SPRING GARDEN AND ITS BULBS 55 



say nothing of the bowls I gave my neigh- 

 bours at Christmas instead of tiresome cards. 

 In December some bulbs of the charming little 

 S cilia Siberica began to show flower buds, and 

 they were out on January 6. I had planted 

 some among the first of the Roman Hyacinths, 

 but these were over long before the Squills 

 were out ; so I lifted the little blue trea- 

 sures and replanted them among some of 

 the later Roman Hyacinths making a lovely 

 combination in January. Roman Hyacinths in 

 the frame were so unsatisfactory that at the 

 end of a month, as they refused to move, I 

 replanted them in fibre, when they imme- 

 diately started on gaily, one bulb in a tiny 

 single pot bringing no less than seven spikes 

 of flower. 



As to coloured Hyacinths, those grown in 

 fibre are a week or two earlier, and white and 

 purple Crocus a month earlier than those in 

 pots of soil. Tulips take about the same 

 time under each system. Of Narcissi, the 

 first to flower is the delicious Double Roman 

 Polyanthus Narcissus. A big brass bowlful 



