372 HARDY AND HALF-HARDY GARDEN BULBS. 



they make too early a growth, and are usually frost- 

 bitten. 



The culture of the fine varieties of the TULIP requires 

 more care. A bed for choice tulips is prepared by excavating 

 a pit a foot and a half or two feet deep ; a piece of ground 

 in an open, airy situation, and dry at bottom, having been 

 chosen. In this pit a layer is placed of thoroughly rotten 

 horse dung, at least two years old, and generally the 

 remains of an old hot-bed, and the bed is filled in to 

 within one inch of the top with rich sandy loam ; old 

 loamy turf, chopped fine and mixed with sand, and a little 

 rotten dung, is the best, where it can be procured. The 

 surface of the bed is then covered with sharp or drift sand, 

 and in this the bulbs are planted about six inches apart 

 every way, and the bed is filled up so as to raise it about 

 three inches above the surface, and to bury the bulbs about 

 four inches deep. The bed should be highest in the 

 middle, and slope to both sides, to throw off the rain. 

 The bulbs are generally planted in October, and as the 

 tulip is very hardy, it seldom requires any protection, 

 unless the winter should be very unfavorable, either 

 from severe frosts or almost constant rain, in which 

 case the bed may be protected by being hooped over, 



