BULBS AND TUBERS HARDY SPECIES S 3 



a word. Narcissus is so essentially a hardy genus that many 

 of the most beautiful varieties resent heat and will not give of 

 their best under hard forcing, by which also the bulbs are so 

 much weakened that they are afterwards practically worthless. 

 The gentle forwarding which is all that hardy plants of this 

 class get under the mere shelter of glass does no harm either 

 to bulb or bloom, while we reap the advantage of the earlier 

 enjoyment of flowers, pure and untarnished by wind or 

 weather. 



A cultural hint may be added. Bulbs have a sorry trick 

 of "going blind," /.*., the flowers wither away when beginning 

 to develop. This is mainly due to lack of water. Narcissus, 

 in most cases ; Hyacinths ; Tulips notably, and in fact the 

 greater number of bulbs are greedy of moisture during the 

 rising of the flower scape. After flowering, water should be 

 gradually withheld. 



Iris represents another and most precious genus of hardy 

 bulbs and tubers. It has but one failing the short-lived 

 flowers ; but this is in some degree and in some species atoned 

 for by their long succession. One of the most beautiful ot 

 hardy winter flowers, beginning in late November and con- 

 tinuing until early spring in favoured spots, is Iris stylosa, the 

 pencilled blue flowers of which have also a lovely white 

 counterpart. Though a native of Algeria, it may be safely 

 given a place under the present heading ; but, unfortunately, 

 it is not one of the most easy to flower in pots. This can be 

 done nevertheless, and an established group in a broad deep 

 pan, for it dislikes disturbance at the root, will last for years, 

 and is worth any amount of trouble to attain. The different 

 forms of I. reticulata, with their sweet scent and rich livery of 

 purple and gold, must find a place in every unheated green- 

 house, and will sometimes take us by surprise there on a 

 January day. It is seldom that the different varieties of 

 I. pumila, I. germanica, and similar species are pressed into 



