CULTIVATION OF BULBS. 165 



THAN THET CAN CONSUME," whether by assimilation; or rejection in the 

 form of perspiration (see p. 65). 



In the case of bulbs, which may be kept perfectly dry, whUe 

 really at rest, when they are stimulated into growth, moisture must 

 be administered with the greatest caution. "When a bulb has lain 

 dormant in the earth during its natural period, it is ready to spring into 

 renewed life upon the application of warmth and moisture; and it may 

 seem to matter little whether it is suddenly transferred from dryness to 

 moisture, or whether the change takes place gradually; because its 

 powers of life are unimpaired, But in nature no such sudden changes 

 occur : on the contrary, when rain begins to fall, it soaks slowly into 

 the earth ; and when it reaches the bulb, it is still arrested in its action 

 by the numerous dry coats with which this body is invested, and through 

 which it must gradually filter. But when a bulb has been long out of 

 the earth, its yital energies are much diminished, and it cannot bear 

 even that slow supply of moisture which is furnished by wet soil, 

 whose humidity penetrates the bulb coats, and is absorbed by the living 

 tissue. If a weakened bulb is suddenly brought in contact with water, 

 it wUl absorb it, but may be unable to digest it. The water wiU then 

 become stagnant and putrid, and destroy the bulb ; although, could the 

 bulb have digested it, it woxdd have been converted into new elements 

 and have proved a proper aliment. The rule, therefore, to observe 

 with newly-imported bulbs is, to place them where they absorb moisture 

 very slowly. The driest earth is full of water, which can only be 

 driven off by the application of intense heat. A bulb, therefore, should 

 be planted in what is called dry soil, and placed in a shady part of a 

 green-house until it has become plump, and begun to shoot ; if it has 

 begun to shoot when received, still the same treatment should be 

 observed, and the driest soil used to plant it in. It is only when 

 decisive signs of natural growth can be detected that a very little 

 water should be given, while the temperature is at the same time 

 slightly increased ; and no considerable quantity of water should be 

 administered untH the leavfes are an inch or two above ground, and 

 evidently disposed to grow rapidly. If these precautions are taken, no 

 failures are ever likely to occur ; if neglected, no success can be antici- 

 pated. A chest full of bulbs of Calochortus macrocarpus, one of the 

 rarest and finest of all plants, was destroyed in the Garden of the 

 Horticultural Society by an imskUful gardener, who planted them in 

 the wet earth of an open border immediately after their arrival from a 

 fifteen months' voyage. Every bulb would have grown had he under- 

 stood the principles of horticulture. 



Dutch gardeners perfectly comprehend this, as wiU. be seen from the 

 following practical remarks on the management of Hyacinths, by Mr. 

 Theodore Storm, one of the most experienced Dutch growers of this 

 plant. Moisture being the most destructive agent against which the 



