ON AMARYLLIS. 
155 
situation, and other particulars of the same nature, must be 
sought for and attended to. To say they come from the Cape 
of Good Hope, the interior of Africa, or the Brazils, is not 
enough. With every importation the utmost particulars should 
be collected and preserved, and everything denoting the character 
of the locality from whence they are derived should be scrupu¬ 
lously studied and imitated in practice as nearly as circumstances 
will permit. The three countries named may be taken as the 
basis for as many divisions of the order in a cultural sense, as on 
their several peculiarities of climate must depend much that will 
affect the well-doing of the plants in cultivation ; and in exact 
proportion as they are imitated, or left unnoticed, may the results 
be expected to terminate. The species derived from the imme¬ 
diate vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope are perhaps the easiest of 
the divisions to manage, as from the proximity of their habitats to 
the sea, they are used to a comparatively low temperature in the 
winter season, and are, therefore, with us nearly, and in instances 
obtained from elevated districts, quite hardy. In cultivation, we 
find them taking a place among what are called frame plants ; 
that is, such as hear all the vicissitudes of our climate, except 
actual frost. The greatest peculiarity affecting plants of this 
kind is their natural love of sandy soil: the table land at the 
Cape, from whence the principal part are brought, is composed 
almost entirely of pure sand, the only addition (except in some 
few instances) being merely the debris of decaying vegetable 
matter, which does not extend to an appreciable degree in the 
composition of most of the soil over a very great range of the 
country. Yet in this apparently barren kind of earth many 
most beautiful objects spring up among the low brushwood, or 
under shrubs, and even on the exposed plains. Ixias, Sparaxis, 
Satyriums, Amaryllis and others, in turns display their lovely 
blossoms, and again retire to the protecting bosom of their sandy 
earth. 
As most important in their culture, it should be remarked that 
the flowers of these plants are developed before the greatest heat 
of the season occurs; they have grown, and flowered, and are again 
sinking into a state of rest, when the meridian influence of the sun 
overtakes them, perfectly maturing their several new parts, and 
inducing a complete state of dormancy just previous to the cold 
