i;2 SEPTEMBER 



should be required to keep up the stock ; a few 

 packets of seeds in the spring will do what is abso- 

 lutely needed, and the bulbs which come out of the 

 greenhouse in March will, if turned into the ground, 

 form a future provision for the open-air supply. 

 No others need be bought for this purpose, for in 

 a few years' time the greenhouse will have yielded 

 up as many as are wanted for the garden. If a 

 five-pound note therefore is to be devoted to the 

 supply of flowers, let two-thirds of this amount be 

 spent on bulbs ; if only a guinea is available, quite 

 fifteen shillings should be devoted to their purchase, 

 a few pence to a packet of primula seed, and a few 

 more pence to cineraria seed. I am taking it for 

 granted that the garden is fairly well stocked 

 already, and that the greenhouse possesses such 

 necessary plants as zonal pelargoniums, cyclamens, 

 chrysanthemums, calla Richardias, and other peren- 

 nial things. 



The potting soil for bulbs should not be heavy. 

 If any directions are wanted for proportions, the 

 following is a good average rule : Take one part 

 good leaf soil, one part well-rotted manure from an 

 old hot-bed, one part coarse sand, and one part turf 

 mould that has been cut from a meadow at least 

 a year previously. But bulbs are generous doers, 

 and if only their soil is not too heavy they will be 

 likely to thrive well, even if their results are not fit 

 for the show table. 



Easily first among bulbs for the greenhouse come 

 the white Roman hyacinths. They are not so cheap 

 as they ought to be, but they are nevertheless indis- 

 pensable. They can be potted in September, and 



