TKE 





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Septejibeb, 1861. 



AEDY BULBS and early-flowering annuals are 

 generally thought of a day too late. The ground is 

 cleared of the plants that have kept it gay since June, 

 the borders are cleaned and manured, and then hya- 

 cinths and tulips claim a little attention, but are 

 rarely all planted till late in jS'ovember, and some- 

 times, even, are delayed till near Christmas. By that 

 time, they have made a considerable amount of 

 growth, and there has been an exhaustive evaporation 

 from the bulbs ever since the sap began to move : two 

 circumstances very detrimental, because exhaustive. 

 That they bloom well afterwards is often true, but not surprising. The 

 blooms were akeady in the bulbs when they were pui'chased ; the 

 Dutch growers have dealt with them so as to make sure of sending them 

 stout and lusty to the English market. But these bulbs are afterwards 

 found to be of no value, and thence arises the complaint against bulbs of 

 all kinds, as expensive, because they must be annually renewed by the 

 process of repurchasing. But there is nothing in the constitutional 

 nature of the hardy bulbs that make so gay a show in spring to interfere 

 with their preservation from year to year ; their increase, at the same 

 time, by offsets, and their positive improvement instead of deterioration ; 

 but whoever will do justice to them, in a horticultural sense, must begin 

 the process now ; it will not bear delay, for delay is one of the essential 

 features in the process of destruction, against which we now make a 

 protest. 



As soon as any bulb shows signs of growth, the sap has begun its 

 seasonal movements, and it needs the support of nutriment obtained by 

 the roots. Therefore, the first act of the sap, when its autumnal move- 

 ment commences, should be the formation of roots ; therefore, also, it 

 should be in contact with moist earth, before the movement of the sap 

 commences, in order that when the roots begin to protrude from the base 

 of the bulb, they may be in contact with the soil, which is the only 



TPL. IV. >'0. IX. K 



