of the Hyacinth in Haarlem. 29 



rot or other diseases to the newly planted bulbs. This being 

 understood, a bed is planted the first year with hyacinths, the 

 second with tulips, the third with narcissus, &c. ; and it would 

 be desirable if something similar were planted even the fourth 

 year. The bed, however, is generally prepared for hyacinths 

 this year as follows : — Betv/een December and February the 

 ground is dug 5 or 6 feet deep ; and, when too much water 

 is apprehended^ a drain is dug all round the bed, and filled with 

 wood or stones, and then covered up. In March every square 

 yard is manured with four handbarrowfuls of pure cow-dung 

 (without straw), dug in a foot deep. During the summer, vege- 

 tables or annuals are grown on the bed, which do not exhaust 

 the soil too much. The following autumn (therefore the fifth), 

 the soil is dug 1^ or 2 feet deep ; and the manure, which was 

 put in in spring, must be well mixed and worked in, that it 

 may lie nearly a foot deep in the earth. When such a drain 

 is not made, a trench is used, 2 ft. wide and l^ft. broad, and 

 left open, so that the water collected in it may be taken out. 



When the above operation is performed, the bulbs must be 

 prepared for planting in the beginning of October. This pre- 

 paration consists in examining whether the bulbs are perfectly 

 healthy ; because, if they are unhealthy, they not only will not 

 flower, but will infect those near them. It is necessary, there- 

 fore, in the first place to be acquainted with the diseases they 

 are liable to, which are: — 1st, the white rotz; 2d, the black 

 rotz ; 3d, the rot ; 4th, mould ; 5th, consumption or wasting ; 

 6th, shrinking; and 7th, excess of offsets (Durchwachs). 



1st. The white rotz is known by a resin which generally oozes 

 from the upper part of the bulb, and also from the side, and 

 which, about this time of the year (October), is of a hard con- 

 sistency, not unlike the resin that flows from trees. The white 

 rotz also assumes the appearance of a white slimy substance, 

 and has a very unpleasant smell, which is particularly evident 

 when the bulb is cut open ; and bulbs in this state should be 

 thrown away without hesitation. The danger attending this 

 disease will be treated of in another place. 



2d. The black rotz is more difficult to know than the white 

 rotz ; because, as soon as the bulb is taken out of the ground 

 and kept dry, the rotz dries up also. The stool or plate of the 

 bulb (that is, the point from which the roots proceed down- 

 wards), on the side, appears as if eaten out, and the scales at 

 that part have dry black edges. When, therefore, there is but 

 little of this disease in the bulb, it is more difficult to be ascer- 

 tained ; and it must be particularly looked for, when the bulbs are 

 about to be put in the ground, as it will not only destroy the 

 infected bulb, but all those that are healthy near it. A bulb 

 so attacked must therefore be thrown away. 



