500 THE PLEASURE, OR [Sept, 
or Tulip compost; sow the seeds pretty thick and cover them about 
half an inch deep. The depth of earth in each box should be at 
least one foot, the bottoms of the boxes should be perforated with 
holes, each about an inch in diameter, and covered with shells, in 
order that any extra moisture may drain off thereby. The boxes 
are then to be placed in a warm exposure, and will require no 
water, or any other attention than the keeping of them perfectly 
free from weeds, and slightly protecting them from frost, till the 
spring following, when the plants will appear. Early in May, 
place the boxes in the shade, but not under the dropping or shade 
of trees, and, in very dry weather, give the plants a small portion of 
water; but this should be administered sparingly, lest it should rot 
the young bulbs. In June when the leaves are decayed sift half 
an inch of fresh earth over that in the boxes, and on the approach 
of winter place them again in a warm exposure, where you can 
give them some slight protection from severe frost. Continue 
the same treatment winter and summer, till the month of June or 
July in the third year; the roots may then be taken up, dried and 
treated in the same manner as directed for large bulbs or offsets in 
pages 391 and 392: a few of the strongest roots will flower the 
fourth year, about one half may be expected to flower the fifth, but 
the sixth year every healthy root will exhibit its bloom; and then 
the hopes and expectations of the cultivator will be realized or 
disappointed. He may, however, think himself fortunate, if one 
half of the plants that first appeared, are in existence at this period, 
and if he can at last find one Tulip or Hyacinth in five hundred de- 
serving a name, or a place in a good collection, he may rest perfect- 
ly content. 
The Tulifis raised from seed, will each consist of one plain colour, 
on a white, dark, or yellow bottom; the period of their breaking into 
different stripes is very uncertain, so much so, that it is not uncom- 
mon to wait ten or twenty years without the desired success, al- 
though it sometimes happens, fortunately, to take place the first, 
second, or third year after their blooming; where the collection of 
breeders is numerous (a name given to those self coloured Tulips) 
there may be reasonable expectations of procuring one or two 
valuable flowers annually: a poor dry soil is most likely to produce 
these effects; and a single instance has occurred where forty 
breeders out of fifty became broken or variegated in one season, in 
a situation of this description. 
New sorts of breeders are procured from seed, but such only as 
have tall strong stems, with large well formed cups, and clear in 
the bottom, are worth cultivating. 
Note. The various kinds of tender bulbous-rooted flowering 
plants, may be propagated as above directed, but the boxes in 
which the seedlings grow, must be placed in a Green-house or 
Hot-house in winter, according to the respective necessities of the 
various kinds. 
