BULB- HOUSE. 



697 



sucli soils for absorbing and retaining heat is 

 Tery great. To imitate nature in this respect, 

 the platforms in the division destined for the 

 truly tropical species, or others while in a state 

 of growing excitement, should be constructed 

 on the tank principle, the heated water being 

 supplied from the pipes, as shown in various 

 figs., vol. i., art. Tank-heatinq, &c. : over these 

 tanks a bed of clean river-sand should be placed, 

 and the pots set on or plunged into it. 



The internal ai-rangement of the other two 

 divisions need differ in no other respect from 

 this, excepting dispensing with the tank under 

 the platform. One boiler placed in the centre 

 of this structure will be ample heating power. 

 The warmest division, for very obvious reasons, 

 should be the centre one. 

 Season of rest. — From bulbous plants associating 

 so ill, both in appearance and culture, with other 

 stove and greenhouse plants, and their giving 

 more evident signs of a season of torpidity, by the 

 partial or total dying away of their leaves, they 

 are too often cast aside immediately after flower- 

 ing, placed in some obscure nook, or perched on 

 a lofty shelf to be out of the way, and in all these 

 cases next to totally neglected. When their 

 season of rest arrives, they should be placed in 

 the third division, kept dry, but by no means, 

 as is too generally the case, kept cold, for all 

 exotic bulbs require nearly the same degree of 

 heat while lying dormant as when they are grow- 

 ing. Some have adopted the practice of shaking 

 the bulbs out of the soil after their leaves begin 

 to wither, and keep them in drawers, or on open 

 shelves, in a dry, warm apartment, or under the 

 shelving of the stove, where they can be kept 

 free from damp, and allow them so to remain, 

 watching carefully the first symptoms of excite- 

 ment both in the roots and embryo leaves, at 

 which time they select such as are fit, and pot 

 them immediately, supplying them with water 

 moderately at first, but more copiously after- 

 wards, and placing them in their growing station. 

 In this way the late Mr Sweet, the most suc- 

 cessful bulb-grower of his day, treated the 

 splendid collection of the late Mr Colvill, who 

 had at that time the largest collection in 

 Europe. The late Dean of Manchester, the 

 Hon. and Hev. W. Herbert, followed a some- 

 what similar routine. This mode of wintering 

 bulbs has the advantage of occupying little use- 

 ful space — no small consideration to those having 

 limited means ; and to those who grow bulbous 

 plants to a limited extent, we would say they 

 cannot follow a better rule. This, however, 

 although applicable to a vast number of bulbs, 

 is not without its exceptions, and the splendid 

 genus Amaryllis ofiers a case in point. Ama- 

 ryllis reticulata and striatifolia, or the hybrids 

 raised from them, will flower much better by re- 

 maining in pots all the year, as do also A. aulica, 

 calyptrata, *solandr8eflora ; but these, of course, 

 must be kept dry, so as to remain quite dormant, 

 otherwise they will not flower with certainty. 

 Again, A. reginae, crocata, rutila, acuminata, 

 fulgida, *Johnsonii, psittacina, and the mules 

 between them, are much better turned out. 



In 1838 we wrote as follows {-cide the Green- 

 hodse), and subsequent experience has not al- 



tered the opinion therein expressed : " The 

 whole art of cultivating bulbs well depends on 

 the attention paid to two particular points — 

 viz., the season when they are put into, and the 

 length of time they are to remain in, a state of 

 rest, and the perfection to which their foliage is 

 brought during the season of growth. The most 

 rational season for putting all bulbous plants 

 into a state of rest is soon after they have 

 flowered, and while their leaves are beginning 

 to decay. It is extremely injurious to take up 

 any bulb, or even to destroy a single leaf, while 

 it is in a growing state; for it should be remem- 

 bered that it is the leaves which bring the bulb 

 to maturity, and prepare it for flowering the 

 following year. The length of time that bulbs 

 should be kept out of the ground, or kept in a state 

 of rest, depends on their habits as to flowering. 

 Some kinds require one month, while others of 

 the same genus may be kept for the space of 

 three months without injury. It may be laid 

 down, however, as a rule, from which there are 

 very few exceptions, that no bulb should be 

 kept out of a state of growth after it has once 

 shown symptoms of vegetation ; nor should that 

 vegetation be impeded in the slightest degree 

 from the period of its first commencement till 

 the foliage is perfectly matured, and beginning 

 to decay." No precise period of the year can 

 therefore be set down as that at which bulbs 

 should be potted, because where a large and 

 varied collection is grown, there will be soma 

 that will demand this attention every month, 

 nay, almost every week in the year. As the 

 roots become excited before the foliage, it will 

 be unsafe to delay re-pottiiig till the latter give 

 indications of returning growth ; and here the 

 turning out of the bulbs, and keeping them in 

 drawers, &c., has its advantages, because the 

 first effort of the root is so clearly visible. In 

 the other case, frequent examination will have 

 to be made by turning the ball out of the pot, 

 and examining the state of the roots. From the 

 delicate and fleshy nature of the roots, care 

 must not only be taken that potting be not de- 

 layed, but also that the operation be performed 

 carefully, that the points of the young roots be 

 not in the least injured. 



Pots. — The pots best adapted for bulbs are 

 much deeper than those used for ordinary pm-- 

 poses, nor need they be of nearly so great a 

 diameter. The roots of most bulbs descend per- 

 pendicularly, and that to a considerable depth ; 

 those of a healthy Amaryllis, for example, with 

 a bulb 3 inches in diameter, should have a depth 

 of pot not less than 10 inches, while the diameter 

 of the pot at top need not be more than half of 

 that ; but for rendering them less liable to be 

 upset, as well as for appearance, and giving 

 more room to the roots, the bottom diameter 

 should be 7 inches. These dimensions may 

 serve as a scale for bulbs of greater or lesser 

 size. Those we use are of these dimensions. 



Soil. — The natural habitat of most exotic bulbs 

 is in sandy or light loamy alluvial deposits ; and 

 although some are found where vegetable matter 

 abounds, still few, if any, are met with in what 

 we call peaty, heathy, or bog soils. The ma- 

 jority of gardening authorities, however, recom- 



