Notes and Gleanings. 371 



Cutting off the Roots of Hyacinths. — The inquiry of a correspondent 

 has reminded us of an article on this subject in the first number of this maga- 

 zine, for which it was translated from the Revue Horticole. It appears that in 

 1864, " M. Vavin exhibited at a horticultural show in Paris two hyacinths grown 

 in water, in full growth early in November. The leaves and the roots, as is usual, 

 grew before the flower-spike. He then conceived the idea of cutting off the roots 

 about an inch below the plate of the bulb. In a few days the flower-stem de- 

 veloped wonderfully, while the plants with abundance of foliage bloomed badly. 

 The fact seemed worthy of notice ; but the season was too far advanced to per- 

 mit of experiments on different varieties, and the experiment did not seem suffi- 

 cient to warrant ^he adoption of a new mode of culture. 



" The next year the experiment was tried with many varieties, and the experi- 

 ence of the previous year fully confirmed, in every case the finest blooms having 

 been developed from bulbs of which the roots had been cut off, they being grown 

 side by side with bulbs of the same variety with uncut roots. The latter, in 

 many instances, failed, as is usual, to develop a flower-spike, and in others formed 

 only an imperfect one. 



" From these experiments, the following rules of culture are deduced : i. To 

 allow the flower-stalk to develop in a cool and perfectly clear vessel. 2. When 

 the stalk is about three inches high, if it is well-formed, expose the plants to a 

 great heat. 3. If the leaves develop faster than the stalk, cut off the bunch of 

 roots about an inch below the base of the bulb." 



We consider this an instance under the general law, that when an injury is 

 inflicted on a plant, it immediately hastens to secure the continuation of the 

 species by perfecting the seed, the formation of flowers being of course a neces- 

 sary step in this process. The flower of the hyacinth is perfectly formed in the 

 centre of the bulb, and only needs for its development a Httle heat and moisture. 

 But if it is desired that the same bulb should flower for successive years, it must 

 be planted in the earth, and the roots must be retained, to draw up from the soil 

 each season the nutriment required to form the flower stalk for the next. The 

 water, it will be understood, supplies all that is necessary for pushing into bloom 

 the flower buds already formed, but not for forming new ones. When grown in 

 water, no loss is sustained by cutting off the roots, as the bulbs are in any case 

 worthless for future flowering without several years of careful nursing to restore 

 their exhausted strength. 



It will be remembered that our correspondent " Priscilla Primrose," in the 

 October number of the Journal, gives an account of a successful trial of this 

 experiment, of which she had somewhere read — probably in this very article. 



Potash Salts. — The Rural Carolinian contains an interesting article by Pro- 

 fessor Charles W. Shepard, Jr., on the potash salts of Stassfurt and Anhalt, includ- 

 ing the kainite, which we have before noticed. Professor Shepard says that in 1870 

 Mr. J. R. Dukes imported potash salts sufficient to furnish several per cent, in a 

 quantity of complete manure for agricultural experiments. These experiments, 

 which were conducted in the fight sandy soil of the seaboard, were eminently suc- 

 cessful. 



