136 



THE AQUARIUM, OCTOBER, 1894. 



The Kqukriutv^. 



A Quarterly Magazine. 



50 cts. a Year. Single Copies, 25 cts. Eacii. 

 Sample Copies Tree. 



Advertising Rates on Application. 



HUGO MULERTT, F. I. R. S. A., 



Editor and Publisher, 



173 Nostrand Av., Brooklyn, N. Y. 



tables, potatoes, etc., are cultivated in 

 it during the summer. These having 

 been harvested, the soil is dug up 

 about fifteen inches deep, and about 

 the latter part of August the hyacinth 

 bulbs are planted in it. According to 

 their age and size they are planted 

 deeper or shallower, each size or age, 

 and, of course, also each variety, is 

 planted in separate beds. By the be- 

 ginning of frost these beds are covered 

 (mulched) with bullrubhes, reeds, etc., 

 to protect them, and in the early 

 sj)ring, when all danger of heavy frosts 

 is over, this mulching is taken off 

 again. About the middle of April sees 

 all the bulbs in bloom. The famous 

 floral mosaics mentioned above may 

 then be seen. After the flowers have 

 reached perfection, they are cut off to 

 relieve the plant for the benefit of the 

 bulb. These flowers are spread over 

 the other beds and spaded under in 

 order to return to the soil the ingre- 

 dients which they had taken from it, 

 after which potatoes are planted which, 

 in addition to yielding a crop, prevent 

 the wind from blowing away the soil. 



The plants having been thus relieved 

 soon make stronger growth and the 

 bulbs become larger and more com- 

 pact. About the end of June the 

 bulbs are taken up from the ground, 

 the strongest of the oldest are now 

 selected for propagation, which is done, 

 at this season, by dividing the bottom 

 of the bulb by three or four deep cuts 



with a knife into six to eight fields, or, 

 at a later season, when the bulbs are 

 perfectly dry, by cutting out (scooping) 

 the entire base of the bulb. After such 

 proceedings the bulbs are exj)osed to 

 draught and sunshine in order to heal 

 up their wounds quickly. By the first 

 process two or three young bulblets are 

 produced in each section (at the aver- 

 age twenty to one bulb), and these will 

 be of a marketable size about four 

 years later. When the other process is 

 followed, more (about one hundred 

 to each bulb) but smaller ones are 

 secured, requiring from four to eight 



A Dutch Hyacinth Bulb Cut Open. 



years of cultivation before they are 

 salable. One can see by this that it 

 requires extraordinary perseverance and 

 frugal habits in order to make bulb 

 growing a profitable business. 



New varieties of hyacinths or tulips 

 are produced by artificial fertilization 

 of the flowers. The process of growing 

 bulbs from seed is a still slower pro- 

 cess ; after one has succeeded in pro- 

 ducing a new and desirable colored or 

 shaped flower, it takes half a lifetime 

 to propagate a stock of it. 



After being lifted from their beds in 

 June and July, the bulbs are buried 

 once more in loose soil to kill their 

 roots and to close or ripen the bulb. 



