226 BRECK’S NEW BOOK OF FLOWERS. 
Each plant should be supported by a stick or rod, and 
neatly tied with bass strings, so that it may retain a 
perpendicular position ; the leaves should not be mutilated 
or cut. In cultivating these varieties and all other bulb- 
ous plants, the fact must never be lost sight of, that the 
bulb is, during the summer, a species of underground con- 
tinuation of the leaf, while in the winter it is analogous to 
the bud of a plant; therefore any injury to the leaves, 
during their growth in summer and autumn, is an injury to 
the bulb. When the leaves have performed their functions 
of preparing and ‘elaborating the juices for this subterra- 
nean bud or bulb, they die away naturally; leaves of 
bulbous plants should therefore never be trimmed or cut 
off, with a view of making them look more sightly, unless 
they have turned brown. On the other hand, forming and 
ripening the seed, withdraws considerable nourishment 
from the bulb; it is, therefore, rather a benefit than an in- 
jury to cut the flower, and prevent the seed from coming 
to maturity ; the juices are then diverted from this opera- 
tion to that of increasing and improving the bulb. These 
hybrids will commence showing their flowers about the 
first of August, and continue to bloom until near the mid- 
dle of September, depending somewhat upon the time 
they were planted. If planted before the last of May, 
the flowers will appear in the strongest heat of the sum- 
mer, and therefore be more liable to be burnt by the sun. 
An awning erected over the bed, the same as practiced by 
florists for Tulips and other flowers, will preserve the col- 
ors and bloom much longer. About the first of Novem- 
ber, I take up the bulbs in the morning of a pleasant day 
and leave them on the ground, exposed to the sun through 
the day, leaving the leaves on; I then take them into a 
dry airy room, where there is no danger of frost, and 
spread them on the floor or on benches, and let them 
dry. As soon as they appear to be cured, the tops are 
