BULBS FOR THE GREENHOUSE 45 



before outdoor flowers are plentiful, though they will 

 not bear forcing in the ordinary sense of the word. As 

 the bulbs are small they may be put several in a pot, and 

 being rather tall growers the pots that suit them best are 

 those seven inches or eight inches in diameter. Fill the 

 pots to within three inches of the top with sandy soil, on 

 this place the bulbs and cover with two inches of soil. 

 Do not plunge under ashes, but place them direct into a 

 cool frame or on the shelf of a cool greenhouse, and 

 allow them to come on gradually. Smaller pots than 

 those advised above may be used, but the bulbs rarely 

 succeed well in less than six-inch pots. When roots have 

 been formed, and the plants are growing freely, they 

 will take a rather bountiful supply of water, if the pots 

 are well drained as they should be. 



Ixias. With these, though they are distinct, may be 

 included the Babianas and Sparaxis, as the same treat- 

 ment is required by all, and all are charming though 

 much neglected plants. The flowers have a wonderful 

 range of colour, and one at least, Ixia viridiflora, stands 

 unique among flowering plants, for its petals are of a 

 beautiful and brilliant green hue. The probable cause of 

 present-day neglect is that these plants do not bear the 

 influence of artificial heat at any time, and in these days 

 when the culture of things which require or like heat 

 is attempted in almost all greenhouses, such plants are 

 bound to fail. The small bulbs should be potted up 

 from five to eight in a five-inch pot. Half sandy loam 

 and half leaf mould suits them, and if the drainage is 

 covered with a little of the fibrous loam and immediately on 

 that is put some well-decayed cow-manure, the roots will 

 revel in the latter just at the time when the flower spikes 

 are being thrown up. The bulbs should be covered 

 with about an inch of soil, and the pots then stood in a 

 cold frame. No water must be given until growth com- 

 mences, and an overdose is to be avoided at all times. 



