ON THE CULTURE OF DUTCH BULBS. 
145 
previous years, they at length produce fewer petals, and finally 
become single. When the tubers thus become hollow, it 
would be the best way to cut them in pieces, and treat them 
as offsets. 
Taking up the Tubers . Anemones are more succulent than 
ranunculuses, and continue longer in a growing state after the 
flowers fade. If the weather should happen to prove wet about 
that time, they will continue growing too long ; and when thus 
exposed to the wet, they are apt to start afresh, which tends 
greatly to weaken the tubers: it will likewise weaken them, if 
taken up before the}" are quite ripe. To avoid these evils, the 
beds should be covered with mats or canvass, to shelter them 
only from the rains ; in this way the tubers will become regu¬ 
larly and gradually matured, and in the space of a month or five 
weeks, the leaves will become brown and dry. The tubers 
should then be taken up, and the old leaves and stems removed 
close to the crown. Place them in some shady place, where 
they will dry gradually, and when quite dry, clean them from 
any mould that may adhere to them, and put them in boxes 
similar to those already recommended for the ranunculus. 
The Narcissus and Jonquil.— Many of these are natives of 
Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the South of Europe ; though several 
others are British species. A dry situation should be selected for 
the cultivation of these bulbs, as some of them are natives of rocky 
and stony situations; while some others that are more tender, 
as the Polyanthus Narcissus, the most delicate of all the bulbs, 
will require protecting with a covering of leaves or fern, during 
severe weather. The narcissus bulbs should not be removed 
above once in four or five years, as they always flower weaker 
after being removed ; and when removed, the less time they 
remain out of the ground the better. As soon as the bulbs are 
taken up, which should be when they are ripe, the bed should 
be excavated to the depth of two feet; then fill it in about one 
foot above the ground level, with sandy loam, and a little well- 
rotten cow-dung, Mark the rows in the bed about six inches 
asunder; plant the bulbs directly, about eight or nine inches 
deep, with a trowel, placing three bulbs to each hole. The 
Jonquil (Narcissus Jonquilla) ought to be moved every year; 
for if left standing, the bulbs grow longer and deeper, and do 
not flower so well. 
