260 NATURE STUDY REl'IEW [8:7— Oct., 1912 



genus narcissus (narcissi, jonquils, daffodils and Chinese sacred 

 lily) after the first of January, for they are likely to be spongy 

 later ; but tulips, for example, are later in maturing and frequently 

 remain firm and hard until February. 



Do not buy spongy or unhealthy bulbs ; the latter are more 

 often found in small-bulb varieties (crocus, squills, snowdrops, 

 glory-of-the-snow) for the reason that small' bulbs are the more 

 difificult for growers and dealers to inspect for signs of disease. 



It is generally better to buy named varieties than mixtures, 

 though some of the advertised mixtures have proven excellent. 

 Ikit large size bulbs of the old, standard varieties are so very 

 cheap and fine that they answer every essential purpose of bulb 

 culture in school. Furthermore, prices by the hundred and up- 

 ward are more favorable than by the dozen, and most dealers 

 sell twenty-five bulbs at the one hundred rate. 



4. It may be helpful to refer to the fact that not all these 

 "vegetative" parts by which plants are propagated are strictly 

 bulbs. For example, squills grow from a small, solid bulb called 

 a corm ; and the caladium (elephant's ear), which is a summer 

 bulb, has a gigantic corm. The lily-of-the-valley, which the flor- 

 ists speak of as a "pip," is an example of underground stem, or 

 rootstalk. Tubers, like the Madeira vine of the summer time, 

 are also listed with the bulbs ; and peonies have fleshy roots. All 

 these plants are spoken of as bulbous. 



5. A brief consideration of some of the peculiarities of the 

 life history of these plants is necessary. In respect to their ability 

 to live out of doors in the northern states either all or part of 

 the winter, bulbous plants are listed as hardy, half-hardy and 

 tender. The Chinese sacred lily and paper-white narcissus, for 

 example, cannot endure freezing; but tulips, hyacinths, crocuses, 

 squills, jonquils, daffodils and narcissus pocticus are thoroughly 

 hardy out of doors, even though they must be protected from 

 alternate freezing and thawing when grown indoors.* 



Under natural conditions these hardy plants live underground 

 all winter, during which time, when the ground is not actually 

 frozen, they are gradually developing a copious root system and 

 thus making ready to send up a vigorous growth of leaves and 

 flower stalks very quickly in spring. It has long been their habit, 

 from their dark beds, to ])ush their leaves and flowers up through 



'"Grant Smith, "Improvised Devices for the Protection of 

 Plants in School," Nature Study Leaflet, No. 7, 1012, Chicago 

 Normal School Press. 



