718 



TUL 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



T U L 



the flowers will continue but a short time in beauty; but, 

 where these instructions are faithfully followed, they may be 

 preserved in flower a full month, which is as long as most 

 other flowers continue. Opulent amateurs are sometimes at 

 the expense of erecting large frames of iron-work, to cover 

 their beds of Tulips, in such a manner that they may walk 

 between two beds under the frame, over which are spread 

 tarpaulins, so as to keep off sun, rain, and frost, whereby 

 they can view the flowers without being at the trouble of 

 taking off or turning the tarpaulins, or being incommoded by 

 the sun or rain, which cannot be avoided where the covering 

 is low; besides, by thus raising the covers, the flowers have 

 a greater share of air, so that they are not drawn so weak, as 

 they are when the covering is low and close to them : but 

 these frames being expensive, can only be made by persons 

 of fortune ; however, wooden frames may be contrived at a 

 smaller expense, and, being arched over with hoops, appear 

 as sightly, but are less durable. After the flowers are 

 faded, the heads of all the fine sorts should be broken off to 

 prevent their seeding, which would injure them, by render- 

 ing their stripes less perfect; their stems also would decay 

 sooner than they otherwise would do :' hence, their roots 

 may be taken up early in June, for they ought not to remain 

 in the ground after their leaves are decayed. In taking the 

 roots out of the ground, be careful not to bruise or cut them, 

 which will cause them to rot ; and let it be done, if possible, 

 a day or two after the earth has been loosened by rain. 

 When the roots are taken out of the ground, clear them from 

 their old covers, and all sorts of filth, and spread them upon 

 mats in a shady place to dry; after which they should be 

 put up in a dry place, where vermin cannot get to them, 

 observing to keep every sort separate ; but they should not 

 be kept too close from the air, nor suffered to be in heaps 

 together, lest they should grow mouldy, for if any of the 

 roots once take the mould, they commonly rot when they are 

 planted again, if not before. The offsets of these roots, 

 which are not large enough to produce flowers the succeed- 

 ing year, should be also put by themselves, keeping each 

 sort distinct; they should be planted a month earlier in 

 autumn than the blowing-roots, in particular beds by them- 

 selves in the flower-nursery, not exposed to public view. 

 The earth of these beds should be prepared in the same 

 manner as for larger roots, but they ought not to be planted 

 above five inches deep, because they are not strong enough 

 to push through so great a covering of the earth as the old 

 roots ; they may be placed much nearer together than those 

 which are to flower, which most of them will be strong 

 enough to do in the first year, after which they may be 

 removed into the flower-garden, and placed in the beds 

 among those of the same kinds. Maddock says, the most 

 proper time to plant Tulip roots is from the end of October 

 to the tenth of November. The bed should be chosen in an 

 open airy part of the garden. Having marked out the 

 ground according to the intended dimensions of the bed, 

 take out the soil to the depth of twenty inches, fill up the 

 bottom with sound fresh earth, ten inches thick ; upon this 

 put a mixture of rotten cow-dung and fresh earth in equal 

 quantities, and two years old, to the thickness of twelve 

 inches ; and upon this, lay more of the same kind of earth 

 as that of the bottom, two inches thick at the sides, and 

 three in the middle, to give the bed a small degree of con- 

 vexity. This operation is to be performed about the 20th of 

 October, a week or two before planting, to allow the bed 

 time to settle, after which it will be about two inches higher 

 than in the alleys. If heavy rain should intervene, it will 

 be proper to cover the bed to keep them off, because they 



would render it too compact and adhesive for the tender 

 fibres to pass freely through it. On the day of planting, rake 

 the surface of the bed even, still preserving its convexity, 

 and mark the places for the roots seven inches from each 

 other every way, adapting the length of the bed and the 

 number of rows to the quantity of roots. If the bed consist 

 of seven rows, which make the handsomest appearance, it 

 ought to be fifty inches wide, which will allow a space of 

 four inches between the outer rows and the sides of the bed ; 

 and there should be an alley or path round it two feet and a 

 half or three feet wide. If the bed contain only five rows, 

 it must be three feet wide, to give the roots the same dis- 

 tances, and such a bed will require only one path in front. 

 Sprinkle a little clean sand where the 1 roots are to be set, 

 place them with great exactness, and add some very sandy 

 earth, so as to envelop each root completely in a small cone ; 

 then cover the whole very carefully with strong sound fresh 

 loam, about four inches thick at the middle of the bed, 

 gradually decreasing to three inches at the sides ; thus will 

 the convexity be increased in a proper degree, and the roots 

 be covered with soil proportioned to their size and strength. 

 The largest and strongest should occupy the centre rows; 

 the smallest and weakest, the outside. No root, however 

 strong, ought to be planted more than four inches cjeep from 

 the crown of it; nor should any blooming root, however 

 small, be set less than two inches and a half or three inches 

 deep. The soil, intended to cover the bulbs, should have 

 been frequently turned over, and well exposed to the sun 

 and air, some time before it is used, that it may be perfectly 

 sweet and free from all that acrid quality which most soils 

 are subject to, when taken considerably below the surface. 

 If the bed contain but five rows, with a path in front only, 

 the smallest and lowest growing roots should be planted in 

 front, and so on to the last row, which ought to contain the 

 strongest and largest, and the bed may slope towards the 

 front ; in which case the back should be supported with 

 boards or brick-work, to prevent the earth from crumbling 

 down, and leaving the roots bare. When the planting is 

 finished, hoop the bed over, that it may be safely covered 

 with mats or canvass in heavy rains and severe frosts. By 

 the end of February every healthy plant will have risen above 

 ground, except a few very late ones, which may be a week 

 longer before they appear. If any canker be discernible, cut 

 it out carefully on a dry day with a sharp knife. When the 

 surface of the bed appears to be of too close a contexture, it 

 should be carefully stirred up, about two inches deep. By 

 the end of April, some of the plants may be grown so tall as 

 to require the hoops to be raised a little. As soon as any 

 of the earlier ones begin to shew colour, shade them from 

 the sun, which would cause the colours to run and intermix, 

 so as to destroy the beauty of the flowers : some are more 

 liable to this injury than others, and may be spoiled in five 

 minutes. When the greater part of the flowers have begun 

 to open, a frame or awning should be erected over the beds 

 and paths, to keep out the rain, and to admit as much light 

 as possible ; hence the cloth covering should be rolled up in 

 the morning early, if the weather be favourable, otherwise 

 the colours of the flowers will be faint and weak. This cloth 

 covering should come down on each side, within about three 

 feet of the ground, to allow a free circulation of air, except 

 in windy weather, and then the windward side must be pro- 

 tected quite to the ground. Tulips, according to some, 

 never require watering, but only need the admission of mode- 

 rate rain, in small quantities, before and after the bloom is 

 over ; before the bloom, they are particularly necessary, to 

 make it strong. When the awning is erected, the hoops 



