166 DUTCH BULBS AND GARDENS 



to throw the bulbs away, supposing them to be good for 

 nothing when they have blossomed once. Instead of that, 

 they should be left in the glass jar or flower-pot till the 

 leaves are likewise dead, then they can = be put for half a 

 day in moderately hot sun to dry, and afterwards placed in 

 earth on their sides, as is done with other bulbs, covering 

 them lightly with sandy earth, and taking them up in the 

 same way ; when in the autumn they are planted there will 

 be no difference between them and the other bulbs. If they 

 are round and full of sap when they are taken up, they can 

 be used again in glass or pots in the house a second year, if not, 

 it is better to leave them in the open ground. But as it is 

 sometimes frosty weather when the bulbs are taken from the 

 jars, it is better to put them away at once in the green-house, 

 covered with a little sand, and wait till fine weather comes 

 to put them outside for a month or five weeks in the earth, 

 preparatory to taking them to the bulb-house shelves — to 

 plant before the rest. 



Hyacinths can be also grown in pots filled with moss, 

 well pressed down and kept sufficiently moist. If grown in 

 water, rain-water is best. 



Bulbs increase so rapidly that a grower who takes a little 

 trouble to cultivate, let us say about S00, will find himself 

 in a few years possessor of several thousand, which he does 

 not care to keep. He will also have the satisfaction of 

 making Conquests with seeds he has himself sown, and by 

 exchanging these seedlings he can procure for himself rare and 

 costly kinds, which he cannot buy ; he is thus able to amuse 

 himself with a collection which affords him much pleasure, 

 and he is also able to bestow some upon his friends. He 

 may never have been in the neighbourhood of Haarlem, he 

 may never have learnt so many details as are here put forth, 

 in the hope that they may prove useful to many a lover 

 of flowers. 



