APRIL.] FLOWER-GARDEN. 349 



The Sisyrinchium, will bear trimming extremely well, and con- 

 tinue to produce flower-stems and flowers, notwithstanding. 



Where any of the above edgings have, for want of care, grown , 

 into rude disorder, they should be taken up, slipped, or divided, and ' 

 replanted in a close regular manner. 



Tuberoses. 



The Polianthes tuberosa, or Tuberose. It is said that this beauti- 

 ful flower, was first brought into Europe from the East Indies, by 

 Father Theophilus Minuti, and to have been cultivated by him at 

 Boisgencier, near Toulon, in France, about the year 1590. The 

 double flowering variety, was obtained from the seed, by Monsieur 

 Le Cour, of Leden, in Holland ; who, for many years, was so tena- 

 ceous of the roots, even after he had propagated them in such plen- 

 ty, as to have more than he could plant, that he caused them to be 

 cut in pieces, to have the vanity of boasting, that he was the only 

 person in Europe that possessed this flower. It appears from Eve- 

 lyn's KalendaT) that it was cultivated in England in 1664 ; from 

 whence, no doubt, it was imported into America. 



To have this fragrant flower in tolerable early perfection, you 

 may about the first of this month, or any time in March, plant a 

 lew roots in pots of light rich mould, one in each, first stripping 

 off the offsets, for if these are left on, they will draw away a consi- 

 derable part of the nourishment, whereby the bloom will be greatly 

 weakened. The upper part of the roots, when planted in fiats, 

 should only be covered about a quarter of an inch deep : imme- 

 diately plunge the pots to their rims in a hot-bed, and give but 

 very little water, if any, until the plants are up and growing freely, 

 but afterwards, they will require a good supply. As the weather 

 gets warm, give them plenty of air, and also sufficient head-room, 

 till the middle of May j then, place them where designed to flower ; 

 first tying the advancing stems, to small green painted sticks, to 

 prevent their being dashed about by the winds. 



The time for planting these roots in the open ground is, in the 

 southern states, between the first and twentieth of this month, the 

 more northerly, the later ; in the middle states, the last week in 

 April, or first ten days of May ; and in the eastern states, between 

 the fifteenth and twentieth of May. 



Prepare for them beds of rich sandy loam, which being well trench- 

 ed or dug, divest the roots of all the larger offsets, or of the whole, 

 if the flowers are the exclusive objects, and plant them in rows one 

 foot asunder, and eight inches distant from one another therein ; 

 making small drills for their reception, and covering their crowns, 

 or upper parts, about an inch or an inch and a half deep, with fine 

 loose earth ; they will require no further care, but to keep them 

 free from weeds, and to support their flower stems, till November, 

 when the roots are to be taken up, and managed as then directed, 

 except to cut oft' the stems after the bloom is over. The offsets 

 are to be planted in like manner, but someweat closer, to produce 

 blowing roots, for the ensuing season, as the old ones seldom flower 

 >vcll the second year, though they will increase abundantly. 



