BULB GROWING AT THE UNITED STATES BULB GARDEN. 5 



merit. 1 They are to-day held in very high esteem both in America 

 and abroad, but are not as highly prized as many other flowers, either 

 for forcing or planting out of doors. Hyacinths are most success- 

 fully grown in a 3-year or a 4-year rotation in very light, well- 

 drained, friable sandy-loam soil, well enriched by an application of 

 2 ' or 3 inches of well-rotted cow manure, which should be thor- 

 oughly incorporated with the soil prior to planting the bulbs. 



PROPAGATION. 



Hyacinths are propagated naturally either by slabs or by seed; 

 artificially by bulblets secured either by means of scooping or scoring 

 mature or so-called mother bulbs. 







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Fig. 2. — Hyacinth bulbs, showing, on the right, slabs naturally produced by six bulbs 

 of the Roi des Beiges variety and, on the left, for comparison, four bulbs without 

 slabs. 



SLABS. 



Slabs are produced to some extent by bulbs under ordinary cultiva- 

 tion. Their greatest production, however, is from overmature bulbs. 

 Figure 2 shows a few such bulbs that were harvested at the United 

 States Bulb Garden in the season of 1912. Slabs similar to those 

 produced by the six bulbs shown on the right in this illustration are 

 naturally produced by 75 per cent of overmature bulbs. 



1 Library of Universal Knowledge, v. 8, p. 103 ; The Fruit, Flower, and Kitchen 

 Garden, p. 273. 



