LAWN AND DOCKYARD 



year by year, never having the same bulbs in a 

 bed two years in succession. It is better, indeed, 

 not to raise plants of any one kind for successive 

 seasons in a bed, but to alternate between bulbous 

 plants and annuals grown from the seed. Failure 

 to carry out such a rotation of crops is a very 

 common source of failure with the amateur gar- 

 dener. It is not at all unusual to see an amateur 

 obtain excellent results for one or two seasons, 

 and then to have her garden degenerate simply 

 because she has attempted to raise the same kind 

 of plant year after year in the same location. By 

 transposing the different plants putting the 

 gladioli this year where petunias, for example, 

 were grown last year, and the like all the plants 

 may be kept in vigorous growth. Attention to this 

 detail may make all the difference between suc- 

 cess and failure in the disposition of flower beds 

 to ornament the dooryard. 



If it is your desire to keep bulbous plants year 

 after year in the same bed, you may accomplish 

 this if you are willing to take the trouble to dig 

 out the top soil and pile it up in some out-of-the- 

 way corner and replace it with other soil, which 

 will in turn be dug up and piled for renovation 

 next season. After lying in a heap exposed to 

 air and sun for a season, the dirt becomes thor- 

 oughly sterilized, and may be restored for use the 

 ensuing year. 



In other words, you may have two coats of 

 soil for your flower bed, to use in alternate 

 seasons. 



[189] 



