158 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mustard on it. In four or five weeks' time the Mustard is eighteen inches 

 or two feet high : it is beaten or chopped down and dug into the soil, 

 which is then consolidated by trampling. The Mustard plant soon decays, 

 and by the end of October the soil is in excellent condition and easy to 

 work. In what follows I shall only describe my own routine of cultiva- 

 tion, not that there is anything special about it, but because a concrete 

 case is most intelligible. 



The beds are marked out by boards set on edge and projecting about 

 two inches above the general soil level : they are dug over in the early 

 autumn and covered up as planting time approaches, so as not to become 

 too wet for that operation. Seedlings, offsets, and other small stuff 

 I plant in October at latest ; about November 9 is the orthodox time for 

 planting the general stock, but I generally leave it to the end of the 

 month. The quickest plan of planting a large bed is first to throw out 

 the soil to the depth of four inches from the top of the boards, get the 

 bottom firm and level, and then set the bulbs out. Afterwards the soil 

 may be sifted through a half-inch sieve on to the bulbs, or a handful of 

 soil may be firmly placed on each, then the remaining earth thrown 

 gently over the bed and finally raked level ; in any case there should 

 be a depth of four to five inches of soil above the base of the bulb. 

 My own beds measure 30 x 4 feet ; saw cuts on the edge of the boards 

 every six inches mark out the "rows," in each of which seven bulbs are 

 placed at intervals of six inches. Often two bulbs are planted near together 

 in each " hole," for which there is ample room. It is impossible to keep 

 a large collection true to name, or to get it planted and lifted with any 

 expedition, except by the aid of a Tulip box and book. The box is a 

 cabinet of drawers, each of which is divided into partitions measuring 

 two inches each way, seven partitions in a row and ten rows to a drawer. 

 As a row of the box thus corresponds to a row on the bed, six drawers 

 will hold the bulbs of a 30-foot bed. The collection is arranged 

 beforehand in the drawers ; at planting time each drawer is taken in turn 

 to the bed and the bulbs removed to their corresponding places in the 

 bed ; similarly when the bulbs are lifted they are placed straightway in 

 their proper holes in the box. The Tulip book, for which any stout 

 memorandum book will serve, is ruled to correspond with boxes and beds ; 

 for example, on the left-hand page of my own come the names of three 

 rows of bulbs, the corresponding lines on the opposite side being left for 

 comments. 



The following extract will explain the system : — 



79. 



1. ' E. Pegg ' fr. 64/7 x x x lightly fid. 



2. 'Heroine' [x x x fr. 1897] 80/2 | bad— throw away 

 8, ' Dr. Hardy ' fid. 



4. 'Talisman ' fid. 114 3 x x x x 



5. 1 Dr. Hardy ' fid. x x x 

 (>. ' Annie McGregor ' fr. x x 

 7. ' E. Pegg ' fr. 64 7 x x x 



2 fair. 



to S. heavy, to N. x x x x 

 xxx 

 indefinite 

 x x x fr. shown 



No. 79 indicates the position of the row on the bed, the other numbers 

 the position in the row ; fr. and fid. are contractions for feathered and 



