BULBOUS-ROOTED FLOWERS. 329 



temperature of twenty degrees above freezing, night or day. It 

 is not enough to keep them, like Gladiolus, or Potatoes, free from 

 frost. If thus kept they will remain sound, and there will he no 

 difficulty in getting them to hloom. 



If it is desired to have them in bloom early in August, it will 

 be necessary to start them about the first of May, either in green- 

 house, hotrbed, or warm room. The secret of flowering them 

 well Hes in keeping the roots well supplied with food, and as 

 warm as possible. A sod. composed of the same material as that 

 recommended for Hyacinths, in which the old cow-manure is 

 supplied even more liberally, and made quite light by the use of 

 sand if needed, is just the thing in which to plant the Tuberose. 

 K the hot-bed is used, the pots in which the bulbs are planted 

 should be plunged to the rim, and the temperature maintained 

 at about seventy-five. After they begin to grow they will require 

 aU the sun and air that can be given, having a care to keep the 

 temperature as uniform as possible, and protecting well from 

 frosty nights by a mat thrown over the sashes. As they increase 

 their growth it will be necessary to increase the amount of water- 

 ing, and when the summer is far enough advanced the sashes 

 need be no longer used. Towards the end of June they may 

 either be plunged or carefully turned out into the open border. 

 For later flowering they do well planted in the ground about the 

 tenth of June, in warm, rich, weU drained soil If wanted for 

 the green-house or window, in Xovember or December, they may 

 be potted in July and August, plunged in a frame or in the open 

 border where they will have all the sun-light and heat possible, 

 and before the advent of the first frost brought into the house. 



After the bulb has once flowered it is of no further use except 

 to the propagator ; it will never flower again. The offsets that 

 are attached to it can be grown into flowering bulbs in a couple 

 of years, but this is hardly worth the trouble so long as full-grown 

 flowering bulbs can be obtained at such trifling cost from any of 

 our nurserymen or florists. 



There are two varieties, the single and the double flowering, 

 23 



