14 BULLETIN 1462, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
and the Chinese sacred lily, together with the Grand Soleil d'Or, 
were frozen down in the last-named State in the winter of 1923-24. 
The cold occurred at the close of the blossoming season and cut the 
flowering stems and foliage to the ground. In spite of this the 
best picked bulbs blossomed well under glass the following winter. 
The above-named localities were very well represented in the 
department's forcing tests in 1925 and previous seasons. The bulbs 
from all localities behaved true to form, all single-nosed round bulbs 
more than 12 centimeters in circumference having given good blos- 
som, although there was a wide variation in the proportion of such 
bulbs received. In some cases bulbs appeared to be single nosed 
when in reality several splits were already laid down, as was seen 
when the bulbs were cut open. Such a condition is likely to occur 
when stocks are left undug and allowed to get crowded or are grown 
with poor fertility. It can not be too often impressed upon the 
grower that the best Paperwhite bulb for forcing is a single-nosed 
round one grown from a split under good conditions of culture and 
fertility and in the shortest possible time, one or at most two years. 
During the last two years there has been a good opportunity to 
observe and study the methods and conditions suited to the produc- 
tion of the Paperwhite crop. The formula for the best conditions 
is the same as that for the production of Golden Spur except as 
to climate. For the culture of Paperwhite Grandiflora and Grand 
Soleil d'Or the temperatures from September to June should not 
go much below 28° F., and even that temperature should be of short 
duration and infrequent. The most advantageous soil is a low, deep, 
moist, well-drained sandy loam of good fertility or well and suitably 
fertilized. What is considered good potato land in Florida is suitable 
for Paperwhites. Although the specification given here is for sandy 
soil, this does not correspond with what is actually employed for the 
production in Europe, where a heavy, refractory clay obtains. In 
one of the largest ventures in this country a heavy, black, rice-swamp 
clay is also employed with success. The greater number of cultures, 
though, are on sandy loams. On these the expense of culture is 
very much lower. 
As to fertilizer, there is little reliable information based on con- 
trolled experiments. Until this is obtained, the grower can not go 
far wrong by using a liberal application of a good potato fertilizer, 
making one application at planting time and the other shortly before 
blossoming. 
CHINESE SACRED LILY 
Generally speaking, the Chinese sacred lily bulbs produced in this 
country simulate very closely those of Paperwhite. This seems to be 
caused by the conditions under which the culture has been attempted. 
On sandy loam soils, especially where the fertility is low, it is 
a firm, round bulb of this narcissus that is produced. These bulbs 
are so different from the large, flabby clumps imported from the 
Amoy region of China as to make the market skeptical of their identi- 
fication, or to insist that this variety can not be produced satis- 
factorily in this country. The fact is that the Chinese cultivate this 
narcissus on a heavily-fertilized muck soil with an abundant supply 
of water. 
