General Notices. 557 



The earth used in the compost will require minute examination, in order 

 that vermin may be exterminated, of which the most destructive, and the 

 most likely to elude detection, is the yellow wire- worm. 



When preparing the compost, let its several parts be well mixed ; this 

 should be performed a few weeks before it is needed, and will require turn- 

 ing over several times. After the bed is filled up add more compost till it 

 is raised three or four inches above the walk in front, and let the height of 

 the back part be an additional six inches, so as to form a slope to the south ; 

 a layer of sea or river sand, one inch thick, should be spread over the sur- 

 face, and if a tasteful arrangement be desired, the place for each bulb 

 should be marked thereon. The following order appears the most natural, 

 and has decidedly the best effect. Let the rows be six in number, and eight 

 inches apart, and allow the distance between the bulbs, and four inches 

 from the four outer rows to the limits of the bed. On the layer of sand in 

 the places appropriated to them, let the bulbs stand in the following position 

 throughout ; red, blue, white, red, &-c., commencing with a red in the first 

 row, and in the second with a white, wliich place under a supposed point 

 equi-distant from the red and blue above it ; the next root will consequently 

 be a red, and under the point between the blue and the white ; in the third 

 row begin with a red, as in the first, and let it be directly under the red, in 

 that row ; the blue following it will be beneath the white and red of the 

 second row ; the fourth row Avill commence with white as the second, and 

 be directly under it; the red in the next place will be under the blue and 

 white of the third row, &c. This mode allows the greatest possible diversity, 

 and each bulb, except the outer ones, will be in the centre of a hexagon. 

 In this arrangement yellow Hyacinths may be considered as white. Then 

 cover them with a mixture of fresh earth and sand, three or four inches 

 deep ; the latter depth is the proper one for the earlier roots, as it will retard 

 their progress, so as to bloom with the later ones ; an attention to this is 

 requisite to ensure all blooming together. When covered the bed will be 

 completed, and if bordered on the sides, will add much to the neatness of 

 it, or if preferred, brickwork may be substituted, and hoops placed over the 

 bed, will be useful, as mats can be thrown over the beds, during severe 

 frosts or heavy rains ; but for slight frosts, as the Hyacinth is hardy, no 

 covering is necessary, and rain, when not violent, is beneficial ; the autum- 

 nal rains are, except in very dry seasons, sufficiently copious to obviate the 

 necessity of artificial watering. 



A few bulbs or reserves should be planted in pots at the proper time, and 

 plunged in order to supply deficiencies that may occur, for some bulbs 

 whose appearance indicate no symptoms of decay, are rotten at hciirt. 



It will be proper to plunge them, and this may be done in the ordinary 

 way, by placing the roots three or four inches asunder, then filling up the 

 interval between, and afterwards covering them from six inches to a foot 

 until the return of spring ; but the greatest care must be previo'isly taken 

 to examine the earth, otherwise though but a single wire worm, or other 

 noxious vermin remains, the roots are in jeopardy. Or another and much 

 safer metliod may be adopted ; instead of earth, let cinder ashes be substi- 



