90 
THE FLORIST'S JOURNAL. 
should be treated as above directed, planted in a moderate heat, 
and left to repose ; and then the only mischief will be the throw¬ 
ing of the flowering; rather onward into the season. 
Every one who grows only a few snowdrops and crocuses in 
a little plot at the door, is well aware how necessary a season of 
dry repose is to the bulbs of these hardy flowers ; and in pro¬ 
portion as bulbs are larger, are natives of warmer climates, and 
grow more vigorously when they are in growth, the process of 
drying is the more necessary. So well is this known by every 
grower, that he is perfectly aware that a complete deterioration 
of the appearance of the plants, and a destruction of the beauty 
of their flowering, would be the infallible result of his allowing 
the roots to remain in the ground year after year without water. 
When the bulb has been properly dried, it is not so much dis¬ 
posed to rot even in a damp outhouse, provided a drainage of 
little sharp sand is put round it, and the mould is not of too 
binding a nature. 
Fleshy roots, and indeed all roots into which the substance of 
the plant retreats while the stem has dried down, follow exactly 
the same law. This holds true, not only in plants which take 
their repose in dry places, or in average soils, but even in those 
which grow in water. A friend of mine made a trial of this with 
the Nymphseese, or water-lily, and other aquatic plants. He 
took them up in the autumn, cleared them of mould, without 
wounding or injuring the roots, and laid them on dry shelves, 
where a temperature of nearly 60° was kept up, and there they 
lay through the winter. In spring they were taken and placed 
in the proper soil, and -water introduced f and they not only 
grew, but grew more regularly and came into finer flower than 
if they had remained in water all the winter. 
Indeed, l am strongly inclined to believe, and think I have 
sufficient ground for belief, that all plants, as well as parts of 
plants, which retain the vegetable life in an inactive state durihg 
part of the year—and this may be said to include almost the 
whole, are the better for a dry reposing, more especially with 
regard to their flowers and fruit. Where the stem dies down 
annually, the vigour of the plant retreats entirely into the root; 
where the leaves are deciduous, it retires into the root, stem, 
and branches ; and even where the leaves are evergreen, the 
vigour is gradually withdrawn from these, and they become 
