42 PROPAGATION OF 



Be careful to take up bulbs as soon as the leaves 

 decay. If they are incautiously left in the ground 

 beyond that period, they begin to form the bud for 

 the next year's flowers ; and the check of a re- 

 moval would injure them. They might produce 

 flowers in due time, but they would be weakly. 



The little offsets wrll not flower for a year or 

 two. They may be consigned to a nursery-bed to 

 remain for that time, in order to swell and strength- 

 en by themselves. 



If you wish to procure new varieties from seed, 

 it must be sown in August. The healthiest flower- 

 stalks should be chosen, and deposited in pots or 

 boxes of fine light earth, for the convenience of re- 

 moving under shelter in wet or frost. Keep the 

 pots or boxes in the shade during the heats, but as 

 the cold weather advances, remove them to a warm 

 sheltered spot. Litter will shelter them from the 

 frost, if you cannot command any other covering. 

 The plants will appear early the following May : 

 they must be kept very clear from weeds, and be 

 moderately watered in dry weather. These seed- 

 lings must be transplanted every summer to be 

 thinned, and placed farther apart from each other, 

 till they blow, when they may be removed into the 

 flower-beds. 



This method is troublesome, and requires pa- 

 tience. Tulip seedlings are seven years before 

 they flower, and a lady may find her patience se- 

 verely tried in waiting for their blooms. Seven 

 years is a large portion of human life. If you can 

 persevere, however, you will be rewarded by beau- 

 tiful varieties of new colors and stripes. 



Fine tulips should have six leaves, three on the 

 outside and three on the inside, and the former 



