Vol. Vm.— No. 15. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



118 



>N THE CULTIVATION OF HYACINTHS, 

 TULIPS, NARCISSUS, &c. 



'rom Notes taken by an American gentleman while in 

 Holland.] 



Tlie proper sol! for bulbs, in general, is a light rich 

 il, mixed with a considerable portion of fine sea 

 nd ; and the compost generally used, is one third 

 le sand, one sixth rich loam, one third cow dung and 

 e sixth leaves of trees. The two last to be well 

 tted, and at least two years old ; with this mix- 

 re, the beds are formed two feet deep, at least, and 

 ised four or six inches above the level of the gar- 

 n, to turn off rain. The proper time of planting is 



the months of October and November, though it 

 ly answer by the first of December — provided the 

 ound remains sufficiently open. 

 Hyaciktus may be set six inches apart from each 

 her, and each bulb placed in fine sea sand and 

 vered with it. After the bed is thus planted, cover 

 e whole carefully with earth four inches. When 

 e winter is fairly set in, (say from the 1st to the 10th 

 December) then cover with leaves, straw, or sea- 

 jed, four or six inches deep, which should be re- 

 3ved early in the spring ; a part of it, perhaps as 

 rly as the 20th of February, and the remainder 

 iring March. M'ith too much protection, the bulbs 

 aw up weak and pale, and are materially injured. 

 jring their bloom, it will be proper to support the 

 lis by small sticks, and protect them from heavy 

 ins and the sun. The flower stems should be cut oft' 

 soon as they have faded, and the beds left exposed 

 til the leaves are nearly dried, when the bulbs 

 ould be taken up, the leaves cut oft" half an inch 

 )m the top of the bulb, and then replaced (sideways) 

 ith the fibres on and covered with earth, there to 

 y gradually for a month ; when tliey are to be 

 ken up, cleaned from the earth and fibres, and each 

 db wrapped in a separate paper in a dry place, and 

 iquently aired, or to be packed in dry sand. 

 When wanted for the parlor, they should be planted 

 September, (if to blow early in the winter) in deep 

 irrow pots, six inches in diameter at the top, and 

 lOut one third deeper than common flower pots, 

 be soil the same as before mentioned, and the bulb 



be just covered by it. They .should not be wa- 

 red from the top, but the pots should stand, twice 

 week, in saucers filled with water. Let them have 

 much air and sun as possible, and not suffer them 

 feel the direct injlucnce of the fire— for heat forces 

 e stem out before the bells have time to form and ac- 

 m vigor and beauty, men the flowers begin to 

 en,give as much water as the earth mil imbibe. 

 To preserve these bulbs, they sliould, as soon as 

 e bloom is over, be turned out of the pot with fibres 

 id earth, and put in a prepared bed in the garden, to 



treated afterwards as those growing in open 

 ound. By this mode tlie bulbs will not be materi- 

 ly injured, and will blow well the second year. 

 ''hereas those grown on glasses or forced are seldom 

 lod for any thing afterwards. 



Single IIvacinths are preferable to most double 

 les for early flowering in winter ; being two or three 

 eeks sooner in bloom. Their colors are more briU- 

 nt and the bells more numerous than the double. 

 TnLiPs are hardier than the hyacinth, and in open 

 ound may be planted four inches apart, coveiod two 

 three inches with earth. 



The Polyanthus Narcissus should be planted 

 s inches deep and eight inches apart, and carefully 

 otected from frost, being the most tender of the 

 libs. Unless taken up after bloom, it will grow in 

 e autumn and suffer during winter. 

 Depth and distances. Hyacinths, amaryllis, marta- 

 )n, and other large Idies, and pa;onies, should be 

 anted at the depth of four inches ; crown imperi- 

 f, and polyanthus narcissus, five inches ; tulips, 

 luble narcissus, jonquilles, colchicums and snow- 

 ikes, three inches ; bulbous irises, crocuses, arums, 

 lall fritellarias, tiger flowers, gladiolus, and snow- 

 dps, two inches ; ranunculus, anemones, oxalis, and 

 ig's-tooth violets, one inch ; always measuring from 

 e top of the bulb. The rows should be about ten 

 ches apart, and the roots be placed from four to six 

 ches apart in the rows, according to their size. 



Method to bloom hyacinlhs and other bulbs in the 

 winter season, in pots or glasses. For this purpose, 

 single hyacinths, and such as are designated earliest 

 among tlie double, are to b^ preferred. Single hya- 

 cinths are generally hold in less estimation than dou- 

 ble ones ; their colors, however, are more vivid, and their 

 belts, though smaller, are more numerous. Some of 

 the finer sorts are exquisitely beautiful ; they are 

 preferable for flowering in winter to most of the 

 double ones, as they bloom two or three weeks ear- 

 lier, and are very sv.'eet scented. Roman narcissus, 

 double jonquilles, polyanthus narcissus, double nar- 

 cissus, and crocuses, also make A fine appearance in 

 the parlor during the winter. It is a remarkable cir- 

 cumstance of the crocus, that it keeps its petals ex- 

 panded during a tolerably bright candle cr lamp 

 light, in the same way as it does during the ligiit of 

 the sun. If the candle be removed, the crocuses 

 close their petals, as they do in the garden when a 

 cloud obscures the sun ; and when the artificial light 

 is restored, they open again, as tliey do with the re- 

 turn of the direct solar rays. 



Hyacinths intended for glasses should be placed 

 in them about the middle of November, the glasses 

 being previously filled with pure water, so that the 

 bottom of the bulb may just touch the water; then 

 place them for the first ten days in a dark room, to 

 promote the shooting of the roots, atter which expose 

 them to the light and sun as much as possible. They 

 will blow, however, without any sun ; but the colors 

 of the flowers will be inferior. The water should be 

 changed as it becomes impure ; draw the roots en- 

 tirely out of the glasses, rince oft' the fibres in clean 

 water, and tlie glasses well washed inside ; care 

 should be taken not to suffer the water to freeze, 

 as it not only bursts the glasses, but often causes the 

 fibres to decay. Whether the water bo hard or soft 

 is of no great consequence ; but soft oi rain water is 

 considered preferable, but it must be perfectly clear. 

 FoTctd bulbs art seldom good for any thing after- 

 wards. 



Nosegays should have the water in which their 

 ends are inserted changed, on the same principle as 

 bulbous roots; and a much faded nosegay, or one dried 

 up, may often be recovered for a time, by covering 

 with a glass bell, or cap, or by substituting warm wa- 

 ter for cold. 



From Adium's Memoirs on the Cullivalion of ihe Vine. 



TO PRNPAGATE GRAPE VINES FROM 



SEEDS. 



When vines are to be rai.sed from seeds, they 

 should be sowed the latter end of February, or be- 

 ginning of March, or they may be sowed as late 

 as the middle of April; but the earlier the better, 

 in rows, in borders, or in beds. Sow the seed in 

 rich, light earth, (well spaded and raked) about an 

 inch deep, and if the weather is dry, water them 

 occasionally, and wiien the seeds begins to vege- 

 tate, the plants should be watered iu the evenings 

 in dry weather. When the ))lants are six JMches 

 high, they should be carefully tied to rods, leaving 

 only one stem the first year; the rods should be 

 nearly as high as the vines are likely to grow the 

 first season. — When the leaves begin to drop, pull 

 oflf as they turn yellow, so that tlie wood may ri- 

 peu well. 



About the latter end of March, the next season, 

 they may be planted out where they arc intended 

 to remain, and they should be cut oft" to the third 

 eye if very strong, but only to the second, if weak, 

 rubbing off" the lower bud with the finger and 

 thumb. And afterwards they are to be managed 

 as the cuttings that arc planted in the vineyard. 

 But it is to be observed, that the vines propagated 

 from seed do not all bear fruit, probably not more 

 than the half of them ; therefore, if they are 

 strong growing vines, I would advise to engraft 

 all the barren ones. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1829. 



CATTLE SHOWS, EXHIBITION OF MANU- 

 FACTURES, &c. 



The Annual Cattle Show andJF"air of the Berk- 

 shire County Agricultural Society was holden on 

 the 7th and 8th inst. The Argus, (Pittsfielil news, 

 paper) says, " Our streets were literally thronged : 

 and from the unusual number who were gutheicil 

 together on this occasion, we may infer the fact, 

 that the interest felt in these exhibitions by the in- 

 telligent and hardy yeomanry of Berkshire, so far 

 from abating, increases with every repetition : — 

 and the practical utility of them is happily illus- 

 trated by the certainly wonderful improvement 

 which is manifested in every department of agri- 

 culture. The Ploughing Match was conducted 

 with much spirit and skill by nine competitors. 

 The Address by Henry Hubbard, Esq. was well 

 adapted to the occasion. It set forth the dignity 

 and advantages of agricultural pursuits, and com- 

 manded universal ajqjrobation." 



The Committee on Agricultural Products, in 

 their Report observe that, " The crops of English 

 trrain, the present year, with the exception of 

 Spring wheat, have seldom been surpassed, either 

 in luxuriance of growth, or value of harvest. I-n 

 the culture of these important articles of subsist- 

 ence and wealth, there is a manifest improvement. 

 Ihider the influence of the spirit which this Soci- 

 civ has elicited, by bringing together, annually, 

 many of our best farmers, who com])arc their dif- 

 ferent modes of culture, and seek out the means 

 of making the earth yield her hundred folil, tho 

 land has assumed a new and more productive as- 

 pect, and the hand of labor with increasing skill 

 and industry reaps a more plentiful reward." 



The corn crops, they state, had not realized our ' 



hopes at seed time, having been injured by cold 

 and drought. "The early planted corn and pota- 

 toes suffered much less by the drought than the 

 later, and the great difference in their value is an 

 exhortation to us to improve the first buddings of 

 the spring.' 



The Committee awarded to Deacon Josiah 

 Jones, of Stockbridge, for the best two acres of 

 Winter wheat, §8, and slated that " this crop of 

 wheat will yield 30 bushels to the acre." There 

 were fourteen pieces of Corn entered for iiremi- 

 ums. The Committee also mention "specimens 

 of Currant and Elder Wine offered by Messrs 

 Henry K. and Nelson Strong, prepared without 

 spice or spirit of any kind." 



The Committee on the Ploughing Match observe 

 " We have seen farmers ploughing with two or 

 three yoke of oxen and a horse, with a boy riding, 

 a driver who would occasionally ride upon the 

 plough-beam, and the ploughman tripping and 

 twitching as if violently exercised by a pov^-erful 

 opponent at wrestling — now we see a man with 

 one yoke of oxen, driven by himself, and his 

 plough held by himself, and directed by a gentle 

 touch of either hand, and marching forward with 

 apparent ease and certain expedition, with as 

 much pride as if he were a Roman soldier entering 

 Constantinople. 



" Limited as we are by the Society to a furrow 

 eleven inches wide, and five inches deep, we have 

 but little to do or say — we would, however, r«- 

 spectfully recommend to the Society, in future, not 

 to limit us to width or depth, or time, but that he 



