264 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



the thousand, he will, of course, buy tbein by the dozen. At the 

 end I will give a selection of cheap sorts, and it is consequently not 

 necessary to allude to this part of the subject further, 



A grand point in the production of thumping spikes, is to begin 

 early ; I should therefore strongly advise the purchase of the bulbs 

 before September is out, and to pot them immediately afterwards. 

 You may have good spikes from bulbs potted in December, or even 

 so late as the early part of January : but they are in no case equal 

 to the spikes the bulbs would have produced had they been potted 

 at the proper time. Especially is early pottiug necessary when it 

 is intended to force them to flower at Christmas or during the first 

 two or three weeks in the new year. To state the case plainly, 

 those required in bloom during the Christmas and New Year's 

 festivities should be potted before the end of September, because 

 they must of necessity be forced into bloom ; and it is practically 

 useless to take hyacinths into the forcing-pit before the pots are 

 well filled with roots. Those to bloom after the end of January 

 must be potted by the end of October, or middle of November at 

 the latest, to insure spikes of the finest quality. 



In growing hyacinths for decoration, big pots and complicated 

 mixtures are alike unnecessary. For general purposes, they may be 

 grown in either five or six-inch pots ; but when required for filling 

 fancy baskets or vases, they should be put in pots three inches in 

 diameter. The compost should consist of equal parts turfy loam 

 and old hot-bed manure ; the loam to be chopped up moderately, 

 and the manure then incorporated with it, and a rather liberal pro- 

 portion of grit, such as river sand or road drift, added ; silver sand 

 may be used, but the commoner grit will answer the same purpose. 

 In preparing the pots, put a few pieces of crock in the bottom ; 

 cover with a layer of manure or leaf-mould, and then proceed to fill 

 with the prepared compost. The bulbs must be buried to about 

 two-thirds of their depth, and the soil pressed firm about them, to 

 prevent their toppling over when in bloom. The soil must be used 

 in a rather moist state to render the application of moisture un- 

 necessary until their removal from the plunge-bed. 



As it is needful to exclude the light from the bulbs until the 

 pots are well filled witb roots, they should be packed together and 

 covered with some loose material that aftbrds no harbour for worms. 



We have, after many years' experience in the cultivation of 

 many thousands of bulbs, found it good practice to make up a bed 

 of coal-ashes not less than six inches in depth, and stand the pots 

 close together upon it, and then heap over them about twelve inches 

 of spent hops. In place of the hops cocoa-nut fibre refuse, flaky 

 leaf-mould, or even coal-ashes, may be substituted. The latter are 

 the least to be desired, and when they are used, the bulbs ought to 

 have a small [lot turned over them to prevent the ashes touching 

 them. They can remain in the plunge-bed until the leaves are from 

 two to three inches in length, if desired ; but they cannot be left 

 after having passed this stage without injury. When required in 

 bloom as early as possible, they can be taken from the bed immedi- 

 ately the roots begin to run freely round the outside of the pot. As 



