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tie crocuses, the first flower of spring, should touch one another, as 

 should also the snowdrops. 



Perhaps many of you do not wish to wait until spring for your 

 bulbs to flower, in which case we must try to persuade them to 

 bloom through the winter, say at Christmas. Nearly all bulbs are 

 good natured and may be coaxed to do things that nature never 

 asks them to do ; so if we go at it right we will find it very easy to 

 make them think their time to bloom has come, even if the ground 

 is covered with snow and the ice is thick on the j)Ouds. Hyacinths, 

 narcissus and crocus all can be made to flower in the winter by start- 

 ing this way. Get the bulbs so as to be able to pot them by the 

 middle or last of October, or if earlier all the better. The soil 

 should be rich, sandy loam if possible ; if not, the best you can get, 

 to which add about one-fourth the bulk of sand and mix thoroughly. 

 If ordinary flower pots are to be used, put in the bottom a few 

 pieces of broken pots, charcoal or small stones for drainage, then fill 

 the pot with dirt so that when the bulbs are set on the dirt the top 

 of the bulb is even with the rim of the pot. Fill around it with 

 soil, leaving just the tij) of the bulb showing above the dirt. If the 

 soil is heavy a good plan is to sprinkle a small handful of sand 

 under the bulb to carry off the water, the same as is done in the 

 beds outdoors. If you do not have pots you may use boxes. Starch 

 boxes are a good size to use as they are not heavy to handle, and I 

 have seen excellent flowers on bulbs plaiited in old tomato cans. If 

 boxes or cans are nsed, care must be taken to have holes in the bot- 

 toms to let the water run out. A large size hyacinth bulb will do 

 well in a five-inch pot. The same size pot will do for three or four 

 narcissuses or eight to twelve crocuses. 



After the bulbs are planted in the pots or other receptacles they 

 should be placed in a cool place, either in a cold pit or cellar or on 

 the shady side of a building, or, better yet, plunged or buried up to 

 the rim of the pot in a shady border. This is done to force the 

 roots to grow while the top stands still ; as only the bulbs with good 

 roots will give good flowers. When the weather gets cold enough 

 so a crust is frozen on the soil, the pots should be covered with a 

 little straw, and as the weather gets colder more straw must be used, 



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