240 THE MANSE GARDEN. 



bold, and distinct on the margin, terminating in bro- 

 ken points elegantly feathered or pencilled. It is 

 remarkable that in Turkey and Persia, of which 

 countries the tulip is a native, the flower is princi- 

 pally of a red colour, whilst each petal has a black 

 spot at the bottom, and that this is nearly the de- 

 scription of the worst appearance which, according to 

 florists, a tulip can present ; from which it may be 

 judged what cultivation can do; for there can be no 

 doubt, that without ever having seen any of the 

 technical rules, the most inexperienced eye would 

 prefer the finer tulips now reared to those blackhearted 

 natives of the east. If the soil be moderately rich, 

 no manure should be added ; if too poor, only old 

 compost should be applied ; for any sort of rank and 

 recent dung has the effect of deforming the figure, 

 confounding the colours, and destroying the fine 

 feathering of the stripes in which the chief beauty 

 consists. In planting, which is best done in Octo- 

 ber, rake off the earth from the bed both ways to 

 the depth of three inches; set the bulbs apart nine 

 inches by six, taking care to place on the middle of 

 the bed the larger, which can bear a deeper covering 

 of earth ; replace that soil which has been raked off, 

 and add from a furrow on each side as much as to 

 give a little elevation to the middle of the bed, for 

 the sake of dryness and to cover all the bulbs from 

 four to six inches deep. Tulips require no watering. 

 As soon as the flowers have decayed, remove the 

 seed pods; and when the foliage withers take up 

 the roots. 



Wallflower. Having sown pretty largely, and 

 obtained some fine specimens of very dark flowers, 



