42 



to grow ; and shortly after they huve 

 flowered they cease growing and re- 

 main dormant and without leaves 

 during the remainder of the year. 

 Hence almost all bulbs require to be 

 planted in autumn ; and hence, also, 

 they require a free, dry, and some- 

 what rich soil, into which their roots 

 may penetrate easily, and procure 

 nourishment without difiiculty for 

 their rapidly-growing leaves. The 

 bulb is in all cases strengthened by 

 preventing the flowers from pro- 

 ducing seeds ; and in most cases it 

 ought to be taken up as soon as the 

 leaves have decayed, and preserved in 

 dry sand or earth, and in some cases 

 on shelves, or in papers in a dry room, 

 till the planting season in autumn. 

 Bulbs which are indigenous to Bri- 

 tain, such as those of the common 

 wild Hyacinth, and some of the 

 Narcissi, receive little injury from 

 remaining in the ground all the year ; 

 but improved varieties of indigenous 

 bulbs, and all bulbs from warm 

 climates, such as those of the Hya- 

 cinth, the Ixias, &c., are greatly 

 injured by the moisture of our sum- 

 mers ; and v/hen left in the ground, 

 require the interposition of art to 

 keep the soil tolerably dry, till 

 bulbs have increased by means of 

 their offsets, so as to form a dense 

 mass. From the circumstance of 

 bulbs growing with great rapidity 

 when in a state of vegetation, they 

 require abundance of vrater ; and this 

 is the reason why the soil in which 

 they are planted should always be 

 deep, so as to retain moisture. A 

 bulb is essentially a bud, and con- 

 tains within itself the germs of the 

 leaves and flowers which are to be 

 produced the following season. In 

 plants belonging to the other divi- 

 sion of vegetables, those with netted 

 leaves, or what are called iJicotyU- 

 dones, a plant which is weak in the 

 beginning of the year may, by in- 



creased care and nourishment, be 

 made to flower in the course of the 

 season ; but this is by no means the 

 case with bulbs, not one additional 

 leaf or flower being in their case 

 capable of being produced during 

 the season that is not jireviously in 

 an embryo state in the bulb. Thus, 

 in one sense bulbs are of more easy 

 culture than any other class of 

 plants ; because the germ being pre- 

 viously formed, and the nourishment 

 being provided in the body of the 

 bulb, it is only necessary to supply 

 heat and moisture to cause these to 

 develope. Hence, the practice of 

 growing bulbs of Hyacinths, Tulips, 

 Narcissi, Crocuses, Irises, Snow- 

 drops, Fritillarias, &;c., placed over 

 water in glasses, or vessels of earth- 

 enware, or in moist moss. Bulbs 

 never last more than one year, a 

 new one foirming every season after 

 the plant has done flowering, as the 

 old bulb wastes away. Hence new 

 bulbs are formed every year in the 

 Tulip and the Hyacinth, at the side 

 of the old bulb ; in the Crocus and 

 the Gladiolus, and many of the 

 Cape Iridaceae, over the old bulb ; 

 and in the bulbous Irises, &c., 

 under the old bulb. Hence in the 

 cultivation of bulbs in the open 

 garden, there is a constant tendency 

 in some species to sink deeply into 

 the ground, and in others to rise to 

 the surface, which must be care- 

 fully counteracted by the cultivator, 

 by taking up and replanting ; thus, 

 the bulbous Iris, when left three or 

 four years in the ground, produces 

 weak leaves, and ceases to flower 

 freely, from the sinking of the bulbs ; 

 the Crocus, on the other hand, jiro- 

 duces weak flowers and leaves from 

 the bulbs rising above the surface ; 

 and the Tulip, if left in the ground 

 for a few years, in consequence of 

 the bulb being always produced at 

 one side, is never found to come up 



