MAY.] FLOWER-GARDEN. 383 



placed archwise over the beds for their support. These should be 

 laid on every day, \vhen the sun shines powerfully, about nine or 

 tea o'clock in the morning, and taken off at four or five in the af- 

 ternoon. 



When hyacinths are past flower, let them always be fully exposed 

 to the weather, except in very heavy torrents of rain, from which 

 they should be carefully protected. 



It is the practice in Holland to take up the bulbs, about a month 

 after the bloom is completely over, in the following manner : as 

 soon as the plants begin to put on a yellowish decayed appearance, 

 they take up the roots and cut off the stem and foliage, within an 

 inch, or half an inch of the bulb, but leave the fibres, &c. attached 

 to it ; they then place the bulbs again on the same bed, with their 

 points towards the north, and cover them about an inch deep, with 

 dry earth or sand in form of a ridge, or in little cones over each 

 bulb : in this state they remain about three weeks longer, and dry 

 or ripen gradually ; during which period the bed is preserved from 

 heavy rains or too much sun, but at all other times exposed to the 

 full air ; at the expiration of this period, the bulbs are taken up, and 

 their fibres, which are become dry and withered, cut or gently 

 rubbed off ; they are then placed in a dry room for two or three 

 weeks, and are afterwards cleaned from any soil that adheres to 

 them, their loose skins taken off, with such offsets as may be easily 

 separated. 



When this dressing is finished, the bulbs are wrapped up in se- 

 parate pieces of paper, or buried in sand, made effectually dry for 

 that purpose, where they remain till the return of the season for 

 planting. 



Another, and less troublesome, mode of treatment after bloom, 

 though perhaps more hazardous, is to suffer the roots to remain in 

 the bed, till the stems and foliage appear nearly,,dried up and con- 

 sumed ; this will seldom happen to be the case, in less than two 

 months after bloom ; the bulbs are then to be taken up, cleaned 

 from the fibres, soil, &c. and spread to dry and harden on the floor 

 of an airy room, for about three weeks, then to be preserved in sand 

 or paper as before directed. Or they may be deposited in dry bar- 

 ley chaff, saw-dust, or kept on open shelves out of the sun and wet ; 

 but too much exposure to the air, often destroys many roots, and 

 materially injures the whole. 



Others again, take up the roots at the first mentioned period, 

 cutting off the flower stems but not the foliage, and prepare a bed 

 of light earth, either where the hyacinths had grown, or in any 

 other convenient place ; forming it into a high sloping ridge, east 

 and west ; on the north side of which, they place the roots in rows, 

 so as that the bulbs do not touch, and in a horizontal manner, co- 

 vering the roots and fibres with the earth, and suffering the leaves 

 to hang down the ridges ; here they remain till the bulbs are suffi- 

 ciently ripened, and then are taken up and treated as before. 



