November 10, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAOE'GARDENER. 397 
10 
a 
u« 
13 
14 
15 
16 
TH 
F 
S 
SUN 
M 
Tn 
W 
Portsmouth, Brixton, Walton, Ipswich, and Dnwli-h Shows. 
HitcUin, Canterbury. Huddersfield,and Lewisham Shows. 
23rd Sunday after Trinity. 
Sheffield and Hallamahire Show. [cheater, and Putney Shews. 
Twickenham, Southgate. Lincoln. Watford, Finchley. Southend. Win* 
York, Birmingham, Northampton, Eiling, Dartford, & Chelmsford Shows. 
CRINUMS. 
T-OVE bulbous plants of an ornamental charac¬ 
ter are not nearly so abundant as those adapted 
for culture in greenhouses or similar cool 
structures, and nearly all the best of the bulbs 
available for the warmer houses are included 
in the Amaryllis family, which also in the 
Narcissi affords such a wealth of flowers out 
of doors. The Amaryllises or Hippeastrums 
take foremost rank for size of flowers and brilliancy of 
colours, but they do not need strictly stove treatment, 
succeeding best in warm conservatories or “ intermediate ” 
houses. With them may be named the Imantopliyllums 
which have been so greatly improved in recent years, and 
the useful Yallotas. The Eucharis,, however, is an all- 
important plant in both private and market establish¬ 
ments, its white wax-like flowers being highly valued for 
wreaths and bouquets, and scarcely less esteemed are 
some of the graceful and fragrant Pancratiums. Both 
these are restricted to a few cultivated species, but in the 
Orinums we have a much larger number to select from, 
presenting a range of floral form and delicate tints that 
places them at the head of all stove bulbs. 
Though the majority of Crinumsare natives of tropical 
regions in the Old and New Worlds, some are found in 
dstricts of a much lower temperature, and from South 
Africa we have a few species which with their varieties 
and hybrids thrive well out of doors in the warmer parts 
of Great Britain. Both the indoor and outdoor groups 
are easily grown, flower freely, and when in their best 
condition are exceedingly beautiful, bearing great umbels 
of twelve to twenty flowers on stout stems rising from 
the bulbs. The leaves are mostly long, 2 or 3 inches 
broad, bright green, and rather fleshy, often gracefully 
arching over the bulbs 3 feet or more in length. The 
bulbs attain considerable size under favourable treatment, 
but we rarely see such numbers of flowers produced in 
cultivation as in their native state, for specimens sent 
home by botanists frequently have as many as forty flowers 
in an umbel, particularly of the stronger growing species. 
There is one disadvantage attending many of the Crinums, 
and that is the flowers are not very durable, nor do they 
produce such a succession of flowers as the Eucharises and 
Pancratiums. To compensate for -this, however, they 
rarely miss flowering, and as the various forms naturally 
flower at different periods it is easy by growing a good 
election to have some in bloom during the greater por¬ 
tion of the year. The form of the flowers varies of large 
massive, funnel-shaped or spreading flowers, with broad 
divisions, the tube either short or long, and in the 
latter case often curved and more deeply coloured than 
the other portion of the corolla. Upon the characters 
furnished by the position of the flower—that is, whether it 
No. 385. —Vol. XV., Thikd Series. 
be erect or curved—botanists found some bf the groups in* 
which the species are classed. Much difference is notable 
between the broad petalled Crinums and those which 
partake more of the Pancratium type, such as C. Hilde- 
brandti, with long, narrow drooping divisions, and but 
for the absence of the characteristic corona of the Pan¬ 
cratiums they might be readily mistaken for one of them. 
White flowers preponderate, but there are numbers with 
delicate rose-tinted corollas, with rich rosy stripes down 
the centre of the divisions, rosy red tubes, and' some even 
of a purplish crimson hue, especially amongst the C. 
capense hybrids. The fragrance, too, of numerous species 
is delightfully delicate, exactly of the well-known Pan¬ 
cratium fragrans style, not too powerful to displease the 
most sensitive, and yet so freely produced as to diffuse 
itself throughout a large house. 
Referring briefly to the culture of the Crinums it may 
be well to deal first with those requiring stove treatment, 
or at least needing plenty of heat in their growing period. 
Bulbs are imported by the principal nurserymen of full 
flowering size, and they also grow on stocks from offsets 
or seed, so that purchasers can readily procure plants of 
almost any age to start with. The best soil for them in 
any stage is old turfy loam with one-fourth of leaf soil or 
peat, but any good substantial though not adhesive loam 
is suitable, with sufficient sand added to render it mode¬ 
rately porous.' For well-established plants that are wished 
to flower vigorously a small portion of old manure can be 
incorporated with the soil, but as a rule any assistance 
needed can be better afforded by means of weak liquid 
manure. Many of the Amaryllidaceous and other bulbous 
plants are not benefited by placing manure in the soil to 
the same extent as might be expected. Some of the most 
successful growers of Amaryllises now exclude all such 
substances from the soil, employing instead only the best 
loam procurable. Where these plants, too, are plunged 
in old tan, it is surprising what vigorous growth the roots 
make in it. Crinums are moisture-loving plants during 
their growing period, and must therefore have a soil that 
will permit the free passage of water, with efficient 
drainage to prevent any stagnation. The pots must be 
proportioned to the size of the bulbs, but 10-inch pots 
will be fpund large enough for most flowering plants if 
the offsets are removed. Some prefer repotting the 
plants with their offsets, as the latter usually provide a 
succession of flowers, and one specimen may be thus had 
in bloom several times during the year; but if it is 
desired to increase the stock, and very large pots are not 
wanted, it is better to separate the offsets, and grow them 
on singly. 
It is a rather tedious process raising Crinums from 
seed, as three or four years elapse before they reach 
flowering size even with the best management; it is there¬ 
fore preferably left to the nurserymen. Still it is not 
difficult to obtain a stock of young plants in this way, 
and seed is readily ripened if the plants are in a sunny 
situation. Experimental and professional hybridists have 
taken full advantage of the facility with which crosses 
can be effected in this genus, and numbers of very in¬ 
teresting hybrids have been obtained, especially by Dean 
Herbert, who has given in his works lists of the crosses 
he secured and the results, many of which afford some 
curious evidence of the laws ruling cross-fertilisation. 
The seed must be sown in sandy soil in heat, and when 
the young plants are visible they should be pricked off 
singly into small pots, being very careful in the supply 
of water at these early stages. As they advance they can 
No. 2041 .—Vol. IiXXVII., Old Series. 
