266 NATURE STUDY REVIEW [8 :7— Oct., 1912- 



2. Good drainage must be provided in the ordinary pot; for 

 example, by placing a piece of broken flower pot in an arching 

 position over the hole and filling in an inch of coarse material like 

 crushed rock, gravel, etc. Then an inch of coarse soil may be 

 put in, and then the ordinary soil to within a half inch of the 

 top after the bulbs are in place. 



3. The soil should be light and rich, and it may be purchased 

 from the florist; but it is more educative for the children to mix 

 it themselves — three parts loam, one part sand, and one of leaf 

 mold. If the loam is the clay type, two parts of it and an extra 

 one of sand is advisable; but if the loam is sandy, four parts of 

 it and one of leaf mold is best. The leaf mold causes the soil to 

 hold water. It may be purchased from the florist and should not 

 be unduly adulterated with unrotted leaves or bark. Grassy sods 

 of loam may be put into a pile to rot and used later without any 

 additional material. However, many florists in the autumn add 

 a large double handful of scraped horn to every bushel of their 

 best loam. 



■i. The bulbs should be set in the soil so as to project above 

 it about a third of their length, except in the case of very small 

 bulbs which are to be watered from above, in which case only 

 the top should project above the soil. It is well to place a table- 

 spoonful of sand under each bulb to improve the drainage and 

 prevent decay. Press the bulbs firmly down in place and press 

 the soil around them, but do not let the children pat the soil down 

 all over the surface into a pasty layer as they seem inclined to 

 do so frequently. 



5. When the bulbs have been potted, the entire soil in the 

 pot should be thoroughly soaked with water ; but thereafter the 

 soil should be kept nicely moist until the buds appear, lest the 

 bulbs mold. Then, however, use water abundantly, otherwise the 

 buds will blight. 



Sudden Changes in Temperature. 



The blighting of the buds and unsatisfactory results generally 

 come as often from allowing sudden drafts of icy air to blow 

 over plants placed in the windows as from poor bulbs or im- 

 proper watering. It is not so harmful for the rooms to get 

 moderately cold gradually, at night, but sudden drafts from the 

 window are fatal. These plants endure a position near a steam 

 radiator much better, and since they do not need the sunshine 

 in order to produce flowers once, it is best to sot the plants where 

 they cannot be reached by sudden drafts of cold air. It should 



