384 THE PLEASURE, OR [MAY, 



Tulips. 



Continue to protect the fine late tulips, yet in flowers, as directed 

 last month in page 334, and treat them in every respect as there 

 advised. 



As soon as the petals or flowers fall, the* seed- vessel of each 

 should be immediately broken off, for if suffered to remain and ri- 

 pen seed, it would procrastinate the maturity of the roots, and con- 

 siderably weaken them. 



Towards the end of the month, or rather when the grass, or fo- 

 liage, becomes of a yellowish brown, not before, which will happen 

 sooner or later according to season, climate, soil and situation, and 

 that a few inches of the top or stem appears dry, purplish, and 

 withered, you are to take up the roots of such as you particularly 

 esteem ; for this is the critical period for that work, because if 

 done earlier, they would be weak and spungy, and deferred later, 

 their juices would become gross ; which would appear manifest at 

 the succeeding bloom, by too great a redundance of colorific matter 

 in the petals, and the flowers would be what is generally termed 

 foul. 



When the roots are taken up, they are to be laid in a dry shady 

 place and gradually dried ; observing to keep each variety of the 

 superb kinds separate, that in planting, you may know how to di- 

 versify the bed, according to fancy, either as to intermixture of co- 

 lours, or the usual height and growth of the plants. About five or 

 six weeks after the bulbs are taken up and properly dried, it is pro- 

 per to take off their loose skins, fibres, and offsets ; the last brown 

 "skin which is so intimately connected with the root, ought to be 

 left on ; after which they should be preserved, in dry sand, barley 

 chaff, saw dust, or rolled up in separate papers, till the time of 

 planting, for the action of the air during our warm summers and 

 autumns, would greatly weaken and injure them, by drying up part 

 of their juices. 



The smallest and weakest offsets, particularly such as are not 

 provided with a brown skin, ought to be replanted as soon as they 

 are taken up, about an inch and a half deep, in a fresh sandy loam, 

 and in a dry situation ; or instead of replanting these offsets so early, 

 they may be preserved from the drying influence of the air, by 

 burying them in dry sand till October, when they are to be planted 

 as already mentioned. 



Common tulips, planted in the borders of the pleasure ground, &c. 

 need not be taken up oftener, than once in two or three years, to 

 separate the offsets, and replant the bulbs in fresh earth. 



Ranunculuses. 



The weather in this month is generally very clear and hot ; the 

 ranunculuses ought to be shaded at such times, from the mid-day 

 isun, by means of lofty hoops and mats, or by some better contri- 

 vance, that will admit li^ht and air freely ; a frame and cover, simi- 



