THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 265 



complaints that correspondents send to editors of horticultural 

 journals on the subject of dumpy hyacinths, are made in too much 

 haste. Many a bulb that threatens to be dumpy, will, if let alone, 

 make a spike of proper length and substance, without a night-cap 

 or a foot-warmer. It will be observed that the crown sometimes 

 goes ahead of the roots. Being insufficiently nourished, its growth 

 is arrested, and the spike remains all of a heap in the midst of some 

 half-dozen short poverty-struck leaves. If such a plant were placed 

 on a tank or in a tan-bed at from 60° to 70°, the stimulus given to 

 the roots would soon have its effect on the leaves and the spike, but 

 very often, if left alone, the roots already pushing will at last over- 

 take the leaves, and the balance being restored the spike will rise, 

 and before the bells are all out, will have reasonable dimensions. 

 Many a time have I picked out a dozen or two of the dumpy sort, 

 and put them altogether on a shelf near the glass, and left them to 

 their fate, and at least nine out of every ten turned out right in the 

 end, and proved as useful as those which behaved well from the first. 

 To ascertain the cause of dumpiness is a simple matter enough. 

 Tou have but to turn out the bulb, and you will find that it has but 

 a few miserable roots an inch or so long, or perhaps is cankered at 

 the base, and making no roots at all. Now a paper cap is no cure 

 for such a state of things ; but bottom-heat, if there is simply 

 reluctance to make roots, and no canker, will as certainly set the 

 matter to rights as the needle will point to the pole, or the water 

 find its level. 



The subject of watering is of no less importance than the manner 

 and time of potting. If the stuff is reasonably moist when the bulbs 

 are potted, there need be no water given at all. If they are plunged 

 out of doors, and covered, as much water as they require will be 

 conveyed to them by the winter rains. We suppose our Stoke New- 

 ington practices are the best that can be, and the stuff we plunge 

 the pots in is cocoanut-fibre, wmich is the cleanest and most com- 

 fortable of plunging materials ever used. When removed from the 

 plunge-bed, it is seldom they need be watered. But after a little 

 while, having stood on the floor of the house to acquire a healthy 

 green hue, we put them near the glass, and tben regular watering 

 becomes a matter of necessity. Now to help out all your picked 

 bulbs, use Standen's manure ; it is perfectly safe and effectual to 

 intensify colour, and swell the pillar and the bells to their fullest size. 

 It must not be used till the roots begin to peep through the bottoms 

 of the pots, which they soon do if they are properly treated. Then 

 spread about a teaspoonful on the surface of the soil in the pots, 

 and in watering take care to wash it in ; a careless operator will take 

 care to wash it out ; and " should this meet the eye " of any amateur 

 not accustomed to practical operations, the hint may be useful, that 

 if the finger is placed upon the spout of the Avater-pot, the stream 

 may be regulated to a nicety. Hyacinths may have two doses of 

 Standen's manure, and the best way is to use it dry, powdered on 

 the soil ; this is far preferable to any liquid manure, because only a 

 portion is dissolved at each watering, and the best results of such 

 food are obtained by giving it weak and often. 



