ON RAISING TULIPS FROM SEED. 87 



sel taken off immediately after flowering) appear ready to take up, 

 I cut off those bearing seed within an inch or two of the ground, 

 and directly thrust them six or eight inches into some loose earth 

 in the open garden, and there let them remain exposed to all 

 weathers, except heavy rains, till the capsules begin to open. I 

 then take them out of the ground, and after carefully drying, put 

 them by till wanted. I do not find this seed vegetate any worse 

 than that which is left to perfect itself on the parent bulb. 



Sowing the Seed. — About the beginning of November, take 

 large pots or boxes 8 or 10 in. deep, and fill them one-third of 

 the depth with lime scraps ; then take some of the old soil in 

 which your Carnations were grown, and fill them within an inch 

 of the top ; make the surface level, and sow the seed as thick as 

 rou think proper ; sift over it half an inch of leaf mould, if you 

 have it — if not, some of the same sort you sowed in. Defend 

 from heavy rains, yet do not let the soil get very dry. 



After the plants are up, remove them to a situation where they 

 can have the morning sun, only watering occasionally, till the 

 foliage begins to wither ; then let them dry tip. In taking them 

 up, be careful to search the soil well, or you will lose some of them. 

 When I went to take up my first crop, I expected to have found 

 fhem about an inch from the surface, but to my great surprise I 

 found none : I concluded, therefore, that they had all perished ; 

 but on emptying the pot of soil, I found them three or four inches 

 lower down. They are about the size of peas. Plant them the 

 next October or November, in pots of the same sort of compost 

 tliev were raised in ; let a layer of sand be laid over the surface, 

 about a quarter of an inch thick ; on this place the bulbs, about 

 an inch asunder, and cover with soil about two inches deep. Ma- 

 nage as before. The next year, plant them in the open ground. 



When the plants flower, which they will generally do in four or 

 five years, preserve all those that have good-shaped cups and clean 

 bottoms ; the others are not worth keeping : for though it must be 

 confessed, that many Tulips which are deficient in these properties 

 BN mnch admired by some florists, yet I think the time is not far 

 distant, when they will no longer be admitted as show flowers, but 

 1»' throvMi into mixtures, or cast upon the dunghill. The practice 

 of raising seedlings i» becoming very general, and the continual 

 acquisition of mw and L"<"i Tulips will drive the old warriors oul 

 ui the field. 



