PLANT. PROPAGATION 



FIG. 67 HYACINTH PROPAGATION 

 Reading down cutting the bulbs; nursery 

 storage house; interior of house showing 

 shelves for storing cut bulbs; planting the 

 bulbs after being stored. 



bulbs, and thirty in that of 

 notched ones are formed 

 upon them. They are left 

 until after all the other 

 bulbs are planted so as to 

 give them the care of the 

 nursery as long as possible. 

 Then, usually the last week 

 in October or the first in 

 November, they are taken 

 to the field and planted. 

 The ground has been care- 

 fully prepared for them; 

 well dug and liberally dress- 

 ed with well-rotted cow 

 manure earlier in the year. 

 This kind of fertilizer is 

 preferred to others, both 

 because it is cheaper and 

 because it is less harmful 

 to the hyacinth, whose ex- 

 tremely sensitive bulb would 

 be burned up by commer- 

 cial fertilizers. Hyacinths 

 cannot be set in the same 

 ground except at two-year 

 intervals, or at one-year in- 

 tervals if the soil is turned 

 up from a much greater 

 depth. Tulips and hyacinths 

 thrive on ground used for 

 each other alternately. 



Taken to the field, the 

 bulbs are set in the ground 

 about five inches deep and 

 an area of about five inches 

 square is allowed for each. 

 The flower beds are three 

 feet wide and a path one 

 foot wide is left between 

 them. When all is ready, 

 the whole field is covered 

 with about 10 inches of hay 

 or straw; a necessary pre- 

 caution, for^the hyacinth is 

 very susceptible to cold. The 

 fields lie thus till spring, 

 when tops develop. The 

 flower stems are cut about 

 10 days after flowers appear 

 to strengthen the bulbs. 



