1 76 SEPTEMBER 



all in early, and keep them plunged in the open 

 as long as possible. This secures sufficient root 

 growth before the frosts begin, and the flowers are 

 likely to come all the better for the slower growing. 

 In any case these later bulbs require a much longer 

 time in the dark than the earlier ones, and three 

 months is hardly too long for them, though it may 

 be too long for the gardener's patience. A little 

 care will keep up a succession from mid- January to 

 mid- March without any special difficulty. Some of 

 these later bulbs are, like all the earlier, absolutely 

 essential to the well-being of the flower-lover, and 

 however little there may be to spend, a few of them 

 must be bought as well as those I have already enu- 

 merated. Afterwards I will mention others which 

 give a distinct joy to existence, but which neverthe- 

 less may be dispensed with if strict economy is 

 necessary. 



A flat earthen seed-pan about a foot in diameter 

 will comfortably hold twenty-five crocus bulbs, of 

 which Mont Blanc or the common yellow will give 

 as much satisfaction as any costlier sorts. 



Tulips for early bloom should be the scarlet Due 

 Van Tholl, and for succession nothing is better 

 than double Tournesol, single yellow Chrysolora, 

 and the white La Reine with a pink flake. I have 

 often bought these for eighteenpence the hundred, 

 but there has been so much demand for them of 

 late for forcing that the price has gone up. Rose 

 Blanche, double white, and Yellow Rose, double 

 yellow, will follow the mid-season kinds. Let not 

 the bulb grower be persuaded to buy La Candeur 

 in place of Rose Blanche, for the green and 



