General J^olices. 1S7 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. General Notices. 



On the management of Bulbs, after being long out of the ground. — 

 One of ihe commoiie.st questions asked l)y gardeners, as well as am- 

 ateurs, is, what they are to do with bulbs they have just received from 

 abroad. That they do not treat them rightly is sufficiently shown by 

 the miserable health of those which are saved from the general loss 

 that so often attends upon all such importations. To this point, 

 then, we address ourselves. 



When a bulb has lain dormant in the earth during its natural pe- 

 riod, it is ready to sj)ring into renewed life upon the a|)piication of 

 warmth and moisture; and it matters little whether it is suddenly 

 transferred from dryness to moisture, or whether the change takes 

 place gradually; because its powders of life are unimpaired, and, like the 

 stomach which has recently digested one meal, it is ready to conunence 

 the immediate digestion of another. Not that in nature such sudden 

 changes naturally occur; on the contrary, when rain begins to fall, it 

 soaks but slowly into the earth, and when it does reach the bulb, it 

 is still arrested in its action by the numerous dry coats with which 

 this body is invested, and through which it must gradually filter. 



But when a bulb has been long out of the earth, its vital energies 

 are much diminished, and it cannot bear even that slow supply of 

 moisture — its food — which is furnished by wet soil, whose humidity 

 penetrates the bulb coats and is absorbed by the living tissue. To 

 continue the analogy — the bulb is then like the stomach of a famished 

 man, enfeebled by the prolonged cessation of its natural action, and 

 unable to bear any food whatever, except by very slow degrees. If 

 a weakened bulb is suddenly brought in contact with water, it will 

 absorb it, but will be unable to digest it. Then the water will be- 

 come stagnant and putrid, and destroy the bulb; althougti, if the 

 bulb could have digested it, it would have been converted into new 

 eletnents, and have proved its proper aliment. 



The rule, therefore, to observe with newly imported bulbs is, to 

 place them where they will absorb moisture slowly. The driest 

 earth is full of water, which can only be drawn off by the applica- 

 tion of intense heat. A bulb, therefore, should be planted in what is 

 termed a dry soil, and placed in a shady jiart of the green-house till 

 it has become plump and begun to shoot: if it has begun to shoot 

 when received, still the same treatment should be observed, and the 

 driest soil used to plant it in. It is only when decisive signs of nat- 

 ural growth can be defected, that a very little water should be given, 

 while the temperature at the same time is slightly increased: and no 

 considerable quantity of water should be administered until the 

 leaves are an inch or two above ground, and evidently disposed to 

 grow rapidly. If these precautions are taken, no failures are ever 

 likely to occur; if neglected, no success can be anticipated. We 

 once saw five hundred bulbs of one of the finest and rarest of all plants 

 destroyed by an unskilful gafdener, who planted them in the wet 



