Winter Meeting. 157* 



rule, the bulbs should be planted in October, that the roots may make 

 a good growth before the cold weather sets in. 



Bulbs should never be mixed. Let each kind be planted in a mass 

 by itself if the full efifect of each be desired. The bulbs being planted 

 (say about the middle of October) there is nothing more to be done 

 until the ground begins to freeze. But the bulbs are by no means, 

 idle ! no sooner are the}^ planted than they begin to grow. 



A crocus or hyacinth will in a few days throw out a root an inch 

 long, if in a moist soil. As soon as the ground begins to freeze at night, 

 the bed should be covered with three or four inches of course litter, 

 which will prevent the earth from freezing very deep, and thus allow 

 the roots to grow all winter. When the covering is removed, which 

 should be about the middle of March, the bulbs will be found to have 

 sprouts an inch or more in length. 



These, of course, will be yellow, from not having been exposed to 

 the light ; but they will soon turn green. 



If the spring is dry, the bed should be occasionally watered to 

 prevent the premature ripening of the foliage, and to encourage its- 

 growth. " 



As a general rule, a soil with a proportion of sand is best suited 

 to the growth of bulbs, some even thrive in pure sand ; and there are 

 very few which will succeed in heavy close soil. A good compost for 

 the growth of common bulbs is one part clean sand, one part leaf 

 mold or rich garden loam, and one part well rolled manure. They 

 should be in a sunny situation, for they are natives of countries where 

 the sun is far hotter than ours. 



Regarding ribbons, Charles Dickens sageh' remarks in the Christ- 

 mas Carol that they are so cheap you can make a brave show for six 

 pence. The same thing may be said nowadays of tulips. So easily 

 may they be procured and with such little difficulty cultivated in our 

 gardens, that one can hardly understand how the bulb from which 

 these gorgeous flowers spring could ever have Commanded the price 

 of precious stones, yet such w^as the case in the land of the Dutch 

 in the first third of the 17th century. 

 W The tulip, so named, it is said, from a Turkish word signifying 

 a turban, was introduced into western Europe about the middle of 

 the i6th century. Conrad Gesner. who claims the merit of having 

 brought it into repute, little dreaming of the extra ordinar}' commo- 

 tion it was to make in the world, says he first saw it in the year 1559, 

 in a garden at Augsburg, belonging to the learned Counsellor Her- 

 wart, a man very famous in his day for his collection of rare exotics. 



The bulbs were sent to this gentleman by a friend at Constant- 



