THE LADIES MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
'251 
an inch deep, and added an inch of sawdust to keep the bed from caking 
in winter. I removed the sawdust about the middle of the following 
March, and in the end of that month the plants began to appear; but in a 
few days I found that the small birds picked them up as soon as their 
seed-leaves appeared above ground. I put hoops over the beds, and threw 
a net over them, so as to exclude the birds. The plants continued to come 
up till September, when mildew attacked them, and in a short time de¬ 
prived them of their leaves; by counting the plants on a square foot, I 
found that the bed contained about eight hundred. As winter set in I 
sifted some fine sand among the plants, but in spite of all my care, the 
weakest of them died before the next March. When I took them up, the 
living plants amounted only to about a hundred. I planted them in rows 
affoot separate each way. A few more died, but what remained grew 
vigorously, and stood their second winter without a death. I did not at 
all prune them ; and the following summer they have all grown well.” 
(Mem. Cal. Hort. Soc ., Yol. 5, p. 63.) 
FLORAL CALENDAR. 
In this month of August all the bulbous-rooted plants belonging to the 
Lily division may be taken up and examined, and, when necessary, re¬ 
duced in size before replanting. It must, however, be observed that all 
plants with scaly bulbs must not remain long out of the ground—not 
more than two or three days at farthest. This is the more remarkable 
as it is so different from the habit of the Hya¬ 
cinths, Tulips, and other plants with tunicated 
bulbs. As some of my readers may not be aware 
of the difference, they have only to examine a root 
of the Crown Imperial, or of any kind of Lily, and 
compare it with that of a Tulip. If they will cut 
open the latter, they will find it to consist of 
a number of coats, one over the other, with 
the germ of the flower in the centre, as shown in 
jig. 68 ; whereas the bulbs of the Lily tribe con¬ 
sist of a number of scales only attached at the 
base. All the plants with tunicated bulbs flower 
best if taken out of the ground, and kept dry for 
a month or six weeks, at least, every year; and 
all the plants with scaly bulbs, when taken out of the ground, should be 
