THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 305 



if a good pasture. This ought to lay in a heap for three years, and 

 it is then first-rate for tulips. You will see near field gates in moat 

 parts of the country, great heaps of grass turf, twitch, and other 

 gatherings from tlie field. Generally speaking, when these heaps 

 are well decayed, they are vmequalled for a tulip bed. If the loam 

 contains plenty of decayed fibre, animal manui'e is not wanted, but 

 if it is poor, a fifth part of very old hot-bed manure may be mixed 

 with it with perfect safety, but it must be thoroughly decayed or 

 it will do mischief In making the bed, if the soil on the spot is 

 suitable, dig it two feet deep, and break it up well. If it is not 

 suitable, take out the soil two feet deep, and fill in with the selected 

 soil. The bed must be four feet wide, and of any length you please. 

 It is a good plan to make a short bed and lengthen it from year to 

 year as the stock increases. This is better than aiming at too much 

 in the first instance. If you should be persuaded to soak the bed 

 with strong manure water before planting, you may expect bad 

 flowers. I mention this, because in some parts of the country a 

 fallacy in favour of the process prevails. Don't do it ; the tulip 

 does not require stimulants. The best way to keep up the bed is to 

 enclose it with boards placed on edge, these boards should be one 

 inch thick, and four and a half inches wide : they are to be fixed 

 half an inch deep in the ground, so as to stand four inches above the 

 level, and the bed is to be made up to the level of the boards within 

 an inch or so ; in other words, the bed is to be raised above the level 

 and enclosed in a sort of box. Before planting let the bed be forked 

 over again, and raked to a nice convex outline. 



The first thing preparatory to planting is to mark the edge of the 

 board both sides of the beds, at intervals of six inches. At each 

 mark there will be a line of bulbs six inches across, consisting of seven 

 bulbs. The rows are counted lengthwise. The flowers next the 

 edge are the first row ; those next towards the centre, the second 

 row ; the next the third row ; and the centre flowers form the fourth 

 row; thus: — 



It will be understood that the fourth row should comprise the 

 tallest flowers, the third the next tallest, and so on, to the edge. 

 On referring to a tulip catalogue, it will be seen that figures are 

 attached to the names ; those figures are to indicate which row the 

 variety should be placed in, but the rule need not be ■ followed 

 strictly ; for second row flowers may often be put in first or third 

 row, third row flowers in second row, and so on. As a rule, how- 

 ever, the figures are a guide to the heights, but a strong bulb of a 

 first row kind will generally grow taller than a weak second row, and 

 so on. 



It is necessary now to say that tulips are divided into three 

 classes : namely. Hoses, which have a white ground and crimson, pink, 

 or scarlet marks ; Bi/hlo'inens, which have white grounds and purple, 

 lilac, or black marks ; Bizarres, which have yellow grounds and marks 

 of any colour. There are various ways of arranging them, but the 



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