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all the particles fine. This is to be a flower bed and should be soft 

 like your own bed. It would be better to make it up more than 

 once. After the first s^^ading it would be well to cover the bed with 

 a coat of stable fertilizer to a depth of six to eight inches, which 

 will give additional plant-food ; and in spading the second time, this 

 fertilizer will become thoroughly mixed with the soil. The surface 

 should next be raked smooth, and your flower bed will then be ready 

 for planting. 



We all admire the bright bulb flowers that are among the first to 

 blossom in the spring. Tliese mostly come from Holland, or at 

 least attain their perfection there. We have just spoken of the 

 importance of planting flowers at such a time that they may live 

 their career when our climate is most like that from which they 

 come. In the case of bulbs, spring and early sumnier is the most 

 favorable time for them in this country, and fall is the proper time 

 for planting. 



The exact time in the fall to plant, how to plant, what bulbs to 

 plant, when to put a winter overcoat on the bed, and other details, 

 we will leave for Mr. Hunn to tell. He has had many years experi- 

 ence in the management of flowers, and we advise you to read care- 

 fully what he says. 



PAKT II. A TALK BY THE GARDENER. 



BY C. E. HUNN. 



Your Uncle John has told you something about preparing a bed 

 for your plants. His advice is very good ; but the bulbs we are to 

 talk about are like those notional children whom he mentions and 

 they do not want tallow candles for any part of their meal. 



What I mean is that bulbs do not want to come in direct contact 

 with the stable fertilizer, but they want it down below them where 

 the feeding roots that grow out of the bulb may nibble at it when 

 the bulb is hard at work developing the leaves and flower. You 

 know that all the leaves and the flowers were made the year before, 

 and the bulb simply holds them until the new roots have formed. 



1^0 kind of treatment will make a bulb produce more flowers than 



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