MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 
223 
These are species from the torrid zone, and require the following treatment,* which is equally applicable to 
their numerous cross-bred varieties :— 
The bulbs must, during the time of rest, that is, during the three or four last months of the year, 
be kept very dry. They may be kept hi the pots on a dry shelf in the stove. In January they are 
placed near the light, and where they may be free from drip. By-and-by, them scapes and leaves 
will commence to grow, when they must be slightly watered, gradually increasing the quantity. They 
will flower and ripen seed under this treatment, especially if the process of artificial fecundation has 
been carefully attended to, whether by means of their own pollen, or with that of some other species 
or variety. Success hi the maturation of the seed depends on the following precautions:—Avoid 
changing the pot from its place; maintain the temperature at from 10 3 to 12° Reaumer [55° to 60° 
Fahrenheit], at the least, and never allow it to get below 8° Reaumer [50° Fahrenheit]; water moder¬ 
ately and always when necessary. The production of the seed never affects the health of the bulb, if 
these directions are carefully followed. 
As for the plants which have not flowered, and those whose flowers have not borne fruit, it 
is advisable to place them hi the month of May in a close frame, the lights of which should be 
opened by the middle of June, if at that time they may be watered by genial showers. The lights 
must then be kept off, except in the case of cold or rain. This treatment is only applicable to 
the healthy bulbs, and not to those that are weak or unpromising. These last must be preserved 
under glass all the summer, and shaded towards the middle of the day. Unhealthy plants are 
liable to be attacked by the coccus; and in order to free them from these bisects which lodge 
between the scales, the bulb should be brushed with a soft brush, having a pointed handle, which may be 
used between the scales, as occasion may require, by which means the insects are dislodged. This opera¬ 
tion repeated from time to time, is the best and safest mode of keepbig the bulbs clear of the bisects. 
It is advisable to arrange the bulbs according to them state of advancement. Those which have 
attained the same uniform growth require the same treatment. On one side are placed those which are 
weak and not disposed to grow; on another those which are growing slowly, and must be excited ; 
and so on. The most favourable time to re-pot the plants is when they attain to them strongest 
growth. This operation must be performed with the folio whig precautions :—Take care not to break 
the ball, but take off about two niches of the surface sob, careftdly clear and adjust the principal roots, 
and place a layer of new soil in the bottom of the pot. This sob should be composed of equal portions 
of loam and leaf mould, web mixed together ; then place the bulb on the top, fillhig up the sides eare- 
fidly with more sob, and press the whole gently down. A copious application of water shoibd then be 
given to consolidate the soil and refresh the bulbs. After a slight syringing, place the plants in a frame 
which must be kept quite close for a few days, until a gentle shower fabs, when the fights may be raised. 
All the healthy plants must be treated in this way until the middle of August, when, if the weather 
is cold and cloudy, the fights must be kept on, and neither water nor shade applied to the plants. By 
tins treatment they wbl rapidly attain maturation, and the leaves will become dry. At the latter 
stage the bulbs should be removed from the frames, and placed in the pots on the shelves of the stove. 
-♦- 
3Ki8ttltamts Untirrs. 
Light of Tropical Forests. —The forests of Essequibo, from which Mora excelsa projects to an altitude of 160 feet, 
has been traversed by Richard Schomburgk, who, after having vividly delineated the crowded growth of the trees, 
the climbing plants, and the creeping shrubs, which connect the stems in impenetrable meshes, and the parishes of 
the fallen trunks, dwells upon a point with which we are less familiar-—the light of tropical forests. On the ground 
the eye would miss the splendour of the flowers of other regions, and detect only fungi, ferns, and decaying 
vegetable structures ; for even at noon a subdued light prevails in the forests, since scarcely anywhere is a portion 
of the sky visible through the closely interlaced branches ; but, although the fight is subdued beneath' so dense a 
covering of foliage, there is more fight than in dark pine forests. Kittlitz comes to the same conclusion as to the 
remarkable, and, as yet, but little studied question, of how plants still thrive so well, and their green organs are 
able to respire in shaded parts of the most dense vegetation which the crust of the earth anywhere produces 
( Vegetations-Ansichten. p. 6). “I was astonished,” writes he, “to And so much fight beneath the noble trees, 
the widely-spread foliage of which scarcely anywhere allowed the sky to be seen. Remaining the same at the 
most varied times of the day, it could not be ascribed to the perpendicular fight of noon, but only to those 
* Amaryllis (Hippeastrum') vittata is the only species that does not require the general treatment of Hippeastrum, experience 
having shown that it thrives best in a lower temperature than the others. This fact shows that the plant most likely comes from 
an extra-tropical region. Authors are not agreed as to its habitat; some are of opinion that it belongs to the Cape of Good Hope, 
but analogy seems to favour the probability that it is from America. 
