250 
CULTIVATION OF THE GENUS CYRTANTHUS. 
! 
at Spofforth, persuades me that when their cultivation is found difficult, a soil that 
is more disposed to set firm, and not fall to pieces when turned out of the pot, should 
be substituted, with good drainage and cautious watering. The difficulty is to find 
a light soil which has a little tenacity. There is a yellow earth of that nature in 
which I have observed Erica cinerea thrive with much greater vigour than in any 
black soil, in the neighbourhood of the New Forest, which would perhaps suit the 
Cijrtantlu. In a soil of that nature all Mr. Woodford's Ericce were cultivated at 
Rickraansworth. The earth of Mitcham Common was so congenial to the Ixias, 
that in it I have had seventy-two flowers from one bulb of Ixia longiflora, and 
nearly as many from one of Spiralis grandijlora, whereas the confluent soils of this 
neighbourhood, though favourable to the hardier Gladioli^ destroy the Ixias and 
Bahianas, and are not favourable to Spara^is." 
ON HIPPEASTRUM. 
" There is some difference as to the cultivation of the various species of Hippe- 
astrum, in consequence of the several latitudes, altitudes, and situations, in which 
they are found. Capricious watering is their bane ; they should be watered pretty 
freely while they are making leaves, more sparingly after they are grown, and not at 
all when at rest. AuUcum I have found very difficult to manage ; 1 have had but 
two or three roots of it, and have not been satisfied with their treatment. Calyp- 
tratum flourished well with me in light soil on the hothouse flue, growing all the 
year round, till I was told by a gentleman that they had been found to succeed better 
in the greenhouse, and having transferred them according to his advice, I lost all my 
bulbs of that species. Psittaciniim and the beautiful mules between it and Regio- 
vittatum are hardy greenhouse plants, requiring absolute rest in the winter, and 
flower freely in the spring ; they grow weak in the stove, and will not flower with- 
out rest. Solandrijlorum and Sti/losum, are tender stove plants, but should rest in 
winter time. Vittatum is a greenhouse plant, requiring rest in winter, and may be 
brought into the stove in spring to flower it. In Surrey it lived well, flowered yearly, 
and sometimes ripened seed, in the open ground near the south front of my house, 
a small heap of ashes being thrown over it in winter. The mules between Psitta- 
cinum and vittatum would perhaps bear as much exposure if the wet could be kept 
from them in winter. Reticulatum and striatifolium are tender stove plants, and I 
believe the former is nearly lost, and its habitation has never been exactly ascer- 
tained. Of latter years the striped-leaved variety has been frequently sent from 
Brazil, but the original plant has not been met with. The mules between striatifo- 
lium and diff'erent varieties of bulbulosum, as well as regium and regio-vittatumy 
have a hardier constitution, and many of them come so near to the reticulated 
parents, that they will be preferred in cultivation for ornaments. Equestre is a 
plant of singular constitution, and frequently lost in the stoves ; though a native of 
the hottest regions of the west, it will not live if watered constantly in the stove. 
It requires absolute rest in winter, in a moderately cool but not damp situation ; it 
will flower early in the summer, and after flowering should be placed in the green- 
house, or in the open air, where it will grow better than in the stove. 
