Evening star., 1928-03-25
BY ELISABETH MAY CRAIG.

TIME Cinderella motif--so the Sa-
wants SAYS the favorite theme
in folk lore and fairy tale the
Il world over. There is chord
In every heart which thrills TO
the tale of the forlorn little cinder
maid who is transformed into the
ravishing beauty in SatinS and jewels.
who is the belle OF the ball and finally
marries the fairy prince.
The amaryllis is a Cinderella of the
lily world. In Its native South Ameri-
can tropics 1t Is small dark rcd
foyer. less than three inches across.
with two flowers to stalk and one
stalk To plant At the amarylliS
show of the United States Department
OF Agriculture there were pure white
blossoms IL inches across, growing
with as many as six blooms 10 stalk
and three or four stalks 10 plant,
The fairy godmother in this case
was the late E. NJ. Byrnes, who was
for So years connected with the De-
partment of Agriculture. and latterly
was superintendent OF the department.
greenhouses. In 1909 he obtained -
bulbs of the amaryllis from England
and began to work for large white
bloom.
One Of the great difaculties of
amarylliS breeding Is the reproduction
OF particular specimen, A given
specimen cannot be reproduced true
TO parent type from seed. and the only
way to duplicate Il Is to use lateral
bulbs or offsets Desired features are
obtained by -pollination.
In March. 1922. the firSt white
amaryllis Powered III the greenhouse
of the Department OF Agriculture un-
Il t.ts fail fHf A4r nxrpt
Since then many white specimens have
been bred. but the finest of all Is
named the f. NJ ByrneS, In honor Of
the man who perceived the hidden
beauty Of the little tropical Cinderella
and spent IL years turning her into
the fairy princess which last year drew
"a, 900 people to the greenhouses Of the
Department OF Agriculture during the
week of the show,
Much credit for the transformation
of the amaryllis Is due 10 the late
william Saunders, Mr., Byrhss prede-
SCISSOR. who began the departments
work with the amarylliS so years ago:
To the plant experts of the Department
Of Agriculture and To Mr. RyrneS' SON.
] Wise Byrnes who worked with his
father for many years and Is now his
successor as superintendent 0t depart
rent greenhouses,
Last year j. Wise RyrneS brought
from Africa, Peru and Brazil specimens
of the original amarylliS, that they
might be exhibited side by side with
their amazing SUCCESSORS. He was able
Ia bring only one Of the group into
flower at the right time for the flower
show in March, This one bore two
dark red blossoms, each less than three
inches across II was exhibited with
pure white hyhridS Of eleven inches d,-
ameter~~truly Cinderella and the prin-
cess
The amaryllis show of 1929 was the
fifteenth OF It's knld Al lae FIRST
show, In 1913, only a few department
workers attended and the flowers were
Vet confined To reds and plnks, Last
March there were il0a plants, with
some 10 600 blooms ranging from deep
red To pure white, with many exam
pies of streaks and splotcheS on a
white ground
An of the plants we're hyhrids origin
ated In the Department ol Agriculture
They were the results at cross -polllnav
tinn at the twelve varieties imported
from England in 1900, the original
ssteeSs having come from the American
tropics.