SHRUBBERIES AND FLOWER-GARDENS. CHAP, 



tion bestowed on it by the florists of Haarlam, and other 

 places of Holland, the oriental plant is infinitely sur- 

 passed by those of the north. To procure fresh varieties, 

 it is necessary to sow the seed ; and to propagate from 

 roots already produced, you take the offsets and bring 

 these forward to flower ; but, of the sowing I shall speak 

 fully at the end of this article. I will now relate how to 

 proceed with bulbs already obtained and old enough to 

 flower. Begin by marking out the sized bed that you 

 wish to have, placing stoutish pegs at each corner, and 

 in two or three places along the sides and ends ; dig out 

 the earth to twelve inches deep, then put in one of the 

 three composts that I shall enumerate below, enough to 

 fill the square up to within two inches of the rest of the 

 ground ; make the surface as even as a die j mark out 

 with a small line a set of lines lengthways of your bed, 

 and not more than six inches apart ; do the same then 

 across the bed, observing to let the lines be at the same 

 distance from one another as the last are -, then plant a 

 bulb at every place where the lines intersect each other, 

 taking especial care to let the top of the bulb be even 

 with the earth, and order them so as to have no two of 

 the same colour coming next one another. Then bring 

 more compost, and fill up the two inches that you have 

 yet to make good to bring the bed up to be even with the 

 rest of the ground 5 and go on filling till you have 

 brought it to be two inches above the rest of the ground. 

 But, I should here observe, that, as this ground will 

 settle down, and, perhaps, bury the bulbs too deep, it is 

 proper to dig out the bed and put in the mould in which 

 the bulbs are set, a week or ten days previous to setting 

 them j and this gives tune for that settling which always 



