Sept.] FLOWER GARDEN. 501 



free from weeds, and slightly protecting them from frost till the 

 spring following, when the plants will appear. Early in May 

 place the boxes in the shade, but not under the dropping or shade 

 of trees; and in very dry weather give the plants a small portion 

 of water; but this should be administered sparingly, lest it should 

 rot the young bulbs. In June, when the leaves are decayed, sift 

 half an inch of fresh earth over that in the boxes, and on the ap- 

 proach of winter place them again in a warm exposure where you 

 can give them some slight protection from severe frost. Continue 

 the same treatment, winter and summer, till the month of June or 

 July, in the third year; the roots may then be taken up, dried and 

 treated in the same manner as directed for large bulbs or offsets in 

 pages 392 and 393; a few of the strongest roots will flower the 

 fourth year, about one half may be expected to flower the fifth, but 

 the sixth year every healthy root will exhibit its bloom; and then 

 the hopes and .expectations of the cultivator will be realized or 

 disappointed. He may, however, think himself fortunate if one 

 half of the plants that first appeared are in existence at this period, 

 and if he can at last find one tulip or hyacinth in five hundred 

 deserving a name or a place in a good collection, he may rest per- 

 fectly content. 



The tulips raised from seed will each consist of one plain colour 

 on a white, dark, or yellow bottom; the period of their breaking 

 into different stripes is very uncertain, so much so that it is not 

 uncommon to wait ten or twenty years without the desired suc- 

 cess, although it sometimes happens, fortunately, to take place the 

 first, second, or third year after their blooming; where the collec- 

 tion of breeders is numerous, (a name given to those self-coloured 

 tulips,) there may be reasonable expectations of procuring one or 

 two valuable flowers annually: a poor dry soil is most likely to 

 produce these effects; and a single instance has occurred where 

 forty breeders out of fifty became broken or variegated in one sea- 

 son in a situation of this description. 



New sorts of breeders are procured from seed, but such only as 

 have tall strong stems, with large well formed cups, and clear in 

 the bottom, are worth cultivating. 



Note. — The various kinds of tender bulbous-rooted flowering 

 plants may be propagated as above directed, but the boxes in 

 which the seedlings grow must be placed in a green-house or hot- 

 house in winter, according to the respective necessities of the 

 various kinds. 



Transplant Perennial and Biennial Floiver Roots. 



The latter end of this month is a very proper period for trans- 

 planting the various kinds of seedlings, perennial and biennial flow- 

 ers, out of the flower-nursery into the beds, borders, and pleasure 

 grounds, where they are designed to bloom. You may likewise 

 slip and plant out double catchtly, pinks, London pride, lychnideas, 

 dracocephalums, sweet-william, thrift, scarlet-lychnis, virginian 

 spiderwort, double rose-campion, double rocket, virginian lung- 



