BULBOUS-ROOTED FLOWERS. 311 



the clay sub-soil stould be filled up with broken stone or coarse- 

 gravel, putting the coarser portion at the bottom and the finest 

 at the top. The surface soil should be kept separate from the 

 subsoil when digging out the bed, the subsoil taken away, and 

 the surface soil mixed with sand and old rotted manure, and 

 decayed leaves, if they can be had, until it Is quite light, loses 

 nearly all its adhesive or sticky character, if it had any, and then 

 spread over the drainage nntil the bed is filled again. It is not 

 desirable to raise the bed more than an inch or two above the 

 natural surface of the ground after it is settled, but when first 

 filled in it should be raised about four inches, to admit of the 

 settling of the newly-disturbed earth. 



Those who are willing to take the trouble to prepare a soil 

 by gathering a few wheelbarrow loads of sod from an old pasture, 

 every summer, and stacking them in some out-of-the-way comer 

 in alternate layers of sod and cow-manure, will secure just the 

 best dressing for these and all other flower beds that they can 

 have. Of course its value will be enhanced if they can add to 

 it ground bones, horn scrapings or horn piths. This heap, after 

 lying for two or three months, should be cut down with the 

 spade and thoroughly worked over and commingled. K this 

 can be done two or three times, at intervals of a month or so, 

 during the year, so much the better, and when it is a year or 

 more old it will be in just the right condition for use. The 

 proper time for applying it to the bulb bed will be in the 

 autumn, when it may be spread on the surface to the depth of 

 an inch or two. This will also be just the soil to use for pots 

 if it is desired to grow any of the bulbs in the window, adding 

 to it enough sand to make it light and free &om adhesiveness, if 

 it be not already there. 



Further directions for the successful cultivation of the several 

 varieties will be given in the paragraph devoted to each, where 

 the peculiar treatment that may be best suited to that particular 

 species will be fully described. 



If a bed be planted by setting little clusters of Snow-drops^ 



