1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



467 



occasion requires, witliout which convenience the 

 bloom can never be retained so lonfj or in so much 

 perlection, observing always to give the atlvan- 

 tage, if possible, ol" very early morning sun, until 

 the flowers are all in full bloom, and by all means 

 the refreshing air alter sunset, if not too cold ; but 

 the flowers to be wholly protected from the weath- 

 er, and particularly the operation of the sun and 

 Avind, with those exceptions. If the season has 

 been dry, and the weather be hot, the plants when 

 in full bloom, will probably exhibit symptoms of 

 drooping ; it will then be necessary to apply wa- 

 ter moderately and cautiously between the rows, 

 by means of a fine watering pot. 



When the bloom is completely over, let the co- 

 vering be wholly removed, be the weather what 

 it may, and the plants fully exposed. NYhcn the 

 foliage and stem have become sufiiciently brown 

 and withered, which will be about the 25th of 

 June, by which time the root matures and be- 

 comes in a state of rest, talce up the roots cautious- 

 ly with a rounded trowel, strony, being carelul not 

 to touch or cut the bulbs ; separate the largest ofl- 

 Bets, and place them in a dry room or shed, where 

 the air has free access constantly, but totally 

 awfiy from the effects of sun or fire. When the 

 bulbs are dry and hardened, (:iay in about a week 

 or ten days,) place them carelully away until the 

 time of replanting. 



The method adopted by many famous tulip 

 bloomers, who have many hundred named roots 

 to take care of, is to have shallov/ boxes or draw- 

 ers, with divisions or partitions m each, only large 

 enough to hold one root in each; they contain 

 seven holes or divisions from front to back, and 

 may be made any width that is fancied. These 

 rows are numbered from one progressively, by 

 which means the roots are placed in them in that 

 order as they are taken from the Tulip bed. The 

 tulips are of course planted in the precise order 

 in which they are arranged and Vv'ritten down by 

 name in the tulip book, and if any mistake or er- 

 ror is discovered in the course of the bloom, the 

 book is then corrected. So the roots are taken up 

 and disposed in these boxes agree as to order, and 

 any alteration or variation of roots for the subse- 

 quent planting can be made at jileasure. 



But as this, though a m.ost superior and conve- 

 nient plan, may be found objectionable on the 

 ground of expense and trouble at first, (as these 

 boxes or drawers should, to be complete, be fitted 

 into a case or frame, after the manner of a chest 

 of drawers, with open ribbed sides and back, and 

 kept in an airy, dry room, away from sun, and where 

 little or no fire is kept,) the best method that 1 am 

 aware of, in the absence of some such conve- 

 nience is to put the roots singly in what is termed 

 technically "small hand" paper, one root only in a 

 piece of paper, with the name of the tulip writ- 

 ten on it. This is the best paper that can be pro- 

 cured for the purpose, being solt and pliable, and 

 not liable to injure the shoots of the bulbs previous 

 to planting. 



Offsets — should be planted about three weeks 

 earlier than the parent bulbs, and tolerably close 

 in proportion to their size, with a layer of sliarp 

 sand under them, and covered about two inches 

 with fine sifted soil. 



The whole body of soil for the main bed should 

 be first passed through a screen or coarse sieve. 

 I have never known or heard of tulips treated 



somewhat upon the above principle, with reason- 

 ble attention, that ever suffered to any material ex- 

 tent from insects or weather. 



Form the Farmer's Series of the Library of Useful Knowledge. 



ASHES, SOOT, ANr) SOAPERs' WASTE, AS MA- 

 NUKE. 



Ashes of every description, including soapers' 

 waste, though not all ILdling strictly ^nder the 

 character cf fossil substances, and, indeed, being 

 partly derived from the vegetable kingdom, yet, 

 partaking in a great degree of the same calca- 

 reous nature as those of which we have already 

 treated, may also be allowed to rank together un- 

 der the general denomination of mineral manures. 

 Those of coal, wood, and turtj when used for do- 

 mestic puposes, are, in almost all country places, 

 mixed up by the consumers with the dunghill, 

 and, unless they form an unusual pi^oportion of the 

 heap, occasion but little sensible difference in the 

 properties of the manure ; but, when applied 

 alone, as top-dressings upon grass, they both 

 strengthen the herbage, improve its quality, and 

 encourage the growth of white clover : they are 

 also generally used for many other crops, both of 

 corn and artificial grasses, but chiefly upon clays 

 and heavy tenacious loams. 



The ashes nf coals, and cinders, have, indeed, 

 the ver}^ perceptible eflect of loosening as well as 

 stimulating those soils, and when they can be 

 procured in sufficient large quantities, in the neigh- 

 borhood of great towns and manufactories, they 

 are also ploughed in with great advantage, to the 

 extent of 50 or 60 bushels, or even more ol the 

 latter, per acre. 



Those of ivood, which forms the chief filing in 

 the interior of this country, are also largely em- 

 ployed by many farmers, who contract with the 

 cottagers for all the ashes they make; drawing 

 home for them in return their faggots. The ma- 

 nure thus procured, being a powerful alkali, has a 

 very considerable eflect in correcting any acidity 

 that may exist in the soil, but is, in almost every 

 instance, employed without any distinction respect- 

 ing the sort of timber from which it is obtained, 

 though as the trees contain very different qualities, 

 they necessarily yield ashes corresponding, to a 

 certain extent at least, with their original charac- 

 ter; and were they classed, and farmers made ac- 

 quainted with their relative properties, they would 

 be much better able to judge of the due propor- 

 tion of ashes which it might be expedient to ap- 

 ply to the ground.* 



* It is a well-ascertained fact, that the closer the 

 texture of the wood, and the harder and heavier it is, 

 the greater portion of vegetable alkali it will be found 

 to contain. Thus, by a brief anah'sis extracted from 

 the Essays of the Bishop of Landaff, trees may be 

 classed, according to the value of their ashes, as fol- 

 lows : — 



