96 NATURAL ECONOMY OF BULBS. [JUNE. 



I must here explain why bulbs are taken up 

 every year : the great object is, in this, as in all 

 other operations of gardening, to imitate na- 

 ture : to make the existence of foreign plants, as 

 near as can be what it is in their native place. 

 Tulips, hyacinths, and most of those bulbs 

 which are taken up, come from countries where 

 the whole summer is dry, and in winter the 

 ground is covered with snow ; the spring rains 

 alone call them into life and flower. Travellers 

 describe whole regions in Persia as being co- 

 vered in the spring with enamelled carpets of 

 scilla (hyacinths,) tulips, and other bulbous 

 plants: long drought succeeds the rains of 

 spring, the leaves die away, and the plant 

 rests again under the dry earth till the following 

 spring. 



As, in our country, they can have no dry 

 earth to rest in during the summer, the best 



