OS practised at Haarlem in Holland. 85 



and the leaves break off exactly at the point or summit of the 

 bulb, which it is very necessary to preserve. When the leaves 

 are removed, the bulbs are immediately taken out; and this 

 must not be delayed even to the following day, because, when 

 the leaves are taken away, and wet weather follows, the moisture 

 penetrates into the bulb and makes it sickly. If they have 

 been planted in rows, and in good order, they are easily found 

 again. You must kneel down and take out the first row, and so 

 on till you come to the end of the bed, laying them all in the foot- 

 path. When the bed is empty, it must be raked smooth all 

 over, and a strip in the middle, about a foot and a half broad, 

 made flat and firm by means of a board being pressed upon it, 

 or the back of a spade. On this smooth part of the bed the 

 bulbs must be placed in rows, keeping each sort separate ; but 

 care must be ti\ken at all times to lay those that are diseased by 

 themselves, so that they may not infect the others; and, lest 

 any of those that are diseased may have been overlooked when 

 they are laid to dry, they should be so placed that one bulb may 

 not touch the others. It often happens, when the leaves are 

 pulled off", as above described, that they do not come entirely 

 from the point of the bulb, in which case they must be cut, as 

 they would rot off afterwards, and run the risk of destroying a 

 whole bed of bulbs in the course of a few days by the rotz. 

 When they are laid on the strip of ground to dry, the root ends 

 of the bulbs must be turned towards the south, as by this means 

 the rays of the sun will have a greater effect upon them. 



When the bulbs are placed on the strip of ground along the 

 middle of the bed, the earth from both sides is thrown over 

 them two or three inches thick. The Dutch expression for this 

 is, lying in the Kduil (cool). The length of time they lie in the 

 Kduil depends upon circumstances. If the bulbs are large and 

 well grown, they should only lie about a fortnight, because if 

 they are kept longer in it, they are in danger of having the 

 rotz ; but, if they are of a moderate size, they should remain in 

 it three or four weeks. A good deal also depends upon the 

 weather ; because during damp weather, or when it varies from 

 moist to warm weather, they must all be taken out sooner, so as 

 not to run the danger of a very serious loss. 



There are two artificial methods of propagating bulbs in 

 Holland : one is by means of crosscuts (Kreuzschnitte), the 

 other by hollowing out the bulb (Hohlung). Those bulbs that 

 are to be propagated by means of crosscuts must undergo the 

 operation before they are laid in the Kduil. 



The strongest and most healthy bulbs must be chosen for 

 either of these operations, as that is the only chance of obtain- 

 ing young healthy bulbs. Therefore, when you select bulbs for 



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