316 



SHRUBBERIES AND FLOWER-GARDENS. 



[chap. 



over the sprouting seeds, for this infallibly kills them. When the 

 plants have five or six leaves, and, if the weather be fine, they 

 should be put out, and the roots sunk deep enough in the ground 

 to allow of their being firmly fastened there. A shady time is the 

 best for this work ; or, if the weather be hot and dry, the plants 

 should be covered in the sunniest part of the day, so as to keep the 

 rays of the sun from broiling them up. A little covering at nights 

 will also be expedient, as a sharp frost would destroy them all in 

 one night. The plant grows from five to eight feet high, ac- 

 cording as the soil is deep and rich. It Hkes a moist soil, but, by 

 means of manure, may be made very fine in a shallow and dry 

 one. The leaf is very large, and the flower, though small in 

 proportion to the size of the plant, is a very pretty crimson, and 

 makes a good show. So tall a plant should, of course, be placed 

 in such a situation as not to hide smaller plants. — There is a 

 yellow sort, not so tall, nor so handsome, but worth a place in the 

 back of large borders, or in the front of shrubberies. 



588. TUBEROSE, common. — Lat. Polyanthes tuherosa A 

 green-house perennial plant, about three feet high, and a native of 

 the East Indies. Blows a white flower in August and September, 

 and has a very powerful scent. Propagated by the offsets, which 

 aie separated from the principal root every year, as it blows, gene- 

 rally, but once. The offsets should be planted in a hot-bed, and they 

 blow in about two years. Likes substantial, though light, earth. 

 The bulbs of this plant are imported annually, by the florists and 

 seedsmen, from Italy, as are those of the Amaryllis from Guernsey ; 

 and it is better to buy these and only force them into flower by 

 means of the stove, or hot-bed to begin with, and then the green- 

 house, than to attempt to propagate them from offsets, which are 

 long in coming to perfection. 



589. TULIP. — Lat. Tulipa sylvestris. This is the native tulip, 

 but is so completely eclipsed by the eastern plant of the same name 

 that it is scarcely known, though one variety, the double yellow, 

 is a most desirable border flower, producing handsome large and 

 very double flowers in May. It is multiplied by parting its oft- 

 sets every year from the mother bulb, and likes a lightish soil. — 

 Tulip, the florist's, — Lat. Tulipa Gesnariana. — From the Levant. 

 A hardy bulb that has occupied the attention of florists more 

 than any other plant. There are early-blowing and late-blowir.g 

 varieties, the former appearing in Apri', and the latter in May and 



