160 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



In April, when the buds are well above the leaves, it becomes neces- 

 sary to afford sonic protection, lest hail or heavy rain damage the bloom. 

 The old growers stretched a light awning of canvas over the bed, but it 

 is better to arrange a wooden framework above the bed to carry a series 

 of garden lights sloping gently from four feet in the middle to three feet 

 at the sides. As the buds get up and begin to open, light canvas is run 

 round the side of the bed as a wind break, and if great heat sets in the 

 glass will want whitening. 



The Florist's Tulip is perfectly hardy, but it is only in exceptional 

 seasons that one can hope to obtain a cup-like bloom, some three inches 

 in diameter and standing two feet or so from the ground, in anything like 

 perfection without shelter overhead. This last season (1902) I had nine 

 degrees of frost following rain on May 14 ; every Tulip, even under the 

 glass, was lying flat on the bed in the morning, and though they got up 

 again, those which had been unprotected were covered with dead spots 

 wherever a raindrop had frozen, and in many cases the rot spread and 

 destroyed the whole bloom. Some growers give all the protection they 

 can as soon as the shoot peeps through ; but in the south, at all events, 

 this results in excess of vigour and gross blooms flushed with colour. I 

 can only keep the flowers, especially the feathered sorts, in character by 

 the freest exposure, even at the cost of a certain proportion of crippled 

 blooms, where the bud has been nipped by frost just when it was in the 

 axil of the leaf. In the south the Tulip must have poorish but well- 

 worked and strong soil, and no coddling if the bloom is to retain its 

 refinement. Rich soil and groat care in sheltering and protecting result 

 in huge bulbs and leaves, and blooms with eight petals and the like, 

 flushed witli colour — "dragons," as the old growers called them. 



After the bloom the bulbs are allowed to ripen off, still under the 

 lights to keep off rain, until the leaves have begun to shrivel and dry up. 

 Many growers lift as soon as the stalk can be bent double without 

 breaking, but in the south it is desirable to wait a little longer. The 

 seed pods should bo broken off, as then the growth dies down more quickly. 

 The bulbs are then lifted with a small hand-fork, and each, as it is 

 removed from the ground, is placed in its appropriate hole in the drawer. 

 The stalk should be cut off with a stout pair of scissors about two inches 

 above the bulb ; it is not wise to attempt to detach the new bulb from 

 the old growth until the whole is somewhat drier. The boxes containing 

 the bulbs should then be kept in a dry shod, or covered over with news- 

 paper and left under the lights for a few days ; in any case, it is dangerous 

 to lot the sun rest on the bulbs before they are dry. Finally, when com- 

 pletely dry, the old growth and dead skins can be broken oft', the new 

 bulb cleaned up, and the offsets detached. Some varieties, especially tho 

 brooders, increase (reel) . sometimes splitting into two or even more flower* 

 ing bulbs, in addition to yielding several smaller offsets, which want 

 feeding up for another season before they will reach flowering size. But 

 many of the choicer sorts only yield an ottset from time to time, and so 

 cannot be multiplied rapidly. Tho offsets of all good sorts should be 

 preserved and grown on in a separate bod of rather richer soil, planting 

 them not so deep and earlier than the flowering bulbs. In this way not 

 only is an increase of stock secured, but a reserve is created wherewith to 



