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CULTIVATION AND ANALYSIS OF PLANTS. h 
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mold, with which should be incorporated a small quantity of coarse, clean sand. The bulbs 
are placed a little below the surface of the soil, which should be pressed firmly around 
them. They are then stored in a cool, shady place where there is no wet, and only 
enough water given them to slightly moisten the earth until they begin to show growth, 
when they should receive a liberal supply. The stalks grow from two to three feet, and 
occasionally much higher, requiring to be propped up with stakes. When in bloom they 
thrive best in a dry, airy place, as they are liable to contract spots from dampness. After 
the growing season is over, the quantity of water. must be diminished until the stalk 
dies down, when the bulb should be taken from the old earth and repotted directly in 
fresh soil, as they thus give finer bloom the next season. Several plants can be put in 
an extra-sized pot, but for a single bulb a six-inch one is the size. 
LILY OF THE VALLEY. 
UCH esteemed for both beauty and fragrance, though in size but 
an insignificant plant, this lovely genus of the Lily family is 
extensively grown, more especjglly in the vicinity of all great 
cities, for bouquets, baskets, and all manner of ornamental pur- 
poses. So great is the demand that the Hollanders have built up 
~ an immense trade in the tubers, or rhizomas, which they grow with 
‘more success than any other nation, and ship by tens of thousands to 
cal all parts of the civilized world. They grow wild in the valleys of the Alle- 
ghenies and in the mountainous sections of our Southern States, as well as -in 
similar localities throughout Great Britain and Ireland. But however abundant 
naturally, those used for cultivation are nearly all the product of the Haarlem 
beds, imported and sold by the seedsmen at a price so low that it does not pay 
to attempt the domestication of the wild ones. For house decoration the rhizomas should 
he planted in four or five-inch pots, in August, and the pots plunged to the rim in a cool, 
shady place, where they may be left until cold weather. Then they should be set ina 
shed or other convenient place, sheltered from the sun, and allowed to freeze hard. After 
all this, they are to be placed in a cool, dark room, where the temperature is above frost, 
from whence they may be brought forward, a few at a time, and at intervals during 
the winter, to insure a succession in flowering. For outdoor cultivation the tubers are 
usually planted in the fall, and covered to a depth of one or two inches, with an 
upper covering of fallen leaves of about the same depth. To exhibit their attractions 
to the best advantage, they should be planted in a shady situation; they will, however, 
grow more rapidly in the full blaze of the sun, but also perish more rapidly there. 
The soil best adapted to their growth comprises two parts in five of leaf-mold, one of 
good cow-manure, one of sand and one of loam. Outdoors they can be left to nature’s 
supplies in the matter of watering, but indoors neither the roots nor even the leaves 
should be allowed to become entirely dry, much less to remain so for any length of time. } 
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