BULBS FROM THANKSGIVING TO EASTER 85 



number of flowers, for that is already deter- 

 mined — the buds are already formed in 

 the bulb — but the size of the flowers depends 

 largely upon having good heavy bulbs and 

 giving them proper treatment before forcing. 

 To secure a good root system on the Dutch 

 bulbs put them, after potting, in a cool, 

 dark place and keep the soil moderately 

 damp for at least six weeks, except that 

 Roman hyacinths can be forced after three 

 weeks, and will flower in two or three weeks. 

 I prefer to bury the bulbs about a foot in 

 soil outdoors. When the ground begins 

 to freeze a mulch of leaves or manure, 

 sufficiently thick to keep the soil from 

 freezing, is put on them. Here they are 

 left until wanted for forcing. 



One amateur solved the winter storage 

 of her bulbs as follows: 



"The construction of the pit was of the 

 simplest. A bottomless box was sunk in 

 the ground to a depth of three or four inches 

 — enough to make it stand firm. This 

 left an enclosing board frame about nine 

 inches high above the ground level. Inside 

 this frame the earth was dug out to a depth 

 of eighteen inches, and a layer of coarse coal 



