1861.] 
AMERICAN AGrRICULTTJRIS T. 
307 
bulb in it; then fill up with common soil. The 
top of each bulb should be about lour inches be¬ 
low the surface of the bed. 
In buying bulbs, take pains to select good 
sound roots—those which are hard, bright, with¬ 
out black spots, and whose buds have not 
started at all. Of the sorts which have an al¬ 
most world-wide fame, and which can be got in 
almost every seed store, we give a few of our 
own favorite names :— Waterloo , double red. 
Groot Voorst , double, pale flesh color. A la Mode, 
double blue. Nanette , double white. Grand 
Vainqucur, single, white. La lien Aimee, double, 
dark blue. Anna Maria , double, white. La Fa¬ 
vorite, double, yellow. Bouquet, double, orange. 
Acengarius, pale blue. Acteur, double, red. 
As Winter approaches, cover the bed with an 
inch or two of strawy manure, which should be 
removed in the Spring, as soon as the hardest 
frosts are over. 
And what we have said above, respecting the 
culture of the hyacinth, will apply in general to 
other Spring bulbs, including the Tulip, Narcis¬ 
sus, Crocus, Snow Drop, etc. It is best to plant 
the last two in September, though October will 
answer. They are less fastidious about soils than 
other bulbs, and should be planted only two 
inches deep. The tulip wants a deep, rich bor¬ 
der, like the hyacinth, open to the sun, and with 
no standing water at the bottom of the bed. It 
wants a plenty of old hot-bed manure, mixed 
with leaf-mold and sand. If highly manured 
with half fermented dung, the colors will dete¬ 
riorate and become “ foul,” as the florists style it. 
A Hint for the Dahlia. 
Seeing it suggested, last Summer, in the Eng¬ 
lish “Cottage Gardener,” that the bloom of 
dahlias could be improved and prolonged by 
mulching the roots with coarse litter dung, 
the writer tried the plan, and found it very 
successful. The mulch was applied in the lat¬ 
ter part of Summer, just as the earliest buds 
were developing. The ground was first thor¬ 
oughly hoed, to soften the surface. As the lit¬ 
ter did not present a very neat appearance to 
the eye, we sprinkled over the top of it a little 
fresh-mown grass from the lawn. This mulch 
kept the ground from drying up, and when 
rain fell, it leached through the mulch, car¬ 
rying down more or less liquid manure. But 
the rains not being always as abundant as we 
could desire, the soap suds from the weekly 
wash was applied, and with good effect. 
The result of the whole was a fine bloom and 
a constant succession of flowers, unchecked by 
the prevailing drouth. The soap suds was also 
applied to the foliage, and served to check the 
ravages of insects. We advise young florists, 
who are apt to get discouraged with their dah¬ 
lias, to make a note of this. 
-♦-«-- 
Over-Doing in Trenching. 
Trenching is important in its place and time, 
if properly performed. But it is often over-done. 
Seme persons, after reading such earnest appeals 
as the late Mr. Downing and others were wont 
to make on this subject, have been known to 
rush into their gardens and dig away violently, 
bringing up the bottom soil to the surface, and 
burying the top soil beneath it. This they 
thought the summum bonurn of horticulture; 
this was thorough work, and all else was super¬ 
ficial play. 
Where the top soil is worn out by long crop¬ 
ping and no manuring, this sort of trenching is 
all very well; it brings up virgin soil, and ex¬ 
poses it to the ameliorating influence of sun and 
air. It is a partial substitute for manuring the 
upper soil. But, in ordinary cases, such tillage 
is not to be commended. It busies soil which is 
light and porous, abounding in the food of plants, 
sinking it out of sight and below the reach of 
common plant-roots, and substituting in its place 
a mass of cold, comparatively barren earth, un¬ 
fit for the germination of seeds and the healthy 
after-growth of vegetation. There are, indeed, 
some roots which strike deep into this lower 
soil; but they are sent down chiefly to anchor 
and brace the plant, and to bring up moisture 
to it in time of drouth. As some one has said, 
roots are “ the hewers of wood and drawers of 
water” to the vegetable establishment. The 
feeding roots lie near the surface, and the real 
nourishment of the plant should be placed with¬ 
in their reach. When this cold soil is brought 
to the surface, it needs tilling and manuring for 
at least one year, to bring it into good order. 
In place of the above, we recommend 
deepening the soil, not turning it upside down. 
If it is a large tract, run through it a heavy 
plow, then follow the same furrow with a sub- 
soiler, to break up and loosen the bottom earth, 
but not to raise it to the surface. So, in the 
garden, throw off the top spit on one side of a 
proposed section, then with a long spade, break 
up another foot deep of earth, and return it to 
its place. If you have coarse manure to spare, 
mix in a little with this lower soil; it will help 
to keep it loose and porous, aside from the fer¬ 
tility. Now, throw back the top soil to its 
original place, and manure this to your liking. 
This is trenching to a moderate depth, to be 
sure, but it is of the right sort so far as it goes, 
and it is enough for all ordinary purposes. It is 
twice as deep as the mass of our tillage goes. 
Whatever is planted in ground so treated will 
prosper. The dark colored surface soil, rich in 
humus, is just what nature furnishes for her 
plants. If we go into the forests and unculti¬ 
vated fields, we everywhere see that nature 
provides for her vegetable offspring by placing 
the food near the surface : she does not bury it. 
So we say, let trenching go on, but let it proceed _ 
with discretion, and not turn the world upside 
down, nor the soil upon its surface. 
Weeds in Walks. 
They will often grow there, however well the 
walk may have been made originally. A good 
preventive, in the original construction, is to 
take off the top soil, (in which the seeds and 
roots of weeds chiefly abound,) to the depth of 
six or eight inches, fill up the cavity with small 
stones or bricks, and then put on an inch or two 
of coal-ashes, finishing off with fine gravel. 
Here, as will be readily seen, is little food for 
vegetable growth. Yet,enough refuse matter will 
soon accumulate on the surface, to give weeds 
a foot-liold. And the best way to keep a walk 
clean, is to keep the hoe busy all through the 
season, extirpating every weed as soon as it ap¬ 
pears. Where there is a great extent of walks, 
some persons use refuse salt, scattering it over 
the gravel, once a month. This answers for a 
time, but a smart rain or two converts salt into 
a manure, which gives the weeds a fresh start. 
In some gardens, the following mixture is 
used with good effect: Ten gallons of water, 
twenty pounds of quick lime, two pounds of 
flower of sulphur, mixed and boiled in an iron 
vessel. After settling, draw off the clear part, 
and sprinkle it on the weeds through a common 
sprinkling-pot. As it is very caustic, it should 
not be thrown on the grass or box borders, for 
it will kill good and bad without distinction. It 
is claimed for this article, that where weeds 
have been once subdued by it, they will not ap¬ 
pear again the same year. This may be true, 
but we would not throw away the hoe quite yet 
•----- 
8ave the Best Flower Seeds.— The same 
law holds good in cultivating flowers as in rais¬ 
ing grain or other produce. Seeds from the 
moat perfect specimens will be likely to give the 
finest blooms. In the season of flowering, the 
best single flowers should be marked, by tying 
a bit of ribbon to them, or in some other man¬ 
ner, and the seed carefully gathered, and la¬ 
beled “ Best.” It is by continual selection of 
.seed from the most perfect flowers, combined 
with care in cultivation, that all the choice 
double varieties have been brought to their high 
excellence. 
Green Houses for the People .. .Ho. I. 
EXPLANATIONS. 
A Cold Grapery is a glass structure, in which 
grapes and other plants are protected, but arc 
grown without artificial heat. 
Cold Frames are simply low movable boxes, 
covered with glass, for the partial protection of 
various garden plants. No artificial heat is used. 
An Orciiard House is similar to a cold 
grapery, usually on a larger scale, for growing 
peaches, pears, apples, cherries, apricots, plums 
indeed all kinds of fruit, under the protection of 
glass, but without artificial heat. 
A Hot-Bed is a bed of soil warmed by bottom, 
heat, such as is produced by the fermentation of 
manure. It is usually covered with glass. 
An Orangery, is similar to an orchard house, 
but is devoted entirely to Grange trees, and is 
provided with some simple means of heating to 
prevent freezing in cold weather. 
A Gren-IIouse is a structure in which tender 
plants are sheltered and kept green, and usually 
in growth, during cold weather. See next page. 
A Conservatory differs little from a green¬ 
house, but it usually implies a glass house on a 
larger scale, designed mainly for show. The 
Chatsworth Conservatory in England is so large 
as to furnish a carriage drive, and extensive foot 
paths. The ornamental glass structures for 
plants, upon the sides of dwellings, are generally 
designated as conservatories. The term is ap¬ 
plied to all sorts of structures for conserving 
(or protecting) plants. 
A Stove, or Hot-IIouse, is a glass structure 
for the growth of exotic plants, especially those 
from hot climates, and is provided with appara¬ 
tus to keep up an even tropical temperature 
throughout the year. 
A Palm House is a liot-house devoted to the 
growth of palm trees only. 
A Pinery is a hot-house devoted exclusively 
to the artificial growth of pine apples, and is 
supplied also with bottom heat. 
Forcing Houses are glass houses in which 
any kind of plants are grown out of season by 
artificial heat, etc. 
A Propagating House is either a green¬ 
house, or a hot-liouse, which is devoted entirely 
to the multiplication of plants. 
A Calcutta” is a name given in England 
