560 Genet^al Notices. 



a considerable distance from the pillar, where its roots may not interfere 

 with those plants which are to remain, and carrying its stems under ground 

 to the bottom of the pillar, clearing its branches away, as they clothed the 

 part under it. When covered it might be removed, or better allowed to 

 remain, when it will form a fine umbel and showy head of bloom during the 

 summer and autumn months. — {Gard. Jour., 1852, p. 724.) 



Early Bulbs. — Through the medium of your Calendar, and other sources 

 of information, the attention of amateurs and forcing gardeners has been 

 directed to the importance of procuring and potting their bulbs for early 

 forcing. The London nurserymen and seedsmen, to meet this demand and 

 accommodate their customers, have urged the Dutch growers to forward 

 them earlier than usual, and the consequence is that now, instead of receiv- 

 ing the bulbs in October, it is not unusual to see them here in August, or 

 even the end of July. Now, it cannot be denied that early potting or plant- 

 ing is one of the main hinges of success in forcing bulbs for Christn)as 

 decoration, but whether early potting means the end of July or the middle 

 of September, is a matter worth defining. We all know, at least every 

 gardener ought to know, that the great desideratum in bulb management is 

 to have them thoroughly matured, first by the full exposure of the foliage 

 to light and atmospheric influences until it dies off naturally, and secondly 

 by slowly drying and ripening the bulbs afterwards until they are as firm 

 and solid as possible. Upon this thorough ripening, much more of the suc- 

 cess of early forcing and strong flowers depends than upon premature 

 ripening and potting. I say " premature ripening," because I believe, in 

 fact I have had the information direct from some of the principal growers in 

 Holland, that to meet this early demand a portion of the bulbs has to be 

 taken up before their growth is completed ; and hence, though early, they 

 are immature, and consequently do not contain the elements of early and 

 vigorous development. 



It may be argued that the early imported bulbs are properly matured, to 

 which I reply, test them. Take a dozen bulbs in the end of July, weigh 

 them, and then let them remain in the sun-scorched and gas-heated seed- 

 shop window, and in a fortnight they will have lost one-third of their weight, 

 and will in consequence have quite a shrivelled appearance. Submit a 

 similar quantity of later imported bulbs to the same test in September, and 

 they will scarcely be injured at all. Let me not, however, be misunder- 

 stood; for while I am desirous of pointing out the impropriety of importing 

 bulbs very early, I do not wish to run to the old extreme of very late im- 

 portations. For my own part, I am quite convinced — and I force many 

 hundreds annually — that thoroughly ripened bulbs potted by the beginning 

 of October, and properly treated afterwards, are superior for blooming at 

 Christmas to those imported in July ; in fact, having more true sap stored up, 

 they will produce finer spikes of bloom than the early imported bulbs possi- 

 bly can do. 



Few plants pay better for good treatment than early bulbs, and they 

 delight in good rich soil, such as mellow loan and fresh horse-dung sweated 



