118 
assistance from these simple structures ; many others will occur, 
but these form, we conceive, some of the principal objects, at 
least in moderate-sized gardens, and they will serve to illustrate 
our plans. 
It will also be found in the detail we are about to give of 
their culture, &c., that plants from one division will be trans- 
ferable to another, under certain circumstances; and also that 
many things will be common to two or more of the divisions. 
Thus much by way of explanation, we will now proceed to their 
culture, taking them in detail in the order in which they stand. 
1st Division. 
Opaque protectors employed as accelerators. 
Dutch and other Bulbs. We come now to treat, in detail, 
the objects mentioned at page 116, which we purpose doing 
consecutively as there enumerated ; pointing, as we proceed, 
to the main features in their culture, more especially in re- 
ference to the employment of the structures already described. 
It is a well known law in the vegetation of most bulbs, which 
annually become deciduous, that the blossom of one year is 
generated in the year preceding. Hence it follows, that the 
blossom of a bulb, being duly organized, and in an embryo state, 
merely awaits circumstances favourable to its development. 
This is rendered manifest by the circumstance of bulbs grow- 
ing in water-glasses ; for, although the blossom maybe pro- 
duced in very high perfection, by such means, yet no one has 
ever shown that a mere offset can be thus grown into a strong and 
healthy flowering bulb. Bulbs, when placed in water-glasses, 
are usually, by good cultivators, kept in comparative darkness, 
for the tirst two months, or thereahouts : this clearly shows 
that any opaque frame or protector will suffice as well as a 
glazed one, at least during the early stages of their vegetation. 
And, indeed, such a condition is precisely what happens with a 
bulb planted six inches deep in the open ground. Here in the 
dreary season, from October to January inclusive, the earlier 
stages of development progress very slowly, and in darkness; 
together with constant moisture about the stem, preventing, 
any important amount of perspiratory action, which indeed, in 
this stage is unnecessary. When, however, the bulb has pro- 
duced leaves in the full possession of their agencies of absorb- 
tion and perspiration, then indeed an elaborative process again 
