but don’t give heavy feeding to a sick or starved bulb. Plants, animals and people 
must have enough vigor to digest and assimilate food. If they do not have this, 
it becomes a poison. 
Keep the bulbs growing as long as they will grow. When the foliage begins 
to yellow, about Nov. usually, one may reduce water, and give them a rest. Store 
pots in a cool room as for starting. 
Usually the summer’s growth will have increased the size of the bulbs 
sufficiently to require shifting to a larger pot. The new pot should be large 
enough to accommodate all the roots. Do not remove or injure any of the roots 
and contrive to distribute them thruout the soil. 
When repotted, water at once to settle soil around the roots. Thereafter 
repeat the procedure followed when you planted the dry bulbs. But your bulbs 
are now much better bulbs. They are not dried out and they have or should have 
many roots. If kept too wet or too warm while dormant, the roots may rot. But 
if you handle the bulbs carefully you may expect more, larger and better flowers 
the second year. With experience you may become skillful in having flowers 
even by Jan. 1 and others up to May 1. 
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 wrong 
culture. Flowers in the spring are sure to result if good growth was made in the 
preceding period. If you have trouble in getting good growth in pots, be sure to 
try shifting to the garden after flowering. 
There is no such thing as the Red Fire Disease of Amaryllis. Nor is it 
“ketching”’. The red pigment or rust results from decay of the Amaryliis tissue 
of any part of the plant. It is the normal reaction of the Amaryllis tissue to any 
injury or bruise and may be caused by ones shoes, garden tools, cut worms or 
ether insect bites, sunburn or frost, cloddy or gravelly soil, too great acidity of 
the soil, contact with soil sulphur or chemical fertilizer or even too much fresh 
manure. It often appears in a very mild form in stored bulbs as the result of 
decay or oxidation of the outer tunic of the bulb. 
None of these things are of grave importance. Even a healthy man may 
sneeze. 
But when a bulb is really sick the red rust is excessively produced and this 
symptom should not be overlooked. 
Check on pot drainage, soil, and all conditions. 
When a bulb is infested with narcissus fly, dig out the grubs and coat wounds 
with tree seal and replant. Do not treat Amaryllis wounds with sulphur. It is too 
acid and is therefore a poison. 
Do not plant Amaryllis too close to trees or shrubs. They do not compete 
well with roots of such robust plants. 
How to judge the quality of the flowers of Amaryllis hybrids. The perfect 
flower of the Leopoldi type should be 5” to 8” across. The petals should be well 
rounded and broad, overlapping each other, no twisting of petals, and they should 
form a wide open, flat flower. The texture should be smooth and firm, of good 
substance. The tube should be short. There should be little or no green in throat 
but the species Leopoldi contains considerable green. There are few hybrids 
that do not contain some green. Very few are perfect in every respect. 
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 req 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 labeled. Don’t order self colors or any colors 
except as listed. 
Please note. ayers is no quantity discount on Amaryllis except as noted 
with listing, 
Amaryllis Avena Oxblood Lily. 5 to 8 ox-blood red flowers in an umbel, on 
a 10” slender scape, preceding foliage. Fall bloomer. Culture. Not suitable for pot 
culture, but so nearly hardy that in mild sections of north it will succeed. In 
Michigan, in the section where peaches are grown, this Amaryllis has been grown 
commercially. It may be planted 6” deep and mulched, in a protected situation. 
rig 
