THE TREATMENT OF BULBS 



WRITING lately upon the use of bulbs in the 

 border we said that the secret of that use 

 was to contrast them with plants of a different growth. 

 This is also true, we think, of their use in every part 

 of the garden. The beauty of monocotyledonous 

 plants is usually altogether different in character 

 from the beauty of dicotyledonous plants; more 

 simple, fugitive, and strange. Now the term bulb is 

 a vague one, especially as it is used in nurserymen's 

 catalogues, where it is often applied to any kind of 

 tuberous or fleshy root, whether of a monocotyledonous 

 or a dicotyledonous plant. But in this article we 

 shall use it, not in the narrowest possible sense, but 

 only of monocotyledonous plants with bulbous roots 

 which are dormant for a certain period of the year; 

 and we shall use it thus, not for any scientific reason, 

 but because we wish to suggest certain principles for 

 the treatment of such plants in the garden, based 

 both upon the character of their beauty and upon 

 the habit of remaining dormant for a certain period 

 of the year. 



The purpose of the old-fashioned treatment of the 

 best known bulbous plants, such as Tulips, Hyacinths, 

 and Narcissi, was to produce a great blaze of blossom 

 for a short time. They were planted by themselves 



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