300 



SHRUBBERIES AND FLOWER-GARDENS. [CHAP. 



twelve inches in height. The last sort^ of which there are three 

 varieties^ the white, the white with yellow cup in the middle, and 

 the all yelloio, for its abundance of flowers^ which are frequently 

 ten or twelve in number upon each of two, three or four stems, 

 according as the plant is a thriving and well-managed one. The 

 first has a bulb about the size of a bantam hen^s egg, the second 

 a bulb not bigger than a very small walnut, and the third a bulb 

 larger than a tm^key^s egg. They are all to be had of the seeds- 

 men, who import them yearly from Holland ; but they may be pro- 

 pagated here ; or, at least, those who wish to go to the trouble of 

 it, by parting the offsets fi'om the mother plants in July, and 

 planting them in a bed by themselves for a year ; by themselves, 

 because they do not flower the first year after being parted ; or 

 they may also be had from the seed, by proceeding in the same 

 manner as for the hyacinth. The most common way, however, is 

 to buy of the seedsmen such bulbs as are wanted ; blow them the 

 first year in pots or in glasses for the house, and, the next year, 

 plant them out in the borders, or in beds by themselves ; this latter 

 being the best v/ay, because then, by making use of the proper soil^ 

 Avhich should be a good fight hazel mould, mixed with a fittle per- 

 fectly rotten cow-dung, you presence yom- bulbs fi'om degenerating 

 so fast as they will if tm-ned out into the borders. Take them up 

 every third year, to take off the offsets, and bring these on in a bed 

 composed of the same mixture as that recommended for the flower- 

 ing bulb. In pots, use the same mixture, or put a httle sand with 

 it ; and, in glasses, do the very same as for the Hyacinth. There 

 are common varieties sold by the florists for the open borders, 

 which manage as you do the tufip and other bulbs so planted. 



536. NASTURTIUM, the to//.— Lat. Tropceolum majus. A 

 plant from Peru which may be trained to the height of ten or 

 twelve feet, and blows an orange-colom'ed flower during the sum- 

 mer and part of the autumn. The single-flowered sort is annuab 

 and being sowed in the spring, in a fight soil and exposed to the 

 sun, wifi afterwards sow itself. The double-flowered is perennial, 

 propagated by cuttings, and kept in a house. In the mnter exposed 

 to the sun as much as possible, and watered but little. There is a 

 dwarf kind which makes a pretty show in the front part of borders 



or in pots. The Small-flowered, or Indian Cress. — Lat. T 



minus. Should be sowed in a hot-bed early in spring in order to 



