FORCING BULBS TO FLOWER IN WINTER. 
163 
bring us a fresh supply of important information, to add to our 
scanty stock of knowledge. I have sent for your insertion, if you 
think they merit it, a few remarks on my method of forcing bulbs, 
which I hope may be of some service to the more inexperienced 
portion of your readers. 
Early in October, send for a quantity of Dutch bulbs, as Narcis¬ 
sus, Tulipa, Hyacinthus, &c. and previous to doing so, provide a 
quantity of mould, composed of 
Two barrowsfull of well decomposed hot-bed dung, 
One barrowful of fresh loam. 
One do. of vegetable or leaf-mould. 
One quarter of a barrowful of fine sand. 
These are to be well chopped, and mixed together; then lay the 
compost in an open shed, to dry a little before using. About the 
second week in October, pot the bulbs in the above soil, in pots pro¬ 
portioned to the size or sort of bulb. Fill all the pots with soil, and 
shake it down, but do not press it with the hand before commencing 
to plant the roots; then lay some clear sand on the soil, in the mid¬ 
dle of the pot, and placing the bulb on the sand, gently press it down 
till within half an inch of the top. Care must be taken not to press 
with sufficient violence to injure the bulb, yet it must be left firm in 
the pot; for on these two things much depends, with regard to their 
growing freely. 
After they are potted, and named or numbered, place them in a 
cucumber or melon frame, prepared after the following manner:—■ 
Take out the soil, and lay on the old bed about two inches thick 
of fine ashes, level and make them pretty solid, on the top of this 
lay a quantity of sifted ashes, in which plunge the pots, making the 
ashes as firm about the pots as possible. After this is finished, co¬ 
ver the whole to the depth of eight or ten inches with dry light soil. 
Always choose a dry day for the purpose, and let every thing be dry 
that is used about plunging; or the bulbs will be liable to perish. 
Give air at all times in fine mild weather, but allow no wet or frost 
to enter the covering soil: at nights, the lights must always be on, 
and in severe weather closely covered down with mats; but if the 
nights are mild, the glasses may be tilted, to allow a little air. 
In January, take them out ot the frame, wash the pots, carry 
them to the stove for flowering; and give them regularly a moderate 
supply of water, to assist them to flower strong. As the flower stalks 
advance in growth, tie them to neat green or white sticks; and if 
treated as above, they will flower beautifully. Crocuses planted four 
or five in a pot, flower well when treated as above. I also beg to 
m 3 
