BULBOUS PLANTS. 
39 
The Colchicums or narcissus are hardy bulbs, and will grow in 
any sort of ground ; only, the better the soil is, the finer they 
will flower. 
The Guernsey Lily and Belladonna will not thrive in the open 
ground, therefore it is needless to speak of those very splendid 
flowers. 
The Lily of the Valley, though scarcely to be classed among 
the lily tribe, is a beautiful flower, and as fragrant as it is lovely. 
They must be multiplied by dividing the roots, which should be 
parted with a knife, as they are very intricate: do this in Decem¬ 
ber. Plant them three inches deep in the ground, and disturb 
them as little as you can help, as they do not like to be often 
moved. They are larger in their flowers when grown in the 
shade, but they are sweeter in perfume in the sun’s full rays. 
Thin broad leaves are sufficient shelter to the flowers. 
All bulbs love salt: be careful, therefore, to throw a portion 
of common salt or brine upon your compost heap. My cousin, 
Cuthbert W. Johnson, Esq., in his “ Observations on the Em¬ 
ployment of Salt,” quotes a passage in a letter addressed to him 
by Mr. Thomas Hogg, the eminent florist, upon the advantages 
of salt in the cultivation of flowers. I will transcribe it here 
“ From the few experiments that I have tried with salt as a garden ma¬ 
nure, I am fully prepared to hear testimony to its usefulness. In a treatise 
upon flowers, published about six years since, I remarked, that the applica¬ 
tion of salt, and its utility as a manure, was yet imperfectly understood. It 
is a matter of uncertainty, whether it acts directly as a manure, or only as a 
kind of spice or seasoning, thereby rendering the soil a more palatable food 
for plants. 
“ The idea that first suggested itself to my mind, arose from contemplating 
the successful culture of hyacinths in Holland. This root, though not in¬ 
digenous to the country, may be said to be completely naturalized in the 
neighborhood of Haerlem, where i; grows luxuriantly in a deep, sandy, allu¬ 
vial soil. yet one great cause of its free gro vth, I considered, was owing to 
the saline atmosphere : this induced me to mix salt in the compost; and I 
