110 
THE LADIES 5 FLORAL CABINET. 
From the Lilies I naturally drifted over to their 
nearest relatives, the Amaryllids, among which there 
are only a very few exceptional genera, of which I have 
not grown and bloomed as many species as I have been 
able to collect. Most of these found a place in my 
greenhouse only long enough to give me an opportunity 
to study their characters and habits carefully, when 
they were given away to make room for new comers 
very kindly sent me by many botanical and horticul¬ 
tural friends from the botanic gardens of this country 
will allow it, to say a few words as to the mode of cul¬ 
tivation which has insured to me the best results; 
limiting myself to-day to that group specified as “ Hip- 
peastrum.” 
Mr. Louis Yan Houtte, in giving the mode of treat¬ 
ment for Amaryllis such as it is practiced at his large 
establishment says: “The soil used is a pure leaf-mold 
mixed with sand.” 
Having become accustomed to look upon Mr. Van 
Houtte as one of the authorities on all horticultural 
and Europe, and by correspondents from the four 
quarters of the globe. 
Besides this, however, with an appreciative eye for 
the beautiful in general and the flower in particular, I 
collected in the course of time a nucleus of Amaryllids 
not especially interesting botanically, but highly valu¬ 
able in a horticultural sense, both for their beauty in 
form and coloring. And having noticed of late in your 
columns, as well as other horticultural papers, a grow¬ 
ing interest awakening among the flower-loving public 
in favor of this truly royal family, permit me, if space 
subjects, I followed, years ago in my first experiments 
with these plants, his advice. I gathered with great 
painstaking some of the finest leaf-mold to be found, 
and in it potted the bulbs. The result was that once 
in a while a specimen would give a fair bloom, but 
the general feature of the result, even with the utmost 
care and attention, was a total failure. Many of the 
bulbs became diseased and dwindled away; the survi¬ 
ving plants making a very inferior growth, and as I 
said before, a few only giving a feeble approach to 
satisfaction. After a few years of similar experiments 
