BULBOUS PLANTS. 43 



should be broader than the latter. The stripes 

 upon the tulip should also be defined and distinct, 

 not mixing with the ground tints. 



Hyacinth seedlings are four years before they 

 flower : this is not so harassing a period as the 

 tulip requires ; but every pleasure has its counter- 

 balance. If you will have fine flowers, you must 

 wait for them. These bulbs love a sunny situation. 

 The Orchis tribe prefer a moist ground and a 

 northen aspect. Columella says, that when orchis 

 bulbs are sown in autumn, they germinate and bear 

 flowers in April. 



The Colchicum? or narcissus are hardy bulbs, 

 and will grow in any sort of ground ; only the bet- 

 ter the soil is, the finer they will flower. 



The Guernsey Lily and Belladonna will not 

 thrive in the open ground, therefore it is needless 

 to speak of those very splendid flowers. 



The Lily of the valley, though scarcely to be 

 classed among the lily tribe, is a beautiful flower, 

 and as fragrant as it is lovely. They must be mul- 

 tiplied by dividing the roots, which should be part- 

 ed with a knife, as they are very intricate : do this 

 in December. Plant them three inches deep in 

 the ground and desturb them as little as you can 

 help, as they do not like to be often moved. They 

 are larger in their flowers when grown in the 

 shade, but they are sweeter in perfume in the sun's 

 full rays. Thin, broad leaves are sufficient shelter 

 to the flowers. 



All bulbs love salt : be careful, therefore, to throw 

 a portion of commen salt or brine upon your com- 

 post heap. My cousin, Cuthbert W. Johnson, 

 Esq., in his " Observations on the Employment of 

 Salt," quotes a passage in a letter addressed to him 



