MIS0ELLA.NEOUS PAPERS. 215 



needed dividing, T have sold, at an average of one-half the catalogue 

 prices, over fifteen dollars worth, and have now on hand at lest $30 

 more, besides giving to frienMs at least as many more, and all that too 

 without injuring a single variety I had. For instance, from a clump of 

 Lilium Croceum, five years established, I took 22 large bulbs from six 

 to eleven inches in circumference, worth 25 cents apiece. In the 

 second place, it pays because the hardy bulbs are about certain to 

 grow and do well, with any ordinary care, or with no care at all. i^ar- 

 cissus, many lilies. Crocus, Alliums, and many others, may be planted 

 in or rather under the sod, and year after year they will bloom and 

 increase without any care or attention. 1 have had Hyacinths, Scillas, 

 Tulips and Narcissi lie all winter more than half out of the ground, and 

 by simply throwing some soil over them in the spring, they grew and 

 bloomed, though I wouldn't recommend that way for general culture. 



In the next place, the leading hardy bulbs are cheap. The follow- 

 ing is about the average price per dozen — mind you, for mixed colors, 

 and out of a dozen you may secure from two or three to nine or ten 

 different varieties: Tulips, 30 cents; Scillas, 25; iSTarcissi, 50; Alli- 

 ums, 60 ; Crocus, 15; Hyacinths, ^l. Lilies, of course, cost more, but 

 a collection of twenty of the finest won't average over 25 cents apiece, 

 and some are as low as 15 cents. 



In the next place, the most delicious fragrance, graceful forms, 

 dazzling colors, profusion of bloom, and, above all, bloom at a time 

 when the ground is almost bare, are found among the Dutch bulbs. 

 The Scilla Siberica bloomed last spring on a north slope on February 

 7, and while it was in bloom the thermometer went down to one degree 

 above zero without wilting a petal, and for days I saw the flowers 

 imbedded in ice. Can anything excel the fragrance of the Jonquil , or 

 the coloring of the Tulip ? Imagine a flower the size and shape of a 

 saucer (I measured specimens in my border 7* inches in diameter )» 

 crimson, green and gold, swaying on a stalk 14 inches high, and you 

 have the Parrot Tulip ; Gloriosa, Trumpat Lilies, with tubular shaped 

 flowers 9 inches long, glistening pearly white and exquisitely fragrant ; 

 Thunbergi, Anum Lily, with 62 flowers 3 to 4 inches in diameter on 

 one stalk; Double Tigers, 6t> feet high, with orange-colored, black- 

 spotted flowers large as a pint bowl and double as a rose ; or the 

 Auratum, King of Lilies, with 26 pure white, gold banded and purple- 

 spotted flowers from 7 to 11 inches in diameter, on stalks 7 feet 8 

 inches high; and all these Lilies, mind you, having from 4 to 20 flower 

 stalks to each clump. I have given actual numbers and measurements 

 from my own yard. 



