264 



NATURE STUDY REVIEW 



[8:7— Oct., iyi:> 



ary 28th. in soil in a self -watering flower box that stood about 

 eight feet from the nearest window, resulted in blossoms in 

 short space of seventeen days ; and a similar planting on March 

 21st gave blossoms in twenty-one days. 



II. Others of this class may be put in a dark, cool place for 

 six ti'eeks or more, preferably at 55° Fahr. but not over (55°. 

 A dark closet in the basement is a good place. The time in the 

 dark must depend on the temperature, the earliness of the bulbs 

 and their maturity. Hyacinths, because of the schoolroom con- 

 ditions to come later, need to stay in the dark until the entire 

 flower-mass of the flower stalk is out of the ground ; and the 

 tulip buds also should show. Members of the genus narcissus 

 may remain in the dark until their leaves are six or eight inches 

 high. After this period in the dark;the plants, which have been 

 started either (1) in water or (2) in soil, cocoa fibre or moss, 

 should be brought into the school room and set in dim light for 

 several days or until the leaves turn green, after which they may 

 be set in the windows, if it is convenient. 



The following table shows the results of one such set of 

 plantings which the writer's students made last winter. As the 

 weather was unusually cold a part of the time, the temperature 

 often fell to freezing and below ; hence the development was 

 quite slow : 



(B). Some Bulbs May Be Planted in Pots and Buried Out of 

 Doors for Fife or Six Weeks. 



After this length of time two or three pots at a time mav be 

 dug up and placed first in dim light and then in full light, as 

 already indicated. The last of the pots may be left out until the 

 frost leaves the ground in the spring. 



This method mav be used with all sorts of hardy bulbs and 



