254 AROUND THE YEAR IN THE GARDEN 



main here for a week or so until they are well started. Then 

 give them more heat or bring them into a warmer room so 

 that they will have a temperature of fifty or sixty, and more 

 light; but full sunlight is not good for the bulbs except for 

 a few days just as the flowers are opening. Under the right 

 conditions, the top growth will be very rapid and an abun- 

 dance of water will be required. If the pots seem to dry out 

 too quickly, it will be well to keep the saucers filled with 

 water. Or the pots may be set in larger pots or pans and 

 wet moss stuffed around them. A high temperature, dry 

 air, or coal or illuminating gas, will prove fatal, blasting the 

 buds even before they open. In addition to plenty of water, 

 a watering with liquid manure or nitrate of soda, as the 

 buds swell, will be found very beneficial. 



Insects are not likely to prove troublesome, but if they 

 do, they should be treated at once. Some tobacco dust 

 sprinkled about the soil and at the base of the leaves will 

 prove effective as a preventive. Plenty of fresh air should 

 be given at all times, the more the better, so long as the 

 plants are not chilled. When the blooms do open, if the 

 plants can be kept in a cooler temperature in a somewhat 

 subdued light, they will last much longer. 



Freesias and gladioli can be planted in much the same way 

 as the bulbs which are mentioned above, but do not have 

 to make preliminary root growth, although they should be 

 kept cool for a few weeks after planting. 



Cuttings to Root Now 



Before danger of the first killing frost, make your first 

 supply of cuttings of geraniums, heliotrope, verbenas and 

 other tender perennials or annuals of which you will want 

 plants for stock or for setting out early next spring. The 

 directions as to how to make and root the cuttings are 

 given elsewhere in this book. The cuttings can be rooted 

 out of doors, if provision is made to give ample protec- 

 tion against the first hard frosts, which are almost always 



