380 
THE CULTURE OE BULBS. 
indicated, and a bed filled with them is almost 
too bright to look upon. 
Then there is the hyacinth, almost a stranger 
in gardens, and confined to pot culture and 
glass culture ; while it presents us with a 
variety of colours which hardly any other tribe 
possesses, and is withal a very hardy genus, 
and requires no trouble as a border flower. 
In this family may be found blues of all shades, 
reds of all shades, purples, and whites, and a 
very respectable approach to yellow. If the 
bulbs are merely placed three inches deep in a 
border, they will want no other attention than 
keeping them clear from weeds. If they are left 
in the ground, they will come up year after 
year; but they spread into offsets, and the 
flowers come in smaller spikes than they would 
if they were taken up when they begin to 
decay, and sorted, the smallest left out, and 
the largest replaced after remaining out of 
ground two or three months ; but, treated as 
perennial plants of the herbaceous kind, and 
left in the ground from year to year, they 
look quite as gay, and give no trouble. 
Next look to the early tulips, a family com- 
paratively unknown, and certainly not at all 
encouraged by those who do know them ; yet 
they rapidly succeed the earliest bulbs, and 
last until the late ones flower. We can safely 
say that a dozen sorts, as distinct as possible, 
and the best of the tribe, might be cultivated 
with great advantage to the garden. 
The various irises with bulbous roots form 
a magnificent group, and are deserving a 
much better fate than the neglect evinced 
towards them by almost all gardeners and 
amateurs. It is almost vexing to a man of 
taste to see garden after garden without any 
of these splendid objects. 
Then let us turn to the narcissus tribe. 
Scores of varieties of all shades of yellow and 
pure white may be found in bloom at once ; 
some sorts bearing only single blooms, others 
having large bunches ; some all of one colour, 
others with two, for instance, white and yellow, 
or yellow and orange, and in endless variety 
of forms and sizes. They are truly very beau- 
tiful, and some earlier than others ; so that 
the season of bloom in this one family is pro- 
longed. The jonquil is very like the nar- 
cissus, but perhaps more elegant and smaller ; 
but many people fancy they are like the same 
family on a smaller scale. 
We have, it is true, mentioned, with perhaps 
one exception, bulbs well known, but never- 
theless as much neglected as if they were only 
fitted for pot and glass culture, and in fact 
almost always forced. Now there is no good 
reason why they should not enrich the flower 
borders several months in the year. But 
there are other splendid families to follow. 
Many kinds of ixia and sparaxis are beau- 
tiful, and some of the colours extraordinary ; 
but a portion of these are not hardy, yet they 
seem the most encouraged, for even in the 
choicest gardens we have hardly ever seen 
them in beds, borders, or clumps. Then we 
have the grand family of lilies ; the only 
three of which that we see at all plentiful in 
English gardens are the Turk's cap, or scarlet 
martagon — the orange lily, by some called 
the fox's lily — and the white lily ; the two 
latter seem plentiful in all cottage gardens ; 
but there are scores of species of the lily 
family almost unknown to common gardens 
and gardeners, and yet not dear. The crown 
imperial and all the fritillaries are both early 
and interesting. They do not vary much in 
colour, being chiefly different shades of yellow, 
but they are nevertheless graceful and hand- 
some in their growth, and make a noble appear- 
ance among early bulbs. Lilium japonicum 
comprises a large family, and all of them 
splendid. L. punctatum and its varieties 
are gorgeous in the extreme; Groom, of 
Clapham, was the first to make any great show 
with them ; but those who have seen his col- 
lection, and reflect for a moment upon their 
comparative hardiness, for they want very 
slight protection, will easily form an idea of 
the acquisition they would be to well-managed 
establishments. In short, the lily tribe is 
extensive, hardy, beautiful, varied, of easy 
culture, and some of them are in bloom during 
May, June, July, and August. If we look at 
their colours, they take the range of all the 
crimsons, orange, yellow, and scarlet; there are 
many exquisitely pure white, and others are 
speckled ; and as for forms, from a globe to a 
trumpet, there is every shape. Here then 
we fairly occupy with flowers all the period 
from February, when crocuses, snowdrops, and 
scillas commence their bloom, until the end 
of August, when the gayest of the lilies 
occupy prominent places among even that gay 
flora. Then comes the colchicum, of which 
Paxton gives an account of purples, whites, 
and pinks, blooming from July to November; 
and in addition to these, the Amaryllis lutea, 
now called Oporanthus luteus, but affording 
their golden yellow after all other flowers have 
done, and forming an excellent helpmate to 
the varied and beautiful tribe last mentioned. 
Besides this late visitor of the Amaryllis tribe, 
we have aulica and Belladonna, and varieties 
coming with their green and scarlet, red and 
flesh-coloured flowers, somewhat earlier ; and 
we might go on almost ad infinitum with par- 
ticulars and descriptions of other bulbs, to 
show that if we could not in the open ground 
have a rich supply of flowers the entire year, 
we cannot exclude more than two months out 
of the twelve. Indeed, those we have already 
spoken of bloom ten out of the twelve months; 
