ARRANGEMENT AND CULTURE OF TULIPS. 
197 
sloping from the bed. This is the soil in which the tulips are to 
be planted. The soil for covering them should consist of equal 
quantities of a very light clean mould and river sand, well 
mixed and sifted, which should be got ready by the side of the 
bed. 
The usual time for planting the principal bed is the early part 
of November, as the weather is generally more settled about that 
period than it is later. The bulbs also begin to shoot, and should 
not be kept out much longer, otherwise they become weakened. 
The first fine day, therefore, before the 10th, should be selected, 
and the mould broken down with a potato-fork, making the bed 
highest in the middle, and rather convex. When it is raked 
smooth, put on a layer, one inch thick, of the light sandy mould 
intended for the covering, which must also be raked smooth. It 
is then necessary to mark the situations for the bulbs, which should 
be done in the following manner : have two rods, with the dis¬ 
tances for the seven long rows of the bed marked on each, allowing 
rather more space between the centre row and the row on either 
side than between the others (the usual distance is 7 inches), 
and 4 inches from the outer rows to the edge of the bed, one of 
the rods being placed at each end of the bed. A line should then 
be strained from one end of the bed to the other, directly over the 
marks on them, and when tight, if lifted in the centre and 
sprung, there will be a mark left on the mould the whole length 
of the bed. Having completed these lines, they must be crossed 
by others at 6^ inches’ distance ; this is done by a person on either 
side of the bed drawing a line across at the proper distances. The 
drawers should then be brought to the bed, and the roots placed 
firmly on the angles where the lines cross in the order in which 
they were arranged. When this is done, the bed should be covered 
4 inches deep with the light mould and sand already prepared, 
and raked smooth and moderately convex. The object of having 
a lighter soil for covering the tulips is to allow the water to drain 
off more freely from the stems and foliage of the plants, particularly 
in the early spring, when much moisture in the soil is attended 
with danger; for should a frost set in, a considerable expansion 
of the mould takes place, which being unable, from its wet and 
close texture, to rise sufficiently, is pressed too firmly round the 
young shoots, frequently rupturing the vessels of the foliage or 
stems, and producing mortification of the part, and sometimes the 
