336 THE FLORAL "WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



It will be seen that by purchasing a second lot of bulbs we are 

 enabled to give one lot a whole year's rest to recruit their strength, 

 and then all that has to be done is to treat the resting bulbs 

 liberally by planting them in good soil in the full sun, and not allow 

 them to flower while in the reserve ground, as it tends to weaken 

 them. Then treat the second lot in the same manner, and so let 

 them take it in turns to flower, and you need never purchase any 

 more. Named kinds for bedding purposes are not necessary, as we 

 only require distinct colours, and by keeping the colours separate, 

 which is very easy to do, a charming display may be reckoned upon 

 under the system I have here detailed. 1 practise the system I 

 recommend, and will prove its soundness to any who like to come 

 and see my hyacinths at the proper season. 



As to the arrangement of the colours and sorts in the beds and 

 borders, all that I can afford room to say is that hyacinths alone 

 make a beautiful small bed ; but where it is desirable to make a 

 single bed retain its beauty a long while, it is desirable to have a 

 centre of early-flowering single tulips (excluding the Van Thol) ; 

 next, two or three rows of hyacinths ; then a mixture of the best 

 crocuses, with a wide ring or edging of snowdrops, and the pretty 

 little winter aconite. 



A good many of the early-flowering Single Tulips, if treated as 

 I have advised for hyacinths, will flower for two or three years in 

 succession, if treated with the care they deserve in removing them ; 

 but you must not attempt to deal with them roughly, if they are 

 expected to flower the next year. Immediately they are lifted from 

 the spot where they flowered, they must be planted in a shady place, 

 or the leaves will wither, and the root arrive at an imperfect state 

 of maturity, which will prevent their flowering properly the next 

 year. If the leaves are not injured, and a nice moist soil is chosen 

 for them, they rarely suffer by removal, though a few choice yellow 

 and white flowers I have found rather more delicate. As to their 

 use, they are beautiful subjects anywhere, but never more beautiful 

 than when mingled with such subjects as the Forget-me-not, and 

 other surfacing plants. 



It is many years since I saw the Ceocuses put to their proper 

 use, for there is no mistake that in a favourable season and the 

 colours nicely balanced they make the most charming lines for a 

 ribbon border which it is possible to conceive. All that is wanted 

 is a sufficiency of roots and the colours well arranged to create an 

 effect in a narrow border than cannot easily be forgotten. In con- 

 nection with their use for such a purpose, I may here remark that 

 where the common yellow variety is used it should be borne in mind 

 that it is always the earliest to flower. To make it flower at the 

 same time as the others, when planted in separate lines, and to 

 correspond with the others, it should either be planted two inches 

 deeper than the other colours or three weeks later. As to their use 

 in the beds or borders, they are admissible anywhere about them, but 

 it is best if they can be allowed to complete their growth where they 

 have flowered, for I have never, after many trials, been able to do 

 anything with them if I removed them before the bulbs were 



