GENERAL RULES OF CULTURE. 27 



the bloom. Neglect of this first rule is the cause of most 

 failures. To bloom the bulbs Avell the first year is easy : 

 you have only to develop what auother has prepared : the 

 success can hardly be called your own. But if, the second 

 year, you can produce as fine, or even finer flowers, you 

 may well claim to possess skill in bulb-culture. 



While, however, we may not care to take the trouble to 

 grow our bulbs well, so as to produce finer bloom year by 

 year, it may be well to know how to do it. The present 

 great mart for the more common bulbs is Holland, where 

 bulb-culture is the business of many principal horticul- 

 turists, by whom the foreign market is supplied. This 

 business has been carried on so extensively for many years, 

 that certain exotic bulbs, such as tulips, hyacinths, and 

 crocus, are generally known as " Dutch or Holland bulbs." 

 These bulbs are raised in such quantities, and are so cheap, 

 that, in this country, it is easier to import bulbs than to 

 raise them : so that the bulbs Avhicli have flowered in the 

 winter are usually thrown away, or planted in some corner 

 of the garden, where they come up, and bloom year after 

 year, and occasionally produce fine flowers. 



The rarer bulbs are more cared for, as they are much 

 more ditficult to procure, and far more expensive. The 



