212 
THE TULIP. 
this put the soil you intern! growing them in, 
to the full height you mean it to be, and let it 
settle down. When you plant, you Avill find 
the compost settled down full three inches, 
and this quantity has to he supplied after the 
bulbs are put in. Some persons, for neatness' 
sake, have a framework of w r ood to form the 
bed. In this case inch-and-quarter boards 
ought to be used, stakes being driven down 
at the outer edge of the space, so as to fasten 
the boards exactly to the dimensions intended 
for the bed, which should be four feet wide, 
and the length intended according to the 
number of rows. Fifty rows make a hand- 
some bed twenty-five feet long ; but they may 
be extended to any length. Amateurs have 
the fastened board three inches lower than the 
bed is intended to be finished off, and then 
have a three-inch board to go on, and fasten 
with pins and staples. The object of this 
will be seen in the directions for planting. 
ARRANGING THE BED. 
The proper way of arranging the varieties 
is to have the flowers opposite to each other, 
of the same sort ; that is to say, the two 
outside ones alike ; the two next to the out- 
side should be alike, and those on each side 
the middle one should be of the same sort. 
Every row ought to be so, and by changing 
the middle flower, all the rows will be different. 
Tulips, as is known to growers, consist of 
Roses, Byblomens, and Bizarres ; and the 
arrangement of these must be such as to place 
all the tallest in the centre, the next in height 
on each side the centre, shorter ones on each 
side these, and the shortest outside. The 
bulbs are planted in rows six inches apart, 
seven in the rows across the bed, and any 
number you please along them. Suppose the 
bed to be fifteen feet long, it will hold thirty 
in length ; or if twenty-five feet long it will 
hold fifty in length. Taking the former, 
which every beginner could now compass 
very well, there would be required thirty middle 
row flowers — sixty of the first row, sixty of 
the second row, and sixty of the third row ; 
because, as regards the height of the flowers, 
there are two outside rows called first rows, 
two of similar height next to them, and called 
second rows, and two of equal height next to 
the middle row, called third rows ; thus : — 
tliis would be the case to any length of the 
bed. if there were a hundred rows, the middle 
row being called indiscriminately fourth row, 
or middle row, or centre row. It used to be 
the fashion to keep to the heights only, but 
there were persons, who, besides attending to 
that particular, also took pains to prevent two j 
roses, or two byblomens, or two bizarres, from 
coming together in the same row ; and the 
old school of florists did this by beginning 
from one end of the bed with the rose, by Wo- 
men, bizarre ; rose, byblomen, bizarre, and 
so on, by which, there being seven in a row, 
they all ran alternately thus : — 
Eose Byb. Biz. Eose Byb. Biz. Eose 
Byb. Biz. Eose Byb. Biz. Eose Byb. 
Biz. Eose Byb. Biz. Eose Byb. Biz. 
and so on; by which arrangement, there was 
certainly no two of a class came together in 
the same row, but the classes were not uniform 
in the bed. With some difficulty they were 
got out of their old prejudices sufficiently to 
make the arrangement uniform, and put thesame 
classes on each side the middle row thus : — 
Eose Byb. Biz. Eose Biz. Byb. Eose 
Byb. Biz. Eose Byb. Eose Biz. Byb. 
Biz. Eose Byb. Biz. Byb. Eose Biz. 
Here we have the same class flowers at each 
side of the centre, and it greatly diversified the 
bed, and preserved a good deal of uniformity 
and brilliancy ; but it was capable of still 
greater improvement. It was seen that flowers 
of the same class might be dark and light, 
bright and dull, large and small, and that the 
only way to have them really uniform, was to 
have the same identical varieties on each side 
of the centre, thus : — 
Eeine Poly- Eose Poly- Seine 
de phe- Claudi- phe- de 
Sheba mus ana mus Sheba 
Here there was the same heights and colours, 
the same sizes, the same everything to make 
uniformity and continuity ; this, through the 
bed, would secure an effectwhich could be pro- 
duced no other way. It must be recollected 
that the young bulbs, although large enough 
to bloom, do not grow so tall as full-grown 
ones, so that flowers of any sort may be con- 
sidered as applicable to two rows. Thus some 
are third and fourth row, others first and 
second row, which means that if small they 
will not come to their full height. Holme's 
King, Ambassador, Siam, Violet Alexander, 
Louis XVI. are third and fourth-row flowers, 
because the full-grown ones will grow tall 
enough for the centre, and moderate sized 
ones will be but in the third row. 
PLANTING. 
The bed being four feet wide, it allows of 
six inches' distance between the flowers, and 
six inches from the outside row to the edge 
of the bed. If there be no boarded edge, the 
earth must be levelled and brought to exactly 
three inches lower than it is intended to be 
when planted. If, however, there has been 
a boarded edge, with three inches of the board 
to take off and put on as may be wanted, the 
three inch piece must be taken off, and the 
Eose 
Lac 
Eose 
Lac 
