210 CULTURE OF THE SHALLOT, 



the same species, being much more broad, and less long ; and the crop 

 was so much better in quality, as well as much more abundant, that I 

 can confidently recommend the mode of culture adopted to the attention 

 of every gardener. 



A few experiments similar to the preceding were made upon bulbs of 

 the oriental hyacinth. Some of these were planted in the ordinary 

 method beneath the soil, and others wholly above it, the mould being 

 raised upon each side to cover them, and subsequently taken away ; and 

 I found that those under the latter mode of culture flowered most strongly 

 and in every other respect succeeded best. A compost, of great richness, 

 formed of matter collected just without the gate of my fold-yard, and 

 probably consisting of nearly equal parts of earth and cow-dung, by 

 weight (if each substance had been perfectly dry), appeared to be exceed- 

 ingly well adapted to this plant ; which expends much in a very short 

 period of time in the production of leaves and flowers, and retains its 

 foliage only a short time afterwards, and therefore probably requires more 

 nutriment than it can generally obtain under the ordinary modes of 

 culture. It is true that this, and some other bulbous-rooted plants, pro- 

 trude their leaves and flowers as strongly, when supplied with water only, 

 as when growing in good soil : but this growth is chiefly germination 

 only, and during this process, in which the organs of the plant are merely 

 formed out of matter previously assimilated, it may be questioned whether 

 a single particle of new matter be ever vitally united to it. 



A plant, of a very beautiful variety of the oriental hyacinth, which had 

 been made to blossom with water only was, at my request, put into my 

 hands in the last spring, just when its blossoms had begun to lose their 

 beauty. Those were immediately taken off but the stem was suffered to 

 remain, and the plant was removed from the bottom of water, in which 

 it grew, into a pot sufficiently deep to receive its roots. A quantity of 

 the rich compost above-mentioned was then, in successive portions, put 

 into the pot, and washed in amongst the roots ; which were kept properly 

 separated from each other. The bulb itself remained wholly out of the 

 soil, with which it was not in contact, a thin layer of light and dry sandy 

 loam intervening between it and the rich soil ; and the bulb was also 

 thinly covered with the same material. As the roots of the plant had 

 been accustomed to live in water, the compost in the pot was at first kept 

 very wet ; and the quantity of water subsequently given was lessened very 

 gradually ; and as its leaves had been little exposed to light, it was retained 

 under glass till the leaves perished. The bulb was then examined, and 

 was found as solid, and apparently as perfect, as it would have been if it 



