THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 16. 
| 196 
| ' 
BULBS. 
PROPAGATION AND CULTURE OF 
PIIPPE ASTERS. 
(Continued frontpage 180.) 
I have said that I would write on the culture and 
propagation of these beautiful bulbs, as if to an_amateur 
now beginning to grow them for the first time. I shall 
suppose that he will go to the nurseries next week and 
choose his bulbs; get them all home ; treat them for 
the remaining part of the season as I direct; dry them, 
and put them away in safety lor the next winter; begin 
with them next spring, about the time I shall specify ; 
when they are in flower, I shall select for him which to 
cross; and when the seeds are ripe, I shall put him in 
the easiest road to rear the seedlings to a flowering 
age. Then, before we part, he shall have a little insight 
as to the selection of his best seedlings; and, last of all, 
if there is room, we shall follow some of his own best 
crosses to the exhibition tables, where they will astonish 
the critics, and pay for all the pains and outlay from 
first to last. 
The first thing to be considered, in making a selection 
of bulbs like these, which ought, invariably, to be in a 
growing state, if not in flower, at the time of purchasing 
them, is the state of the leaves, as it is by them only 
that we can determine the health of the bulbs. 
The leaves of bulbs that are in a healthy condition 
are glossy green, of some tint or other, free from dark 
or brown spots, or blotches, from top to bottom. Se¬ 
veral of the original species of Hippeasters have a milky- 
green tinge (glaucous), and very many of the crosses 
have a purplish hue towards the bottom; but, in all 
cases, there should not be the least appearance of a spot 
or rusty tinge. The first indication of a diseased bulb, 
in this genus, is a rusty appearance on the underside of 
the leaves, running along the margin or edges—a ma¬ 
lady which soon spreads, and for which I am aware of 
no known remedy. All that 1 am sure of is, that it is 
not hereditary. When this rustiness appears on a fa¬ 
vourite bulb, the flower should be crossed with another 
flower that is the nearest to it in colour and shape; the 
seedlings will then, or, at least, many of them, be as 
gay as the diseased plant, and quite free from the dis¬ 
ease. This 1 am quite certain of, and I could never 
| make out that this, or any constitutional disease, is 
infectious. 
Hardy greenhouse 11ippcasters will endure as much 
heat as a Pine apple, without appearing to suffer from 
it; hence the very erroneous idea that they are stove 
plants;—hence, too, the secret about forcing them to 
flower in the dead of winter, or causing them to do so 
almost any month in the year. Gardeners take advan¬ 
tage of this disposition, and apply strong, moist heat to 
the seedlings, from the day the seeds are sown, till the 
young bulb comes into bloom at the end> of eighteen 
months or two years. Whereas, if seedlings are allowed 
the same treatment as floweriug-bulbs—free pot room, 
and alternate periods of growth and rest—they would 
not flower under double the time, at least. Nursery¬ 
men, again, make the best of this feature by growing 
their young and old plants in stropgheat and clear light, 
in heated pits, just like the Pine-apple, so as to bring the 
young plants earlier to market, and to get the old ones 
well-ripened during the height of the summer. I have 
seen Mr. Appleby do them this way at the Pine-Apple 
Place Nursery, year after year, with great success. 
There is a large stock of them in that nursery, the best, 
indeed, that I know of about London. The Messrs. 
| Knight and Perry, also, had a good assortment of them 
at the Exotic Nursery, in the King’s Road, Chelsea; 
and now that this celebrated nursery has passed into the 
hands of Mr. Veitch, jun., a chip of the old block, from 
Exeter, I hope he will be as fortunate with bulbs as he 
is known to have been with the newest and best plants 
that he and his father introduced from all parts of the 
world. Messrs. Garraway and Co., of the Bristol Nur¬ 
sery, have also been at the top of the list for a genera¬ 
tion, both as good growers and as successful breeders 
of them. I also knew Mr. Colvile’s collection, when he 
had more of them than all the nurseries in Europe 
could turn out. But of all the nurserymen and gar¬ 
deners, Mr. Tate, of Sloane Street, was by far the best 
biographer of the original kinds. He was above Sweet, 
and only second to Dr. Herbert. I do not know a 
single individual besides who was ever aware of their 
hardihood: I mean Mr. Tate and Dr. Herbert; and it 
is necessary that I should say so, as, in all probability, 
when people go to the nurseries to select, they will be 
told that I am crazy for saying they are anything but 
stove plants, as most nurserymen of the present day 
firmly believe them to be. 
Knowing all this, 1 must own that the nursery¬ 
man’s treatment must be carried through the first 
summer, or all the time they are grown after coming 
from the nursery. If we buy them in June, July, or 
August, a close pit, without artificial heat, will be 
the best for them, as that can be kept hot and moist 
enough for any plant during the time. Towards the 
middle or end of September, at the farthest, I would 
cease watering them altogether, although the leaves 
were as green as a leek; but I would not then expose 
the leaves to the sun, as that would be too premature ; 
the pots should be turned on their sides, with the leaves 
falling away from the sun. A late vinery is always the 
best place to dry-off bulbs late in the autumn ; the top 
shelf but one in a lean-to greenhouse, however, will do 
very well, the leaves being allowed to hang out under 
the stage. The best criterion of the situation is, that 
the leaves keep green for a month, or longer, after 
water is withheld, on the supposition that they were 
green at the time of being put to rest. If any of these 
bulbs were in good growth, from the beginning of 
April to the middle of September, I never found any 
injury from putting them to rest at a moment’s notice, 
although the leaf was full of sap and quite green. For 
the next winter, the bulbs are safer in the pots; all that 
they require is perfect dryness and exemption from 
frost; but, I believe that they, and all other bulbs, 
when resting during the summer months, are the better 
for having the pots —not the bulbs —exposed full to 
the sun. 
About the end of March, I would begin with such 
bought-in bulbs on my own plan, and as 1 meant to go 
on with them. Before that time I should know what 
kind of earth they were in. If it was at all light and 
crumbly, or had any peat or leaf mould in it, 1 would 
shake the bulbs out of it at once, and withput cere¬ 
mony. Nothing will keep them in good health longer 
than strong yellow loam. I would cut off any black, 
or brown, or yellow root. All the kinds havo white 
roots if they are healthy; and every morsel that was 
otherwise coloured I would cut off before potting into 
the fresh soil; and if I was not in a hurry to get 
through with them, I would put aside such as had their 
roots cut, for some days, to give time to the wounds to 
dry over; or, if I potted them at the time, I would 
keep them separate from the other pots, and not water 
them for a week. Either plan is better than to cut, 
pot, and water at the same time. It is not a good plan, 
however, to repot these bulbs when they are at rest; it 
is only done in a case of necessity like this. The right 
time to pot them, under a regular system, is when they 
have done flowering, or very soon after, and, of course, 
all the soil could not then be shaken from their roots 
without damage. 
I do not like half so much drainage for strong bulbs 
as we give to other plants; it occupies too much room, 
