December 1, 1888. 
212 THE GARDENING WORLD. 
RUOflidi/uTUS^. 
Floreat Tulipa! 
There is a sound as of a stir of inquiry for the florists’ 
Tulip, and more beds of this glorious old flower will be 
planted this autumn by new hands or old grown young 
again than there have been of late years. This and the 
hope of a Tulip show in the south, form, I trust, good 
signs of a revival of Tulip culture. It is now the height 
of the planting season, although the pious old date of 
Lord Mayor’s Day is past. As a peg on which to hang 
the empty hat of a weak memory, that ancient fixture 
is a fair one ; but more Tulips are planted after than 
before the civic New Year’s Day. 
However, the longer the bulbs are now kept above 
ground, the more impatient they visibly become, and 
greater is the risk of injuring them in tender places. 
Young fibres are very prominent within their setting 
upon the radical plate of the bulb (like cutting teeth in 
tender gums), and to tread on a man’s only corn is as 
nothing compared to the wrong done to a Tulip bulb by 
pressing its root crown against some pebble, or other 
indigestible hard substance in the soil. The Tulip has 
no power to produce more fibres than are now in 
waiting, neither is it able, as some bulbs are, to form 
laterals on any ; and hence it is evident that the life of 
not one rootlet should be injured. The young leaf, 
which is usually in sight in October, should also meet 
with no tombstone of an obstacle on its upward way. 
It is the main or “guard-leaf,” and if deflected or 
delayed, it will be crippled in development—a check for 
which not all the other leaves upon the stem can 
compensate. 
Bulbs kept dark, dry, cool and airy will wait until 
Christmas, but I would rather plant them in October 
than December. It will make no difference in the time 
of flowering, but blooms from the earlier planted bulbs 
are likely to be finer. The later planted catch them up, 
but it is at the usual expense of being in haste. Tulip 
sprouts of leaf are not able to grow more than 1 in. or 
so without the aid of fibres, and a novice might suppose 
that as the top shoot does not much lengthen by delay, 
all is well ; but it is the waiting fibres that suffer first 
and most, and perhaps unseen. Death by starvation 
carries first that vital point, and the root crown turns 
black, after which a small bulb perishes utterly, and 
even a strong one does no more than leave behind it in 
place a little Phoenix of a bulb, rising from the ashes of 
its parent, and three or four years short of flowering 
size. 
Any new collection commencing this season from 
most probably different growers, will present to the 
beginner a curious sight at coming up time. Some leaves 
will be showing above ground much before others, and 
the little bed will appear patchy. This will not be due 
to anything peculiar to varieties themselves, but to the 
different time at which bulbs from different collections 
are ripe and wont to appear. For instance, any from 
my friend Mr. Barlow appear with me as much later as 
those are earlier which I sen,d him. This, however, is 
nowhere repeated a second year. The new comers 
afterwards fall in exactly with the time kept by the 
collection they have recently joined. 
None of our florist flowers give so little trouble as the 
Tulip, though I am no advocate for the doubtful charm 
of having to take no thought for and pains about a 
flower. People come here and often say, “All these 
flowers must be a great deal of trouble ! ” One can only 
reply, What is anything in the world worth without it ? 
I would not say that the lazy man would do even the 
Tulips well; but in its culture he may enjoy two long 
vacations. Between June and November, the taking 
up and planting, and between November and January, 
the planting and appearance, the bulbs are off his 
hands, provided that they have been stored away in 
dark, cool, dry, and airy quarters, where mouse and 
rat cannot devour, and have been planted in a bed 
that is well drained. 
The Tulip likes a firm, deep, heavy soil, and if this 
is exposed to all weathers, it should have been dug 
deeply over for Tulips during the summer, and left to 
settle naturally and well. I trench mine over every 
year, but later, because the Tulip-house, with glass 
sides added, is used in summer for Peach and Nectarine 
trees in pots ; but the soil is never too wet in October to 
tread to firmness for Tulips. Sydney Smith, once con¬ 
sulting his doctor, was advised “to take a walk upon 
an empty stomach,’’and he replied, “Whose?” The 
question was beyond all medical skill; but anyone is 
welcome to walk over my empty Tulip bed, though I 
always do it myself. 
As for enrichments, the Tulip needs not to be 
surfeited by such coarse foods as the greedy Hose and 
the gluttonous Chrysanthemum eat away with. It is 
a generous but sweet feeder, and to offend its nature 
by obtruding patent fertilisers where it is astonished 
to find these in such quantity and condition, is but to 
court, sooner or later, the reaction of a break down. 
Like the Auricula, the Tulip is not to be thrown away 
after a brief service of a year, or span of a few. It has 
to be kept in a health which will last, and that is a 
natural, robust, and not exaggerated health. 
I only top-dress the beds annually, after planting, 
with some 2 ins. of perfectly friable compost from an 
aged heap of leaves and stable litter, which is not dug 
in till the autumn following. A sprinkling of salt over 
the beds in August, if they be unoccupied, is also good 
for Tulips. They are generally planted at a depth of 
about 2 ins. from the top of the bulb, and if the rows 
are 8 ins. apart, and the “places” across the bed 6 ins., 
two bulbs may be planted in each of the places. 
Offsets do better in a bed by themselves, as they have 
only one leaf, and that should enjoy all the light and 
air possible.— F. D. Horner, Burtm-in-Lonsdale. 
-- 
A GHAT ABOUT CHRYSANTHE¬ 
MUMS. 
(Concluded from p. 197.) 
The Best Time to Strike Cuttings. 
This is a point on which a variety of opinions exist. 
My experience has led me to divide the plants into two 
sections, and treat them differently. In this matter 
I have found that Japanese require a longer season of 
growth than the incurved section, except a few 
varieties, such as Barbara, Eve, Mabel Ward, &c., 
which should be rooted with the Japanese ; those we 
strike in December, and the incurved by the end of 
January or any time during February. I have always 
succeeded in obtaining better flowers with broader 
florets by late than early striking. This applies 
especially to the Empress and Queen family. 
Striking the Cuttings. 
All the growers about Liverpool do not strike their 
cuttings on the same principle. Some insert them in 
cold frames, some place them thickly together in pots, 
place them on a shelf, and are not particular about them 
flagging and so on. I make up a slight hotbed in a 
vinery about to be started, with leaves and a small 
quantity of manure. Particular care is taken that the 
heat is only of the gentlest description in order to 
prevent the cuttings from flagging, and at the same 
time assist them to root in less than half the time than 
would be the case by cool treatment. Weak growers 
are rooted singly in small pots, and also those intended 
for trained specimens. Others are rooted together in 
5-in. or 6-in pots. By the time the plants are rooted, 
hotbeds are made for them in cold frames of the same 
description as for rooting them, when they are potted 
singly and plunged. They become established by the 
time the beds cool down, which avoids checking the 
young plants. Weak plants, as well as those for 
trained standards, are potted on and encouraged by a 
little bottom heat. Under this treatment they gain 
strength and make rapid progress. The object to be 
attained is strong but sturdy growth from the time the 
plants are hardened to cool frame treatment to the time 
they are placed outside in May. This is achieved by 
giving abundance of air and the removal of the lights 
as the season advances when the weather is favourable. 
The weather must guide the cultivator whether he is to 
place the plants outside early in May or towards the 
end of that month. A sheltered spot should be found 
for them, or a temporary protection should be given to 
them in case of late frosts or cold cutting winds. Every 
care, however, must be taken of them at this sta^e for 
they are easily injured. I have seen the leaves blown 
off them, and plants subjected to such cruel treatment 
seldom recover. 
Potting. 
Before potting is commenced we place, in the position 
the plants are intended to occupy, old hoards, 1 yard 
apart, on which we stand the plants, pot to pot, until 
July, when they are placed 6 ins. or 9 ins. apart, 
according to the number of shoots that the plants are 
allowed to carry. The plants are placed in their 
flowering pots during May as they are turned outside. 
We have found 9-in. and 10-in. pots most suitable, 
and if larger are used two plants may be placed in 
them with good results. In draining the pots oyster 
shells are preferred to crocks, whole ones at the base, 
and for the top they are broken up moderately fine. 
Over this a good pinch of soot is scattered to keep out 
worms and act as a stimulant to the plant. In potting, 
the soil that I shall recommend should be pressed 
firmly into the pots. When potting is finished room 
should be left in the pot for at least the addition of 
2 ins. of soil. 
The Soil. 
We use turf green from the field chopped about the 
size of an egg. To this is added one 8-in. potful of 
soot, the same quantity of pounded oyster shells, the 
same quantity of bonemeal, and a small quantity of 
leaf soil to each barrowful of sod. 
The Mat Bud. 
There appears to be a good deal of misconception about 
the May bud. In my opinion it is the result of a check 
or early striking, and I scarcely remember an example 
of this when the old stools have been cared for and the 
plants struck at the time suggested. My advice is. 
Avoid this bud. In nine cases out of ten it throws the 
bud that should appear from the middle of July wrong. 
If the plants show this tendency, help them out of it 
as quickly as possible by removing the points of the 
plants, and select three or four shoots to carry one 
bloom each. In the case of doubtful kinds that 
occasionally go blind, stop them in May, and run up 
five or six shoots, and when you have secured the right 
time buds and observe them swelling, thin out the 
shoots to three or four. If we do not stop them we 
always run up more shoots than we intend to retain— 
that is, from the natural break in July. We stop some 
and grow others without, and then seldom fail to 
secure a good flower at the time it is wanted. 
Feeding. 
We feed very little before the bud is secured. What 
we are in the habit of using is liquid from the farmyard 
diluted with water and a little soot dusted on the sur¬ 
face of the soil during showery weather. A few years 
ago we had in the garden a cesspool, the contents of 
which liberally diluted with water I found an invalu¬ 
able food for the Chrysanthemum. To those who 
have not used it my advice is give it a trial. At one 
time we had practically only natural liquids, but now¬ 
adays we can make liquid from such a variety of 
special manures, or dust them on the surface of the 
soil, and most, if not all, of them are useful for a 
change. 
Taking the Bud. 
I have said I am a little later than most growers in 
securing buds. For the incurved I do not care to take 
them before the last week in August, or the first three 
weeks in September, though some of the Japanese 
might be taken earlier. The aim of the cultivator 
should be to secure them during the latter dates. 
When plants have been pinched in their earlier stages 
some of the shoots will show before others, although 
on the same plant. This can be regulated to a very 
large extent in July ; for instance, if they should show 
early in that month allow them to grow on until the 
middle of that month. They must then be pushed to 
make the next growth by clearing out all lateral 
growths from the axils of the leaves. At this stage 
examine the remaining shoots on the plant, and if 
small growths have commenced showing in the axils of 
the leaves rest assured that a bud is forming. My 
plan is to clear out all growths as in the preceding 
case, take out the point of the plant, and do for it 
what it would otherwise do for itself. But if left alone 
it would come in too late to be of service for showing. 
Staking and Tying. 
This may be passed over, for nearly each cultivator has 
a slightly different method, and all answer the purpose, 
so long as the plants are not broken and each shoot is 
secured separately, so that light and air can reach them 
on all sides. One other matter of importance is, that we 
allow all the shoots of our plants to sway loose 18 ins. 
above the tie, which saves many points from breaking. 
Some say birds will break the shoots if they alight 
upon them, but in over twenty years I have observed 
a solitary robin on these plants, and the shoot it 
rested on did not break. It is mostly caused by wind 
and rain, when the plants are tied too near the top. 
Ripening the Wood. 
I do not attach much importance to this ; all that I 
have ever found to be necessary is to stand the plants 
sufficiently far apart so that light and air can play all 
round them. The ripening of the wood depends 
largely upon the time the bud is taken. Ripening 
commences to take place rapidly after bud formation 
and the leaves below it have fully expanded. If the 
buds are taken too early in August the wood in some 
seasons ripens too much, and the result is a flat flower 
