144 BULBS AND TUBEROUS-ROOTED PLANTS. 



the young bulbs exhaust their energies in perfecting their 

 own increase. After the first season's growth in the 

 bed, they are taken up and handled in precisely the same 

 manner as the old bulbs. It requires from three to five 

 years' growth to make bulbs of merchantable size, which 

 means, for the best bulbs, as large as they can be grown, 

 without natural division, after which they produce but 

 inferior spikes of bloom. 



The other method of propagation is by hollowing 

 out the base of the bulb, leaving a narrow rim, and 

 scooping out the center about one-fourth of its depth. 

 This work is performed in August, in clear, dry weather, 

 as in wet weather the bulbs will be very liable to rot. 

 It is very desirable, as in propagating by cross-cuts,, that 

 the bulbs chosen for this purpose should be very strong 

 and healthy. The hollowed-out part of the bulb ought 

 not to be touched after the cutting, either by the finger 

 or anything else, and the most common and best way is 

 to strew a dry board with fine, dry sand, lay the bulbs 

 upon it, and to turn the hollowed-out part to the sun. 

 After lying some time, the heart, which extends as far 

 as the point of the bulb, becomes detached by the heat 

 of the sun, and is carefully removed with a smooth stick, 

 being careful not to bruise the scales of the bulb. The 

 bulbs are then kept in a dry place exposed to the sun, 

 until it is time to plant out in autumn. In the mean- 

 time small bulbs, in great quantities, will be formed all 

 iilong the lines of the scales. When this kind of propa- 

 gating proves successful, it is far more rapid than by 

 cross-cuts, but the young bulbs are not as large, and 

 they will require an additional growth of one or two 

 years to make salable bulbs. 



Garden Culture of Hyacinths. Hyacinths can 

 be grown in the open air successfully, and with as little 

 difficulty as any flowering bulbs. The only real enemy 

 they have is frost While classed with hardy bulbs, 



