466 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



for at least eighteen months?, turned about once a 

 month, but in frosty weather more frequently, in 

 order to allow the trost well to penetrate it, as it 

 must not on any account be applied to the tulip 

 bed until it has become completely pulverized, and 

 formed positively into a substance as fine as 

 mould, when it is entirely fi'ecd from every perni- 

 cious or injurious property, and the existence of 

 insects is nearly or wholly annihilated. Then 

 the application of one-third part of such manure 

 to two-third parts of loam as above described, will 

 ■ — I speak from the most certain results of expe- 

 rience and adoption — be found highly beneficial in 

 producing a fine lull green foliage, a strong up- 

 right stem, and a vigorous and perfect bloom. 



The bed — should be about 4 feet wide, of a 

 length proportionate to the quantity required to 

 be planted, varying liom 12 to 15 feet in length, 

 planting seven in a row, the outer root to be about 

 3 inches from the edge. The box, as it is termed, 

 to be composed of strong wood, not less than one 

 inch and a quarter thick, and is raised 10 or 12 

 inches from the surface of the ground, below 

 which the soil should be completely removed for 

 at least one foot, filling up about one-half of the 

 space so dug out with some rather large cinder 

 ashes, or clinkers, or brick rubbish, or any sub- 

 stance which will not adhere closely, in order to 

 admit of a good drainage under the bed ; then 

 over that fill up the remaining space upon a level 

 whh the regular surface, or bottom edge of the 

 boarding or box of the bed, with a good dry mel- 

 low loam, which has been exposed some months 

 to the air ; and then proceed to fill the box with 

 the composition above described, it being first well 

 mixed and united together, to within about an 

 inch of the edge on each side, and raised gradu- 

 ally fi'oin each side towards the centre, so that the 

 middle row will be some inches higher in tjie 

 ground than the outside rows, although ))lanted 

 the same depth, being careful to plant the largest 

 and tallest growing roots in the centre, and the 

 next size in proportion in each of the other three 

 rows, the smallest or shortest being outside. 

 Round my bed, when thus arranged, I put a neat, 

 lightly constructed, open green fence, made of one 

 foot single laths, not too close together, and paint- 

 ed green, so that it stands just one foot high above 

 the upper edge of the box of the bed, gives a 

 neat, finished and ornamental appearance to the 

 bed, and forms a material protection to the growth 

 and bloom of the plants. When the tulip stage 

 is then erected over, and properly covered in the 

 blooming season, the bed assumes a regular and 

 handsome appearance, and forms no inconsidera- 

 ble scene of attraction. 



Planting. — The time to be selected for (hat pur- 

 pose is from the latter end of October to about the 

 12th of November, choosing during that period 

 the most open, dry weather, as that description of 

 soil which is used lor the growth of the tulip 

 cannot be disturbed with facility except when at 

 least moderately, if not nearly dry; independent 

 of which, it must be /bund more inconvenient to 

 plant (as very many persons do) a bed of several 

 hundred roots in wet, heavy weather. I judge it, 

 therefore, of much advantage to avail myself of 

 the earliest time above stated, if the v/eathcr be 

 fine. 



Dibble, or dibber, as it is termed. — The best 

 that I have ever seen or heard of is one which se- 



veral friends and mj'self make use of, which is 

 made of block tin, about six inches in depth, 3 

 inches in diameter across the top, narrowing to the 

 bottom to about 2 inches, with a mark or piece of 

 solder outside 4 inches upwards from the bottom. 

 This has a strong handle projecting over the top, 

 sufficiently circular and large to be convenient to 

 the hand, and each extremity soldered well on the 

 outside, near the top or upper rim of the dibble. 

 The material advantage derivable from this dib- 

 ble is at once explained and easily and quickly 

 compreliended, infismuch as by this method the 

 bed (being well settled and prepared for planting, 

 and marked out for the number of rows intended) 

 IS not at all compressed and disturbed, because by 

 gently pressing and turning this dibble round until 

 the mark above described reaches the surface of 

 the bed, evciy hole is made the precise and equal 

 depth (4 inches) throughout the bed, sufficiently 

 large at top to admit of the hand to place the root 

 regularly at the bottom ; the dibble, as described, 

 being smaller at bottom than top, retains the earth, 

 which is quckly turned out into large garden pots, 

 or on a bed or border close at hand ; and then af- 

 terwards the roots, when in, can be covered, and 

 the holes filled with the same soil as was taken 

 out, raking the bed over lightly and regularly with 

 a fine rake or spade, to settle the earth firmly and 

 properly. This is, by all who have seen and used 

 it, admitted to be the most perlijct and convenient 

 system. It is also an additional advantage to dib 

 the holes a week previous to planting, by which 

 means the soil is well exposed and sweetened, and 

 the bulbs are afterwards less liable to the attack of 

 insects. Previous to putting in the roots, it is a 

 great advantage, and universally adopted by those 

 i^iitiated in the treatment of tulips, to put a table 

 spoonful of "sharp sand" in the hole. This is the 

 surest preventive of the attack of the earthworm, 

 or any insect whatever, and preserves many a 

 sickly or damaged bulb from rotting. 



From the time the tulip is planted until the lat- 

 ter end of March or beginning of April, little or 

 no attention is required, where the bed is construc- 

 ted on the principle above described ; but at that 

 time, as the buds advance in growth, they are 

 more or less susceptible of injury from frost, and 

 particularly a su|)erabundance of wet. With a 

 bed of choice tulips, then, it is highly advisable, 

 if not indispensable, that a temporary awning or 

 covering, by means of large hoops and canvas, 

 should be thrown occasionally over the bed, to 

 protect it, as much as [)racticable, from heavy 

 rains, hail-storms, sharp cutting north-easterly, 

 &c. winds, and the chance of sharp fi-osty nights, 

 which not unfrcquently occur at this season. 

 There are many beds, however, in which the 

 choicest varieties are cultivated, that have no such 

 temporary protection alTorded them : but by being 

 properly raised and drained as above described, 

 the root is kept in a vigorous, healthy state, and 

 the buds sustain in general but little injury from 

 such mischances. 



Bloom. — In the beginning of May, when the 

 buds become snlficicntly matured, and begin to 

 display their various stripes and tints, it is time to 

 prepare to place the upper or main awning over 

 the bed, which on a regular stage is so construc- 

 ted as to admit of being drawn up at ])leasure by 

 means of a roller with pulleys on each slope, so 

 that sun and air can be admitted or excluded as 



