154 
ON AMARYLLIS. 
said of them into the limits of a single paper. And, first, we will 
endeavour to dispose of the presumed difficulty said to exist in 
their management. This relates, of course, to their blooming ; for 
it must be admitted that nothing is easier to grow than are the 
plants of this order. Now was it said to any modern cultivator 
of the school which produces the splendid objects seen at our 
principal exhibitions, you cannot grow and flower this or that 
plant, because it is said to be difficult ? it is more than probable 
that he would altogether disdain a reply, but would at once set 
to work, and the next season would, beyond doubt, see the result, 
in a magnificent specimen produced solely to vindicate the attack 
on capacity and professional character. And could this feeling 
once be aroused, there would remain but very little of the now- 
talked of difficulty. A very short time would see it removed 
before the pressure of skill and perseverance; and I firmly be¬ 
lieve it is only inducement that is wanted to make these plants, 
what I am certain they are calculated to become, esteemed aids 
in the ornament of every collection. We can grow and flower 
many forms from climates more unknown to us, and far more 
peculiar than is that from whence these are derived—ah ! and in 
richer luxuriance than was the case when the same individuals 
were nurtured by even Nature herself. Why, then, should these 
magnificent objects be so neglected? It can only be for want of 
inducement. They have not been brought properly under the 
notice of cultivators, but left to struggle on in an obscure exist¬ 
ence, occasionally surprising their attendants with a display as 
unexpected as it was brilliant, and again relapsing into a state of 
torpor or retrogression, for want of the proper stimulative course 
necessary and natural to them as to other plants. What shall 
we say of those who re-pot their Amaryllis once in three or four 
years, or continue them in the same situation from one year to 
another ? Since the days of Sweet, no one seems to have given 
the order any attention; and he wrote when the science of hor¬ 
ticulture was yet in its infancy, and, therefore, amid the multi¬ 
plicity of claims which have arisen, those of the tribe I now advo¬ 
cate were unheeded, and have become forgotten. 
To approach the culture of these plants with a prospect of 
success in its continuance, it is essential that something be known 
of their natural positions; their habits as affects climate, soil, 
