 pots. Here, if the watering is well attended to, the young plants 

 will make such progress that by May they will usually require to be 

 placed in 5-inch pots. This time the soil should be richer, and a 

 compost consisting of three parts loam, half a part leaf-mould, and 

 half a part well-decayed manure, together with some coarse silver 

 sand, will be found suitable. It cannot be too often repeated that 

 the pots must be well drained. The plants may now be stood in 

 a light position near to the glass on the front stage of the house. 



Seedlings respond freely to liberal treatment, and by the autumn 

 the strongest plants may require to be shifted into slightly larger 

 pots, in which they should remain until they flower. Some cultivators 

 rest their seedlings during the winter, but I think it is best to keep 

 them growing continuously until they flower, which a considerable 

 percentage of them will do in the following April — one year and 

 nine months from the time of sowing the seed — at least a year earlier 

 than seedlings which are rested. 



After flowering, the seedlings should be treated in a similar manner 

 to old bulbs. 



Treatment of Old Bulbs. — The chief difference between the treatment 

 of old bulbs and seedlings is that the former must be rested each 

 winter after the completion of the season's growth. 



In February old Hippeastrum bulbs are on the point of starting 

 into growth, and this is the time when any repotting that may be 

 required should be undertaken. Bulbs in large pots do not alv/ays 

 need repotting each year. It is often sufficient to remove two inches 

 or so of the surface soil and replace it with fresh compost, to which 

 a little bone meal might be added. 



The old soil having been carefully shaken from the roots of those 

 plants that are to be repotted, they should be placed in pots of 

 a size suitable to the dimensions of the bulbs. Large, firm bulbs, 

 3 inches or so in diameter, would need 7-inch pots, while for smaller 

 bulbs 6-inch and 5-inch pots would be sufficient. It is better for the 

 pots to be too small than too large. 



When repotting has been delayed until the plants have started 



