as practised at Haarlem in Holland. 87 



insures healthy young ones, but a greater number of them. The 

 manner of hollowing out the bulb is as follows : — 



Place your thumb on the root end of the bulb, and cut round 

 it with a sharp knife, hollowing out the plate or root end as far 

 as the middle of the bulb, and when the knife has passed in a cir- 

 cular direction round the bulb, be particularly careful to take it 

 out again where the incision began, or rather so to perform this 

 circular cut, that the plate extending half-way into the bulb may 

 fall out of itself. As this operation causes a great deal of mois- 

 ture to flow from the bulb, and also a great degree of danger of 

 its rotting away, it is therefore very advisable that it should not 

 be undertaken during moist weather. The hollowed out part of 

 the bulb ought not to be touched either with the finger or any 

 thing else, and the best way is to strew a dry board with fine 

 dry sand, to lay the bulbs upon it, and to turn the hollowed out 

 part to the sun. 



The sun dries them, and also the heart, which extends as far 

 as the point (Nase) of the bulb, and which was not removed 

 when the bulb was hollowed out, but now becomes detached by 

 the heat of the sun, and can be taken away with a chip of wood. 

 When the hollowed part is properly dried, some shelves, or a 

 stand, should be prepared in a very dry place, and strewed with 

 very fine and dry sand 1 in. thick, on which should be laid the 

 hollowed out bulbs till they are planted. If the weather is dry, 

 they ought to have air ; but, if it is moist, the air should be 

 excluded. 



In some places the hollowed out plates are used, because these 

 also produce young ones ; but they are in general not much 

 valued, and are often thrown away, as the young bulbs are never 

 vigorous. 



When the hollowed out bulbs are set in the sun, care must be 

 taken that they are not burnt when the sun is too hot, in which 

 case they should be put in a gi'een-house behind the sashes. 

 They must be looked at at least twice a day, because they very 

 soon begin to rot ; and, if this is neglected for one or two days, 

 a very serious injury may be sustained. 



If any of them should have begun to rot, the part should be 

 cut off if possible, and the bulb replaced in the sun and air ; 

 but still an injury is sustained, as the number of young bulbs 

 will be diminished. A great many young ones, as small as grains 

 of corn, are found on the scales before planting, which should 

 be planted rather sooner than any of the others. 



When this kind of propagating proves successful, a great 

 many young ones are obtained, but it generally takes four or 

 even five years to bring them to perfection ; whereas those that 

 are obtained by the crosscuts only take three years, but not 



G 4 



