Remarks on the cultivation of the Tulip. 187 



feet above the level, and the subsoil is sufficiently loose to car- 

 ry oft' the surplus water, that is the proper location for a tulip 

 bed. 



Its formation. — Having selected the location, the bed should 

 be made four feet wide, and of a length proportionate to the 

 number of bulbs to be planted; a bed twenty-one feet long will 

 contain two hundred and eighty bulbs, placed six inches from 

 the edge of the bed, and six inches apart each way in the bed. 

 The length and breadth of the bed being marked out, it should 

 be trenched, and the soil thrown out to the depth of twenty 

 inches, which should be removed to some other section of the 

 garden, and the bed filled up with the following soil, prepared 

 for that purpose. 



Soil. — The tulip flourishes in a rich loam, ihaf has been ex- 

 posed to the action of the sun and air for a considerable length 

 of time; therefore the top spitting of a rich soil from a bed, in 

 which vegetables or flowers have been cultivated, and in which 

 the manure is thoroughly decomposed, mixed with about the 

 same quantity of good rich virgin soil, forms a suitable compost 

 for the first planting; this may be enriched annually with a com- 

 post prepared as follows: — 



Compost. — In the month of June or July, to every two cart 

 loads of good rich virgin soil, add one load of well rotted cow 

 or horse manure, (cow manure is preferable;) mix them well to- 

 gether, and turn the heap over frequently during the year, always 

 crowning it up to throw oft" the water. In October add eight 

 bushels of coarse sharp sand, and half a bushel of air-slacked 

 lime, which repeat in April; let the sand and lime be thrown 

 in as the compost is turned over, that they may be thoroughly 

 amalgamated with the whole mass. The lime will aid to sweet- 

 en the soil, destroy the insects, and pulverize the whole; ren- 

 dering it fit to be applied to the bed, from year to year, in such 

 quantities, as the cultivator may see the growth of his plants 

 will require. 



Preparation for planting. — The bed having been filled up 

 six inches above the level, with the soil, or enriched with the 

 compost as above stated, (this should be done in July,) it 

 should frequently be turned over during the summer, and all 

 the stones larger than marbles should be thrown out; the surface 

 of the bed should at all times be kept highest in the centre, 

 or, as it is technically termed, crowning; by this means the 

 heavy rains will be thrown partly oft', and the bed kept ready 

 for planting at any time after twenty-four hours fine weather. 



