232 Culture of the Tuberose. 



soils, moss, etc., and some shelves around the sides for the storing of 

 pots, baskets, etc. The hot water boiler and coal bin should be in this 

 room also, and it should have a cement floor, which will cost but a trifle, 

 and be always dry, and the walls whitewashed, which will help to make 

 it light ; it can and should always be kept clean and neat. With this 

 we complete the brief list of the apparatus necessary for the orchid 

 grower, having already exhausted the space allotted for that purpose. 



CULTURE OF THE TUBEROSE. 



By E. W. BuswELL, Boston, Mass. 



As the time is upon us for starting in growth tuberose bulbs, for bloom 

 in the holidays, it is thought a few hints, prompted by practical experi- 

 ence, may be acceptable to your readers. This flower, the Polianthes 

 tuberosa of the botanists, may be, and is, cultivated with passable suc- 

 cess, by being planted out like gladiolus and other similar roots ; but 

 as it is susceptible of being forced so as to give from thirty to forty 

 flowers, why should we content ourselves with half our bulbs blossom- 

 ing, and they producing only a dozen small flowers each } 



To bring it to its highest condition, a few general principles are to be 

 kept in view. First, the bulbs should be well grown and strong, hav- 

 ing nursed but few offsets in their previous growth. Second, they 

 should never feel a colder temperature than forty-five degrees Fahrenheit 

 (even in their quiet state) ; otherwise the bulbs are weakened, which 

 will be shown by the blighting of the flower-buds. Third (and this 

 applies with more or less force to all vegetation), never allow them to 

 make growth of foliage without having well-established roots. To this 

 end, keep the bulbs, while in a quiet state, in a uniformly dry and warm 

 atmosphere. Fourth, they are gross feeders^ and being natives of a 

 warm climate, can hardly be pushed too hard after they have begun 

 their growth. This may be considered fundamentally essential to 

 success. 



The plan of culture given below I have adopted as best calculated 

 to govern the supply of heat and food, but it may be varied to suit other 

 circumstances, keeping in view the foregoing general principles. 



Divest the bulb of its scales, and with a knife remove all embryo 

 bulbs. Follow this up, during the growth, by splitting them off'as soon 

 as they appear above ground. Fiepare seven-inch pots by filling one 

 third with old cow manure gathered in the pasture, broken fine, or its 



