264 THE GARDENER. [June 



When potted, give a good watering, letting them stand over a 

 night before covering up, to get them dry all round the bulb ; if covered 

 up at once, when damp, it induces them to rot. If required early, make 

 up a hot-bed — which must not be at all violent — some little time pre- 

 vious ; then place about 4 inches of ashes all over, making it level, 

 so that the pots stand solid. Before covering all overhead, it is a good 

 plan to take a pot a size smaller than those the bulbs are in, and in- 

 vert one on each pot ; this keeps all clear and free from slugs, neither 

 are they so liable to damp. Then cover all over to the depth of 6 

 inches. The bed should be regularly examined that the heat is not too 

 strong, as a gentle heat of 60° makes the roots start earlier than if 

 placed on a cold bottom. 



If all goes well, in about six weeks many of them will require to be 

 removed to another situation, which should be close to the glass where 

 a temperature of 60° can be maintained at night. They wiU soon 

 begin to grow, and throw up their flower-spikes. If taken from this 

 house into one with a temperature 10° lower, just when the flowers are 

 beginning to open, for a few days before taking them to the conserva- 

 tory, they stand longer and have a richness which they have not if 

 hard forced all along. 



Other two or three lots should be potted at intervals of three weeks, 

 receiving the same treatment, dispensing with the little bottom-heat 

 which the early ones received. We find that, by procuring the various 

 colours separate by the dozen, and placing three in a 6-inch pot, they 

 make a finer display than a single bulb in the same sized pot. 



They stand rougher treatment than is generally supposed of them. 

 Having some water-tight zinc flower-trays for dropping into baskets, a 

 lot of Hyacinths, Narcissus, and Tulips when in full flower were taken 

 out of their pots, most of them having all the soil removed from the 

 roots, and arranged to colour and height ; a little soil was put amongst 

 them, and after a good watering, they were mossed all over, when they 

 stood for about three weeks. The white Roman Hyacinth should not 

 be neglected for early work, as it comes in early, and is invaluable for 

 cutting ; and if the small bulbs are put into a 6-inch pot almost touch- 

 ing each other, they mix in weU along with other things. A. H. 



Thoresby Gardens. 



SEMPERVIVUM URBICUM AND S. CANABIEK"SE. 



Although we have already and recently called attention to succulent 

 plants, and to beds composed of them, as a most interesting and desir- 



