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made iu the spring, and indeed, at most seasons, with 
a very few plants judiciously selected. Secondly, it 
will shew that we are not altogether wedded to the 
massing system here, as some might infer from my 
lottors. 
This spring border is one hundred aud twenty five 
yards long, is not much out of a straight line, aud is 
divided into two equal lengths by some statuary. The 
width occupied by the spring flowers is from four to 
live feet, but the whole border is twenty feet wide in the 
narrowest part, and is used for many kinds of tall flower¬ 
ing plants, which cannot be used profitably iu beds, and 
is, moreover, an excellent nursery for choice new shrubs 
for the first two or three years. The first few feet ot it 
next to the grass, is devoted entirely to spring bulbs, 
and a few other plants, but the great bulk of the border 
is occupied by such bulbs as have been forced here lor 
the last ten years, aud which have so increased on our 
hands, that some of the varieties of early tulips and 
hyacinths are now planted by the hundred; and it may 
be worthwhile to mention that some of these have been 
now in the border five years without being disturbed, 
aud three or four kinds of hyacinths have in that time 
degenerated to look like wild ones, while all the rest have 
improved every year, and this season some of them have 
the finest flowers I ever saw any where. 
The depth of soil in the border is full two feet, with a 
very dry bottom, and the soil is a compost made on 
purpose, one-lialf of which is the natural dry sandy soil 
of the place, and the rest a soft spongy kind ot peat, 
leaf-mould, aud such vegetable refuse as one finds where 
the “ rubbish heap ” is made, or where all the refuse 
from the garden is wheeled to. 
Management of Bulbs. —About this time in May, in 
each year, the bulbs which were forced last winter are 
collected from where they have been kept from cold 
winds since they were out of flower, and are taken to this 
border. Then the tulips are set down next to the tulip 
patches already in the border, the hyacinths and nar¬ 
cissus the same, until all are disposed of in their classes ; 
but as no tallies or names are kept in the border, and the 
plants are out of bloom by this time, the planter has no 
guide how to plant the bulbs according to their colour, 
or their height, or their time of flowering. Some varieties 
flower three weeks earlier or later than the great bulk of 
the family. All that the planter is required to do, is to 
plant kind with kind. Now, this is a very odd way of 
planting, but it answers extremely well, and is the 
simplest way for gardeners in large places, where things 
of this nature are liable to be overlooked while in a 
dormant state; but I must explain. We shall say, that 
in 18-15 a large quantity of these spring bulbs were 
collected from all parts of the establishment, and planted 
iu this border in patches, from three to five bulbs being 
set in a patch, and sometimes more where there was a 
good stock of that sort, and sometimes one bulb only 
could be set to begin a patch, and all were planted ac¬ 
cording to their height, the lowest being in the front 
row, and from eighteen inches to two feet was allowed 
between the patches. In May 1846, the forced bulbs of 
that season were planted on this border “ kind to kind,” 
that is, all the tulips were planted in rings round the 
former patches of tulips, and quite close to them, and 
the other bulbs the same, so that no more patches could 
be counted than in the former season. In after years 
the same plan was followed, and now some of the 
patches have from twelve tg fourteen bulbs in each, and 
in a few more years, if this system is pursued, many of 
the patches will meet. Now, it easily may be imagined 
what an odd mixture of colours these patches produce 
when they are all in bloom. A stranger would remark 
nothing particular in a border of hyacinths planted thus, 
only that each circle in a patch was of one colour, be¬ 
cause all the hyacinths are nearly of the same height; 
[May 23. 
but, looking at the five years’ accumulation of early 
tulips thus planted in rings, and in detached groups, or 
patches, the appearance might well surprise him. In 
the centre of a patch of tulips are three single Van Thol 
bulbs in bloom, not more than four inches high; then a 
ring of Prince de Liyne, a pure yellow, single, and seven 
inches high ; then a ring of Rex rubrorum, or King of the 
reds, a double dark red flower, as large as a fist, and so 
top-heavy as to need the support of a stake; after that a 
ring of the Golden Standard, scarlet and gold; Royal 
Standard next, silver and crimson ; and so forth. Not 
that the rings are planted in the way I put them here, 
but every ring is of one kind of bulb, and the different 
kinds of bulbs, as tulips, hyacinths, &c., are thus kept 
regularly apart, and that is all we aim at. The plan 
was first begun to save some of the best sorts of forced 
bulbs for cut-flowers, but it has answered so well, and is 
so simple, and takes up so little time, that it has risen 
to the dignity of “ a mixed herbaceous border.” If we 
choose to make use of them, there are many scores of 
bulbs in this border that may be forced again, but they 
answer so well for spring flowers, that we shall be loth 
to disturb them until they get more crowded. 
Now, the idea that it is necessary to take up tulips, 
hyacinths, and such bulbs, every year, is quite wrong. 
Such a system is only a matter of convenience for the 
salesmen; the only use that it can be to private growers 
is, that unless the soil suits them one year, it can be 
changed for them the next. Indeed, the late Dean of 
Manchester, Dr. Herbert, who knew more about the 
different families of bulbs than all the best gardeners iu 
England put together, asserted, long since, that it was of 
great use to many of the more delicate bulbs to be dis¬ 
turbed as little as possible, if the soil suited them; and 
that he found when the patches of bulbs increased by 
their own offsets to such a degree as to squeeze each 
other, they flowered best; and the reason he assigned tor 
this was, 'that bulbs so congregated helped to drain the 
soil around them more perfectly than they could do 
iu detached bulbs in the usual way. Bulbs, like some 
of the Ixia tribe, which are renewed annually from 
beneath the old bulbs, and thus deepen themselves in 
the soil every year more and more, will not come in 
under this rule ; but we are now only considering such 
as are commonly called Dutch bulbs. 
I have got another crochet into my head, which was 
suggested bv my experience with this very border, aud 
it is this, that we are all wrong about potting these 
bulbs in October, so as to be more ready for removal at 
this season to get the beds ready for the summer crops, 
and that the old plan of taking up the bulbs carefully 
is the best after all; and I shall save a thousand pots 
every year by this single stroke, and have better flowers 
both in the bulb beds and in this border than I have 
yet had; and this is the way I shall go to work:—As 
soon as the beds are cleared in the autumn, those beds 
intended for spring bulbs shall be forthwith trenched full 
two feet deep, and I shall suppose the beds to have been 
well manured with some suitable compost last spring, 
and that a crop of summer flowers has eaten up the 
strongest parts of this manuring, or, say, those parts 
that would now be disagreeable to our bulbs if the com¬ 
post were laid on in October. Well, by trenching the 
beds, the remains of the last spring-dressing will tho¬ 
roughly be mixed with the soil, and be thus rendered so 
mild and congenial for the bulbs, that they will root into 
it with great freedom; and it needs no prophet to fore¬ 
tell, that the more roots we have iu a healthy pasture, 
the finer our bulb flowers will be. When the bloom is 
over in May, and we see a chance of a dull or rainy 
day or two, the whole of the bulbs will be taken up 
most carefully with a garden-fork, without breaking a 
single root if possible, then laid on their sides in a bar- 
| row or basket, and taken to the long border, then with a 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
