162 DUTCH BULBS AND GARDENS 



which they keep in quantities ; they take care to work the 

 ground well every year, this brings the earth which was 

 below, at the roots of the last year's plants, to the surface. 



The earth dug, trenched, and enriched (for it must be 

 borne in mind it is nearly entirely sand) remains for five or six 

 years without need of manure. After this space of time it 

 has to be worked all over again, dug as deeply as before 

 and manured, if possible adding more pure sand, which is 

 found by digging a very deep way down. In winter the 

 beds are covered with tan or manure in proportion to the 

 strength of the cold. Growers like the frost to penetrate 

 as far as within an inch of the bulbs. If it goes farther, it 

 freezes the cluster of buds ; and if it reaches the roots, the 

 bulb is lost beyond redemption. But such a misfortune 

 seldom occurs, for growers know how to protect them by 

 increasing the thickness of manure or tan covering. Some 

 heap up the fallen snow over the beds, believing it is good 

 for bulbs, as it is for nearly all other plants, especially for 

 corn and oats ; while others take away the snow rather than 

 add to it. Each has good reasons, and much depends on the 

 time of year, for if it is late snow and the hyacinths are 

 beginning to put out leaves, a quantity of snow may be 

 hurtful and cause a fermentation of the sap, which may cause 

 the bulb to decay. 



After the cold weather is over the hyacinth buds begin 

 to pierce through the manure, and then it can be taken off, 

 and there is nothing more to be done after that but just to 

 pull up any weeds that make their appearance. Growers 

 either leave the flowers to fade or else cut them off, they 

 believe it makes no difference which they do. Some, when the 

 stalks are left uncut, strip off the blossoms with their ripening 

 seed-vessels, thinking it preserves the sap within the bulb ; 

 others cut the leaves half-way down, for they grow very long 

 and lengthy when the flower is dead. Both these methods 



