composed of equal parts of sand, well rotted cow manure and rotted leaf mould. Use 
no peat. Bone meal is recommended, 1 tablespoonful to each pot. Mix all thoroly. 
Pot the bulb with neck and upper bulb surface exposed. Water well but after 
that keep the soil only slightly moist until growth starts, then gradually increase. When 
first potted set the bulbs in a cool, light room. The best temperature now is 45° or 50°. 
Later the pots may be removed to a room of about 60° or 70°. 80° will force more 
rapid growth and earlier flowers and this is all right when the bulb is well rooted. 
Buds will usually have shown. Do not become impatient. Bulbs will need a fairly 
long time to develop roots. During this time, much water is likely to cause some 
rotting of injured roots. It is better to keep them in a cool room until growth shows. 
After flowering, the bulbs will be shrunken and perhaps soft. A period of growth 
is necessary to fill them out and increase their size. If good growth is made at this 
important stage the bulb will be much larger than in the preceding year and offsets 
may be made. It is necessary to keep them growing as long as possible. When the 
weather is warm outside the pots may be plunged in the garden or the bulbs with 
entire, unbroken clumps of roots and earth may be removed from pot and reset. This 
method, if carefully done and the bulbs are given abundant moisture and some fertilizer 
thruout the summer, is the best. Bulbs may be planted in full sun, but slight shade is 
good where very hot summers prevail. When bulbs are well established give liberal 
mulchings of dairy manure. Use stable manure carefully. It is good but very strong. 
If it does not rain every week give a good irrigation. Before heavy frost, remoye to 
house. Allow them a rest of several weeks but do not allow pots to dry out completely. 
The temperature of 45° checks growth. When you want them to start, bring to 60° 
and water a little. You can become expert in obtaining flowers every year. In the 
garden plant Amaryllis just under the soil surface. 
I am frequently asked why the inquirer’s bulbs do not flower. Perhaps they have 
flowered the first year after their purchase but not thereafter. Some state their bulbs 
become smaller each year. These results inevitably follow poor culture. If you give 
them correct culture, plenty of water and liquid manure when growing well after 
flowering and keep the growth luxuriant for about 6 months or more (as long as they 
will grow) you will have nice fat bulbs, with bud or buds formed within for the following 
season. | 
When leaves naturally begin to yellow it is a signal that they would like to rest 
awhile. Some bulbs will continue to have green foliage but one should reduce water 
to give an early winter rest. Well established bulbs can often be brought into flower in 
January or even by Christmas. But they should have had a few weeks dormancy 
preceding that. 
How to judge the quality of the flowers of Amaryllis hybrids. The perfect flower 
of the Leopoldi type should be at least 5” to 8” across. The petals should be well 
rounded and broad, overlapping each other, no twisting of petals and forming a wide 
open flat flower. The texture should be smooth, firm and of good substance. The tube 
should be short. There should be little or no green in throat but as the species Leopoldi 
contains considerable green there are few hybrids that do not contain some green. 
There should be no dull colors, like brick red. But colors should be bright and of 
every imaginable tone within the range of this genus. 
Self colors are.desirable to go along with stripes and other variations. But it is 
difficult to get other than red selfs and these are unusual. A few of our Select Strains, 
American Hybrids, are pure red, scarlet, rose or pink selfs. But they are few and not 
separately labelled. Don’t order self colors of the American Hybrids or any colors 
except as listed. When you are lucky enough to draw a self color you may congratulate 
yourself that you received a bargain worth 3 to 10 times its cost. To be sure of a self 
color, order our Dutch Hybrids. 
Pure white, pure pink and pure salmon are the most difficult of all to obtain, and 
in the order named. Pure white have often sold for $25.00 or even more. We are 
fortunate to be able to offer these to you this year for about one-third of that price. 
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