32 Hothouse Bulbs. 



allowed to remain too long after showing bloom ; as soon as 

 potted they must be placed in the hothouse, giving them but 

 little water at first, but as the pots get filled with roots they 

 will require a greater supply. The sorts that succeed best in 

 turning out are A. regince, Jo/msoni, crocata, acuminata, rutila, 

 fulgida, psittacina, and vittata. and all the hybrids that have 

 been produced from them. A. aulica, calyptrata, solanclrcc- 

 Jlora, and reticulata, do not like turning out so well, as it is 

 their nature to continue growing all the year through, and 

 the hybrid productions from those partake of the nature of 

 their parents. They only require to be kept dry a consider- 

 able time in their pots to make them flower, except any get 

 sickly, or the mould gets sodden in their pots ; they should 

 then be laid by to dry for a considerable time, or they will be 

 apt to rot. By laying the bulbs to dry in this way, a far 

 greater number may be grown than could by any other 

 means, as by their being laid to dry on shelves, other plants 

 can be grown in the space that they would occupy if kept in 

 pots. A. reticulata and striatifolia succeed best in light turfy 

 loam, mixed with sand ; all the other sorts we find grow 

 more freely in about one half light turfy loam, rather more 

 than a third of white sand, and the rest turfy peat ; the use 

 of the turfy soil is to keep it from binding or getting hard in 

 the pots, which it will do if sifted fine ; the fibres in the turfy 

 soil also keep it open, that the roots may pass readily through 

 it; the pots must also be well drained with potsherds, that 

 the moisture may pass off readily, as nothing injures bulbs 

 so much as to be sodden in the pots ; the roots are also very 

 fond of running amongst the small potsherds. It is a very 

 bad plan that is generally adopted of placing piece of flat 

 tile or potsherd over the hole at the bottom of the pot, for 

 by that means, by continual watering, the hole gets as firmly 

 closed as if corked up, and the water remains in the pot, sod- 

 dening and souring the mould, and very often occasions the 

 plant to rot. The better way is to lay a hollow piece of pot- 

 sherd about halfway over the hole, then to lay another piece 

 or two against it, and to fill up all round with a handful or 

 two of potsherds broken small, according to the size of the 

 pot. 



Seeds of this genus, as well as most other bulbs, should 

 be sown as soon as ripe, and when the young plants are a 

 few inches high, they must be potted off, either singly or se- 

 veral in one pot ; if a hotbed frame be ready to receive them, 

 all the better, as they will grow much faster in frames than in 

 the house ; as soon as their pots are filled with roots, shift 

 them into larger ones, giving them three or four shifts in the 



