THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
Ill 
in this tedious and costly manner, I began to look suspic¬ 
iously upon the soil, and finally concluded to discard 
the leaf-mold entirely from my bill of fare. 
Since then I have, with only a few exceptions, used a 
soil composted from sods, hops, a small quantity of peat 
and sand, all well rotted and mixed; in short, just 
about such a soil as Mr. Peter Henderson in his several 
valuable publications recommends as the soil suitable 
for most plants to grow in. Only some care will have 
to be taken to have this mixture well and thoroughly 
decomposed and free from unfermented organic matter 
of any kind. For seven or eight years I have potted my 
Hippeastra in this compost, growing healthy bulbs, 
making fine healthy foliage, and throwing up season 
after season strong flower spikes with large and well- 
formed flowers. Only once in a while one or the other 
species, and especially small seedling bulbs of the more 
tender kinds, would linger along, and for some reason 
or other not growing as they ought to. 
Some two years ago having been engaged in draining 
on this island some of the low woodlands which, from 
the heavy rains, stood for a great part of the year more 
or less under water, the nature of the soil attracted my 
attention, it being of a very dark color, rich and 
loamy. The growth covering this section of land con¬ 
sists almost exclusively of several species of Maples 
and appears completely destitute of Oaks, Elms, and the 
many nut-bearing trees which otherwise grow very 
abundantly around here. 
The leaf-mold I first used consisted chiefly of the 
decayed leaves and branches of such trees as 
oaks, etc., and I conjectured that perhaps the tan¬ 
nic properties of such a mold had been the cause of 
failure. 
But now I find a leaf-mold obtained from an en¬ 
tirely different material, prominently of a saccharinous 
character, exhibiting totally different qualities and ap¬ 
pearances to the eye and touch. The former light, 
sandy and very loose even when wet, of a reddish 
brown color, rather flimsy; the latter almost jet black, 
of a more loamy, sticky appearance, yet light and 
friable when worked over and exposed to the air for 
some time. 
I at once secured a good quantity of this mold early 
in the spring of 1882, turning it over faithfully every 
two or three weeks during the whole season, and in this 
after adding one-sixth of coarse river sand, when the 
time came for lifting the plants from the open ground, 
I potted all the Hippeastra. And the result obtained 
from the experiment for the past two seasons has proved 
to me that this is the most congenial soil for them; it 
drains well, keeps moisture sufficiently well, is light 
and friable and of a highly alimentary character. And 
I have never had nor witnessed a finer array of plants, 
as regards a luxuriant and grand display of healthy 
foliage and finely-colored and well-formed flowers. 
They are simply perfection. 
Of all the horticultural hobbies, none ever appeared 
so utterly absurd to me as the one on “ Special soils for 
special plants,” and yet there are hardly any doubts in 
my mind that the glorious results obtained during 
these past two seasons, have been brought about 
prominently by the use of this compost. So much as 
to soil. 
The method pursued in growing these plants, and 
which I would most earnestly recommend as the most 
convenient to the amateur who has not the convenience 
of a greenhouse or conservatory, beginning, say in 
spring, is as follows : 
A piece of land or a flower-bed with full sun exposure 
(or better still, shaded for an hour or so during the hot¬ 
test part of the day) is deeply spaded, incorporating 
therein a quantity of the. above leaf-mold, and if such 
is ready at hand, some thoroughly-rotted cow-dung or 
ivell-decayed refuse hops from the brewery. Into this 
the plants are shifted from the pots, about the middle 
of May or as soon as all danger from late frosts has 
passed, and the weather becomes warm and settled. 
The plants remain here to perfect their growth, stirring 
the surface of the soil from time to time (taking good 
care however, not to injure the thick fleshy roots,) and 
in case of continuous dry weather, giving a liberal 
supply of water once or twice a week. By the middle of 
September, the plants are taken up again and potted in the 
described leaf-mold, using clean, porous pots, not too 
large, well drained by placing a small handful of broken 
pot shreds or charcoal in the bottom. This done, they 
are carefully watered so as to settle the soil well around 
the roots, and then placed on a shelf in a shady part of a 
cool greenhouse, or in an east or west window of the 
common living-room, in which there is no fire, or if the 
weather is pleasant and not too cold, place them in the 
shade of some trees, being careful however to shield 
them from heavy rains. From this time on, the plants 
are kept cool and only watered sufficiently to preserve 
their foliage, and by all means prevent the soil from be¬ 
coming dust dry. And in this, I have found, consists the 
whole secret of growing Hippeastra well. To keep them 
growing as long as they will do so, and never to dry them 
off as so many do. In this way, I have flowered several of 
my seedling hybrids three times during the year, throw¬ 
ing up strong scraps, bearing a profusion of large and 
perfect flowers. 
About the first of December, some of the plants that 
are desired to bloom, especially the earlier flowering 
kinds, may be brought to the light near the glass, and a 
little more warmth given them. As soon as th4 new 
leaf growth, and (as is frequently the case) with it the 
flower-scape push on, the amount of moisture given 
them may be slowly increased until the buds are almost 
ready to unfold, when a careful application once a week 
with some weak liquid manure has been successfully 
practiced, and, although not absolutely necessary, 
found very beneficial to a strong development of bulb 
and foliage. After flowering, the flowers having pre¬ 
viously been artificially fertilized, the plants are con¬ 
tinued in a warm temperature and kept close up to the 
glass so as to ripen the seed-pods and encourage a strong 
and healthy foliage until the approaching warm spring 
season calls them back to their airy summer quarters in 
the open border. 
Up to this time I have grown on to a blooming size 
some seventy hybrid seedlings, all more or less distinct 
from the parent plants from which I obtained them. 
Among these seventy I have selected seven which I 
consider possess extraordinary merits. As I cannot 
describe them,a 11,1 will limit myself to a more detailed 
description of the most prominent one, which I have 
determined to name Amaryllis “ Koh-i-noor.” 
In the half-opened bud the outside of the petals ap¬ 
pear of a light-yellowish buff color, shaded with light- 
brown and sparingly with green towards the ovary, the 
