166 CULTIVATION OF BULBS. 



amateur has to' guard, great care should be taken to protect Hyacinths 

 from it, by selecting the most eleyated spot in his garden. If this is 

 surrounded by a shallow trench, a little distance off, it mil be useful ; 

 and the bed should also be raised seven or eight inches above the ground 

 level. It must not be imagined that this precaution is useless because 

 many parts of England are more elevated and lie drier than Holland, 

 an opinion too prevalent among foreign amateurs, which occasions them 

 the loss of many bulbs. In all the treatises that have appeared on the 

 culture of the Hyacinth, this important circumstance has been almost 

 wholly overlooked. The truth is, that the soil which suits the 

 Hyacinth is very light, and disposed to absorb the rain and snow which 

 falls between the months of November and March. The paths around 

 the beds being more close and compact, do not absorb this moisture 

 which lodges upon the beds, and renders them so wet that they 

 absolutely become like mud to the depth of sixteen or twenty inches. 

 The bulbs having by that time formed roots eight or twelve inches in 

 length, their extremities are continually immersed in water, which, 

 from want of a slope to carry it off, causes the roots to putrify, and to 

 communicate a disease to the bulbs, which either totally destroys them, 

 or renders the flowers poor and small. The bulb becomes weak, and 

 when taken up will be found shrivelled and separating into scales. To 

 prevent this there should always be a gentle descent or small trenches 

 around the beds to drain off the wet. The surface of the beds should 

 also be at least seven or eight inches above the path. 



The vitality of a bulb being thoroughly aroused, and the leaves being 

 in full and healthy action, many of these plants may almost be regarded 

 as aquatics, their leaves being able to consume all the moisture that 

 the roots, even though immersed in water, can absorb. Of this the 

 Hyacinth is a familiar example; Crinums, Pancratiums, Hippeastrums 

 and all such soft-leaved genera are others, as is seen by the case of the 

 Amaryllis Belladonna, which acquires its greatest beauty by the side of 

 ditches in Madeira, where it is dried up at the period of rest, and deluged 

 while in leaf. 



One of the effects of an excessive supply of moisture 

 is, to keep all the newly formed parts of a plant tender and 

 succulent, and therefore such a constant supply is desirable 

 when the leaves of plants are eaten as in the case of Spinach, 

 Lettuces, and other oleraceous annuals. Another effect is, to 

 render all parts naturally disposed to be succulent much more 

 so than they otherwise would be ; thus we find market-gardeners 

 deluging their Strawberry plants with water while the fruit is 

 swelling, in order to assist ia that, to them, important operation. 

 While, however, ui this case, the size of the fruit is increased 



