LITTLE GARDENS 



assertive ; and the crlnium, even more proud and 

 flaunting. But all these require coddling. They 

 must be taken in during the winter, and rested; 

 or they can be kept Indoors as window-plants; 

 and at best they are uncertain. An amaryllls 

 that bloomed regularly and splendidly on a hill 

 farm In Vermont, behaved sulkily when It was 

 translated to New York, though It did give 

 a good account of Itself a year or two later. If 

 one has no greenhouse, or cold frame, he may 

 feel obliged to forego the cultivation of many 

 flowers that tempt him In the seedsmen's cata- 

 logues ; yet a dry, clean cellar, w^hlch Is cool but 

 never frosted, sufl^ces for the keeping of bulbs, 

 tubers, corms and roots that require removal 

 from the soil for the winter. Such roots ought 

 to be first dried, then placed In paper bags, 

 plainly labeled In Ink, and so stored on shelves 

 or In boxes that the name shall be upmost, for 

 otherwise moisture from the root may obliterate 

 the writing, and I have found that one Is able to 

 forget various things between November and 

 March — so many that. In the first season, at any 

 rate, It Is well to mark the place of each plant 

 with a stake, (a clothespin will do,) after its 

 i66 



