BULBS 



THE amateur flower gardener is often ignorant of botanical 

 distinctions, and he would not be unwise if he were to remain 

 so, for they are generally tiresome and bewildering, and frequently 

 unnecessary for purely gardening purposes. He might think that 

 he at least knows what bulbs are, for he has grown familiar with 

 the autumn catalogues, and observed the prominence therein of 



such plants as Hyacinths, Tulips, Gladioli, 

 and Daffodils. Even here, however, the 

 botanists would perplex him if given the 

 chance, for they would tell him that al- 

 though Tulips are bulbs Gladioli are not ; 

 indeed, they might go still further, and 

 heap confusion on his head by proving 

 that while some Irises are bulbs others 

 are rhizomes. Botanically, a Crocus is not 

 a bulb ; it is a corm. A Begonia is not a 

 bulb, but a tuber. 



PLANTING BULBS IN BEDS 



Large round beds. A, B, c, D, and E, Doubtless such distinctions as these 



rows of bulbs. Square, or rectan- j . i 1-1 , i i i 



guiar shaped beds. A, B, andc, and others which exist, but need not be 



spaces to be filled with bulbs. i . . * . 



drawn upon as illustrations, are necessary 



to botanists, or they would not be made. They are, however, 

 certainly not needed in ordinary gardening. The Gladiolus, 

 equally with the Tulip, forms a body underground that is 

 distinct from, and additional to, its roots ; and if the structure of 

 the two bodies differs in such a degree as to justify botanists in 

 putting them into two distinct classes, that need not place flower 

 gardeners under the obligation of keeping them separate unless 



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