GLA [ 4 



lings are up give plenty of air, and very 

 moderate supplies of water. As soon 

 as the weather will permit, set them in 

 the open air, and as the leaves advance 

 in size give more water, and allow 

 gentle showers to fall upon them, but j 

 shelter them from heavy rain. When j 

 the leaves are all decayed, take the soil 

 and carefully sift it through a fine 

 sieve, picking out every bulb, however 

 small. Prepare a bed in the same 

 manner, and of the same materials, as 

 is described above for offsets. Plant j 

 the seedling bulbs in it the first week ' 

 in September, in the same way as the 

 small offsets. Let them remain in 

 tills bed for two years ; then take them 

 and replant them in a bed fresh pre- 

 pared. It is likely that some of the 

 strongest will then flower, and the 

 very worst will be worth planting in 

 the borders. 



Summer Culture. The bulbs want 

 very little attention during summer. 

 Keep them clear of weeds, and when 

 the flower-stems are a foot high plaee 

 a stick to support them, as the winds 

 are apt to twist them off close to the 

 bulbs. When the bloom is over, and 

 the leaves turn yellow, take them up, 

 dry, and sort them, separating the 

 bulbs that are large enough, to flower 

 from the offsets ; put them away in 

 drawers marked with the name of each 

 variety, keeping them dry and cool till 

 the planting season arrives again. 



Winter Culture. In September pre- 

 pare the beds by throwing out all the 

 soil to the depth of fifteen inches ; if in 

 the same situation as beds were before, 

 examine the drainage. If it is open 

 and ready to work well, it will need 

 nothing doing to it, but if it be choked 

 up, remove it entirely ; sift it, throwing 

 in the rough, and removing the fine 

 eai'thy part; add some fresh rubble, 

 and then cover it with litter ; mix a 

 goodly portion of thoroughly decayed 

 dung with the soil, or, which is better, 

 renew it entirely ; level the bed, leaving 

 it a few inches higher. Plant the first 

 week in October, three inches deep, 

 giving each of the bulbs six inches 

 square to grow in. Place a thin layer 

 of half rotten dung upon the bed, to 

 protect the bulbs in severe frost. They 



5 ] GLA 



will require no other care during this 

 season. 



Vermin. Mice, wireworms, and the 

 red spider prey upon them. Wire- 

 worms may be caught with slices of 

 potatoes buried in the soil, and taken 

 up occasionally. The red spider, hap- 

 pily, only appears when there is a long 

 continuance of dry weather. Watch 

 for its first appearance, and as soon 

 as it is perceived causing the leaves 

 to appear spotted, let every leaf be 

 sponged over with water impregnated 

 with flower of sulphur. If dry wea- 

 ther prevails much, syringe the plants 

 every evening severely. 



Diseases. The bulbs sometimes are 

 attacked by a kind of dry rot, which 

 turns them into a powdery substance, 

 prevents them sending forth roots, and 

 then the tops, if they have made any, 

 turn yellow, and the whole plant 

 perishes. There is no known remedy. 

 To prevent its spreading, remove the 

 infected bulbs, and a portion of the soil 

 near them. 



GLASS is the best agent employed by 

 the gardener to exclude the cold, whilst 

 the light is admitted to his plants which 

 are natives of hotter climates than that 

 in which he cultivates them. Now that 

 the excise- duty is removed from glass, 

 the gardener is enabled to employ the 

 best, and a thicker kind than formerly, 

 when the duty was high in proportion 

 to the good quality and weight. Anxiety 

 to obtain the best glass for hothouses, 

 &c., is every way laudable ; but the bene- 

 fit sought for is frustrated if it be not 

 constantly well cleansed. The best 

 glass, if dirty, allows fewer rays of light 

 to pass through than inferior glass kept 

 bright. A thorough cleansing should 

 | be given both to the outside and inside 

 twice annually, during the first weeks 

 of February and of October, and a third 

 cleansing, on the outside only, at the 

 end of June. In proportion to the de- 

 ficiency of light does the plant under 

 glass become, in the gardener's phrase- 

 ology, drawn ; that is, its surface of 

 leaves becomes unnaturally extended, 

 in the vain effort to have a sufficient 

 elaboration of the sap effected by means 

 of a large surface exposed to a dimi- 

 nished light, for which a less surface 



