CHAPTER XIV 



SPRING AND SUMMER FLOWERS FROM 

 BULBS 



No plants are more interesting to grow in the 

 garden than the bulbous ones, especially those that 

 are hardy. There is a peculiar fascination in buy- 

 ing a dry brown, black, white or yellow bulb, 

 sometimes a mere mite of a thing, burying it in 

 the ground, leaving it there all winter and one 

 day in spring finding it doing its share to beautify 

 the earth. And not the change of a seed into a 

 plant seems so marvelous a transition. 



It is in the springtime that bulbs are of the 

 most value in the garden. At that time of the year 

 they are simply invaluable. Not that there is 

 any lack of perennials for spring, if flower lovers 

 would only cast their eyes about; but in neither 

 form nor color can these perform for the garden 

 the gentle offices of the bulbs. Veritable herba- 

 ceous perennials though they be, they are abso- 

 lutely distinct. 



A close observation of American gardens for 

 many years has shown that here is a field well- 

 trodden in no more than a few spots. Only the 

 tulip, hyacinth, narcissus and crocus are grown 



128 



