Another year's trial of the Amaryllis confirms what I wrote about a year ago, that this family of plants deserves a greater amount of attention in the Southern States than it has hitherto received. But these plants have some ardent admirers all over the South, and they need only a little pushing to the front to make them very popular, for the ease with which they can be cultivated is not the least point of their merit. And for the first time, so long as I cultivated these charming flowers, I have to report a few losses in last winter's cold spell; but the loss is rather due to carelessness on my part than to the tender constitution of the Amaryllis.

I had about twenty different species and hybrids planted in the upper part of my garden in a somewhat sloping situation. The heavy rains in autumn must have washed some soil away and brought a few of the plants too near the surface; then the very cold weather early in January made the frost penetrate to those bulbs that were not deep enough in the ground, and if it did not kill the bulbs, weakened them so that this year they made a poor show. But the winter was characterized by such a severe cold as we fortunately do not experience very often. And then I had twelve hundred hybrid seedlings of Amaryllis growing in the lower part of my garden, where the north wind could not strike so hard - my garden is sloping to the east. These seedlings I had given last fall a thick layer of stable manure, and of these twelve hundred plants I have not lost a single one; but I had in my cold pit five hundred hybrid seedlings of last summer, and I lost about half of these through frost coming in.

This latter case is in my opinion a good illustration of Darwin's theory of natural selection, for it was strange how frost had picked plants in different parts of the boxes, and not merely taken those on the rim, so that I think those with a weak constitution were killed while the robust ones survived.

Therefore I reiterate again that all Amaryllis are hardy in the South; it does not make any difference whether the particular plant has a catalogue price of seventy-five cents or ten dollars; the cheapness does not make the plant hardier nor the costliness more tender; on the contrary, my two highest priced bulbs, Amaryllis psittacina and A. fidelio, which cost me nine and ten dollars each, came out unhurt, while Amaryllis atro-sanguinea, which is sold at seventy-five cents, had suffered. Finally, I would advise those interested to plant your Amaryllis in a sunny place, not too wet, as this would no doubt be hurtful in winter; give at least 5 inches of soil on top of the bulb, and as soon as the first frost in autumn or winter has killed the leaves and stopped their growth give a good, thick covering of stable manure. This latter may in spring be hoed under. With this treatment I have succeeded and have cultivated my seedlings, only two and a half years from sowing the seed, and many are now large enough to flower. In conclusion I would say, that I am pleased to notice the many reports from the Southern States in regard to the hardiness of different plants.

Austin, Texas.