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264 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



the characters of which were matters of peculiar interest, and made 

 records of all the particulars connected therewith. In such a (ase 

 as the production of a small spike, or the refusal of the flowers to 

 assume their proper colour, the cultivator may reasonahly ask him- 

 self if his treatment has been right. It is very certain that when 

 we buy the bulbs, the flowers are already formed, and stored up 

 within them, and as cultivators our business must be to develop 

 those embryos. As a matter of course, bad management results in 

 bad development ; but if the flowers are not properly formed in the 

 heart of the bulb, it is a matter of impossibility for the ablest 

 cultivator to develop them satisfactorily. I have seen, in places 

 noted for skilful treatment of these bulbs, samples of the choicer 

 and more expensive kinds, quite unfit for show ; some of the pink 

 and scarlet kinds persist in retaining green tips, until they are too 

 old to be passable. Sometimes they come out in a pale washy tint, 

 instead of the rich hues for which they are prized. The result of 

 many observations tended to establish as a rule that density is the 

 safest test of the quality of bulbs. We may have heavy bulbs that 

 are soft and worthless ; but if a bulb is as hard as flint and as heavy 

 as lead, you have but to treat it properly and you may be sure of 

 splendid flowers. A good average bulb of almost any kind will 

 weigh 3 ounces, but varieties differ, and some produce small ugly 

 bulbs from which excellent spikes may be obtained. The average 

 weight of cheap bulbs, such as we buy by the hundred for the 

 plunging system, is 2| ounces, but these never produce spikes of 

 more than an average goodness, though good enough for outdoor work. 

 If a selection were to be made for exhibition purposes, the best 

 mode of proceeding would be, first, to pick out all the large hard 

 bulbs from a bag of a given kind, and then weigh them against each 

 other till the very heaviest were obtained ; and if the selection were 

 made from a first-rate stock, these bulbs would range from 3 o ounces 

 to 4-o- ounces, and to exceed the last figure would be a rare occur- 

 rence. Yet there are bulbs in the market ranging over 5 ounces, 

 and whoever can obtain them may expect to grow such trusses as 

 we see in the best twelves and twenty-fours at the London spring 

 exhibitions. 



In potting hyacinths the stuff should consist of full one-half of 

 fat rotten dung. It is the want of food too often which mars the 

 great spike that the Dutchman has crammed into the big bulb of 

 four or five ounces. To pot early is of as much importance as to 

 pot well, for the secret of success is to prolong the growth over as 

 large a space of time as possible. To pot late, and to force early, is 

 therefore very bad practice. Early potting insures plenty of roots 

 before the crown begins to grow, and with plenty of roots, dumpi- 

 ness is impossible, and the chances are really in favour of a stout 

 pillar of the proper length, and bells fully developed in size, colour, 

 and fragrance. Some years ago I knocked over the ridiculous 

 practice of putting paper caps over hyacinth spikes to draw them 

 up, by showing that pushing was preferable to drawing, and that 

 reluctance of the spike to rise could be cured by bottom-heat, and 

 could not be satisfactorily cured in any other way. Many of the 



