50 INTRODUCTION. 



than frequently turning and exposing the com- 

 post before it is used, and now and then adding 

 a sprinkling of hot lime, which will prevent its 

 being chosen either as a retreat or nestling-place 

 by the insects. 



DISEASES OF FLOWER PLANTS. 



There is no disease peculiar to bed-flowers 

 which is not common to almost all other vege- 

 tables. Bulbs, particularly of tulips, are subject 

 to a kind of canker, which is not easily accounted 

 for. It appears in putrefying specks on the out- 

 sides of the bulbs and leaves, and is soon covered 

 with a blue mucor, and probably is the seizure 

 of a fungus. It is soon fatal if it extend to the 

 radical plate after the bulb is in the ground ; dy- 

 ing off as onions are often seen to do. When ob- 

 served on the bulb, the speck should be cut out, 

 and the wound exposed to the sun to heal it. It 

 should also be cut from the leaves to prevent its 

 spreading. 



