104 ON THE CULTIVATION OF TULIPS. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF TULIPS. 



IN LETTERS TO A FRIEND. 



Letter IV. 



Dear Sir, — I now resume the old subject, viz., the cultivation of 

 Tulips. In my last I partly complied with your first request, and 

 forwarded you a list of Rose flowers that have gained prizes during the 

 last three years in the north. A list of Byblomens will be annexed .to 

 this. Your next question is, if I have ever made any experiments in 

 the cultivation of Tulips. Experiments with Tulips are rather danger- 

 ous, and I would not advise a beginner to try them. If he has a few 

 hundred bulbs more than he wants, and does not value them, then let 

 him experiment to his heart's delight, and not repine if he loses them 

 all. I knew an extensive grower in tlie vicinity of London some thirty 

 years ago, who thouglit if lie well supplied them with dung he sliould 

 do better ; the consequence was tliat he nearly lost all. I knew an 

 amateur, about twelve years since, who had more money than wit, and 

 a small smattering of chemistry, and every year he must needs make 

 experiments, and to my knowleclge he lost a hundred poimds worth for 

 some years, till at last he got tired, and was satisfied to proceed in tlie 

 usual routine. I have tried several myself, but will only relate what 

 has proved useful. Some years since I had the earth removed to the 

 depth of fourteen inches from ray Tulip-bed, in order to mix a little 

 fresh mould with that taken out ; at the same time I had a man to dig 

 a hole in the garden, in which to deposit some night-.soil. AVhen he 

 had got some three feet down, he came and told me that six years 

 before he had put some night-soil in tlie same place ; he had just come 

 to it, and it was rare stuff, and would advise me to let him put it aside, 

 as it was prime manure for anything. A thought struck me that 

 if it was good for everything, it was good for Tulips. It was a 

 dangerous thought, at least I thought so at the time ; but I was deter- 

 mined to try it. I had four inches of it laid at the bottom of the bed, 

 and incorporated with it some sifted old mortar rubbish, had tlie mould 

 put upon it, and planted my bulbs ; and at the next blooming season I 

 had the finest bloom I had ever had before, or have had since ; and 

 the reason I have never tried it again is, I have never had the good 

 old stuff to do it with. Since I have resided in Manchester, where 

 good compost for Tulips is diflScult to procure, I have been forced to 

 make experiments, or procure mould from a distance. I have freely 

 used urine. After the bulbs are taken up, I lay the bed up in ridges ; 

 and every morning, for two months, the urine is poured over the bed 

 from the rose of a waterpot ; its beneficial effects are far more] ex- 

 tensive than I ever anticipated, and I would advise every grower, who 

 is in like manner circumstanced, to try its efl^ects ; indeed, I should use 

 it every year if I was surrounded with mould the most congenial for 

 their cultivation, feeling assured it is conducive to their well doing. 

 I have heard some cultivators affirm that the mould of the Tulip-bed 

 should be changed every year, saying that Tulips could never be grown 

 Avell if it was neglected ; and when I first began growing Tulips I 

 adhered to this rule, but after found the change was for the worse, 



