BULBS. 



37 



BULBS. 



the leaves are destroyed, fresh leaves 

 are produced to a comparatively unli- 

 mited extent ; and hence, if the sea- 

 son be long enough, the plant may 

 produce a sufficiency of foliage in the 

 current year to enable it to mature 

 flowers in the next. But in bulbs 

 the case is different ; the leaves pro- 

 duced are very few, and if they are 

 shortened before they are fully grown, 

 or cut off before they begin to decay, 

 the bulb is deprived of nourishment 

 to such an extent, as either not to 

 flower at all the followiug season, or 

 to flower very weakly. Thus, the 

 great art in the culture of bulbs is to 

 preserve all their leaves uninjured, to 

 expose them fully to the sun and air, 

 and by no means to cut them off till 

 they have begun to decay at the ex- 

 tremities. By far the greater number 

 of bulbs flower in spring, and produce 

 their flower-stems immediately after 

 they begin to grow : and shortly after 

 they have flowered they cease grow- 

 ing, and remain dormant and without 

 leaves during the remainder of the 

 year. Hence, almost all bulbs re- 

 quire to be planted in autumn ; fmd 

 hence also, they require, free, dry, 

 and somewhat rich soil, into which 

 their roots may penetrate easily, and 

 procure nourishment without diffi- 

 culty for their rapidly-growing leaves. 

 The bulb is in all cases strengthened 

 by preventing the flowers from pro- 

 ducing seeds ; and in most cases it 

 ought to be taken up, as soon as the 

 leaves have decayed, and preserved in 

 dry sand or earth, and in some cases 

 on shelves, or in papers in a dry room, 

 till the planting season in autumn. 

 Bulbs which are indigenous to Britain, 

 such as those of the common wild 

 Hyacinth, and some of the Narcissi, 

 receive little injury from remaining 

 in the ground all the year ; but im- 

 proved varieties of indigenous bulbs, 

 and all bulbs from warm climates, 

 such as those of the Hyacinth, the 



Ixias, &c, are greatly injured by the 

 moisture of our summers ; and when 

 left in the ground, require the inter- 

 position of art to keep the soil tolera- 

 bly dry. From the circumstance of 

 bulbs growing with great rapidity 

 when in a state of vegetation, they 

 require abundance of water ; and this 

 is the reason why the soil in which 

 they are planted should always be 

 deep, so as to retain moisture. A 

 bulb is essentially a bud, and contains 

 within itself the germs of the leaves 

 and flowers which are to be produced 

 the following season. In plants be- 

 longing to the other division of vege- 

 tables, those with netted leaves, or 

 what are called Dicotyledons, a 

 plant which is weak in the beginning 

 of the year, may, by increased care 

 and nourishment, be made to flower 

 in the course of the season ; but this 

 is by no means the case with bulbs, 

 not one additional leaf or flower being 

 in their case capable of being produced 

 during the season, that is not previ- 

 ously in an embryo state in the bulb. 

 Thus, in one sense, bulbs are of 

 more easy culture than any other 

 class of plants ; because the germ 

 being previously formed, and the 

 nourishment being provided in the 

 body of the bulb, it is only necessary 

 to supply heat and moisture to cause 

 these to develope. Hence, the prac- 

 tice of growing bulbs of Hyacinths, 

 Tulips, Narcissi, Crocuses, Irises, 

 Snowdrops, Fritillarias, &c, placed 

 over water in glasses, or vessels of 

 earthenware, or in moist moss. Bulbs 

 are increased by little bulbs called 

 offsets, which are produced by the side 

 of the old bulb. New bulbs are also 

 formed every year in the Tulip and Hy- 

 acinth, at the side of the old bulb ; in 

 the Crocusand the Gladiolus, and many 

 of the Cape Iridacese, over the bulb; 

 and in the bulbous Irises, &c, under 

 the bulb. Hence, in the cultivation of 

 bulbs in the open garden, there is aeon- 



