WEST LONDON GARDENERS^ ASSOCIATION. 
209 
four inches deep in cow-dung and loam, and always found it 
difficult to produce good bulbs from offsets. 
Mr. Caie. —Deep planting was the best way to restore them 
to vigour. He detailed many systems which he adopted at 
Woburn Abbey, and believed that a gay appearance could be 
given to flower gardens in early spring, by planting in beds, and 
forming into groups of diversified colours, Scillas, Anemonies, 
Cyclamens, and many other bulbs invaluable for early flowering. 
Mr. Shearer never particularly noticed any difficulty in 
forcing the double yellows. The specimens exhibited were 
Daniel O’Connell and Princess Charlotte. He tried to grow 
them in sand and in dark places, but not with the same success 
as with the system he detailed. 
The Secretary then read the following communication from 
Mr. Henry Bowers, gardener and forester at Laleham, near 
Chertsey, in answer to a request to be favoured with a detail of 
his system of growing Hyacinths in moss :—“ I procure a quantity 
of sound bulbs, such as feel weighty and have a clean solid ring 
at bottom, then number each variety, and make a list of all, as a 
reference either for the curiosity of ladies and gentlemen, or for 
the information of the young gardener. Thus prepared, about 
the 20th of October, I get a quantity of the greenest moss ; if 
matted, it must be well separated with the hands ; also a number 
of clean pots of three sizes, namely, large 48’s, large 32’s, and 
flat 24’s. Place an oyster-shell, or a piece of potsherd, at the 
bottom of each pot, and fill closely with the prepared moss, to 
appear like a heaped measure. Take the 48 size, and displace 
with the finger a little of the moss in the centre, where the bulb 
is carefully pressed in. As the work proceeds, rub a little white 
paint on the side of the pot, and with a lead pencil mark the 
number of the sort as per list, and one letter signifying the colour, 
as B for blue. Take the next size, 32, and in like manner place 
three bulbs at equal distances, and of three distinct colours ; next 
flat 24, in which four or five could be placed, the fifth to be 
chosen the strongest and best, placed in the middle, a little ele¬ 
vated in the moss, where it gives a pyramidal appearance to the 
whole. The pots containing three or four bulbs should be num¬ 
bered on the side close to the bulbs, by which they will be dis¬ 
tinctly known, the fifth marked with an asterisk, thus When 
all are done in this order, I give them a plentiful watering, and 
VOL. II. NO. TX. E E 
