52 



GARDENll^G FOR PLEASURE. 



nlar time after New Year, they can safely be relied on to 

 flower in ten or fifteen days after being placed in a heat 

 averaging eighty degrees. It is a good plan to cover the 

 boxes slightly over with moss, so as to keep as moist an 

 atmosphere as possible around the crowns while forcing 

 them into flower. 



There is one rather discouraging feature to amateurs 



Fig. 21.— LILT OF THE VALLEY " PIP "—GOOD. 



in forcing Lily of the Valley, and also with most bulbs, 

 in the fact that, after being thus artificially treated, the 

 crowns are of no further use, to force at least. They may 

 be planted out in the open ground in spring after forcing, 

 and will recuperate to some extent in a year or two, but 

 the same crowns once forced will hardly ever do again for 

 that purpose. An exception among bulbs is the Bermuda 

 Lily, which seems to be in no way injured by being forced. 

 The crown, or *^pip," as florists sometimes call it, of the 



