CHAPTER V 



BULBS FOR THE GREENHOUSE 



To bulbous plants we are indebted for much of the 

 brightness seen in greenhouses in winter and spring. 

 A good many of these plants are permanent occupants 

 of our gardens, but the vast majority are bought in 

 annually from our Dutch neighbours with whom rests 

 in a great measure the success or failure of their pro- 

 ductions in our gardens, but, as we ourselves can do 

 much to make or to mar these imported bulbs, I pro- 

 pose to give a few general directions which will assist 

 towards success, these directions being more or less 

 applicable to all deciduous bulbs whether grown at home 

 or abroad. 



We will take, as the main point which needs emphasis- 

 ing, the fact that, before any bulb can flower well, the 

 flower growth must be preceded by strong and healthy 

 root action. How natural it is for most bulbs to make 

 the most of their time to this end may be easily proved 

 by lifting from the garden border a bulb of a Lilium, or 

 one of a Narcissus, directly after the annual top growth 

 has been perfected. The chances are that such a bulb 

 will be found to have already commenced new root 

 action, or, if it has not, that the first rain that falls will 

 induce it to do so. Apply the moral that this conveys 

 to the treatment of all imported bulbs by buying at the 

 earliest possible date, remembering that every day the 

 bulbs are kept out of the soil, after this date, is a day 

 wasted through one's own neglect. By an early transfer 



