54 MARKET NURSERY WORK 



quite as persistent as his. Further, it would not fall in with 

 our routine to grow them that way, so we are constrained to 

 grow them in pots, in pans, or small boxes, using a prepared 

 compost, sandy, porous, and warm. The largest-sized bulbs 

 only are really profitable to force ; the smaller sizes, though per- 

 haps of flowering size, are not good enough, but should be planted 

 for growing on to be used the following season. Pot or box 

 them early in August a 32-size pot will easily take a dozen 

 bulbs and cover them with ashes. By the middle of September 

 they will be in growth, when, removed from the ashes, they 

 should be stood in sunny frames to gain strength before going 

 into heat. In November take them indoors and stand them 

 either on the shelves or on an open stage where nothing obstructs 

 the light. It is light and heat they now require. Water them 

 carefully and keep them only healthily moist. Whether they 

 are in pots or in boxes, as the grass grows it should be supported 

 with twigs, otherwise it falls over and the plants lose half their 

 vigour. Three or four twigs around a pot with a connecting 

 string will suffice, but for a box a little more elaborate support 

 might be given. 



It may be had in bloom throughout December and on till 

 March if taken in relays. The yellow variety is not nearly so 

 popular as the white, as it cannot be put to the same uses. 



SPANISH IRIS 



The orchid-like flowers of this bulbous plant are well known 

 and in considerable demand. It is boxed and grown very much 

 as the tulip is grown, though their seasons do not synchronise. 

 The Spanish Iris is really an early summer flowering plant, 

 so cannot be expected to prove as precocious as the true spring 

 flowering bulbs. It does not force well in the ordinary sense 

 of the word, being impatient of too much heat, but gently 

 helped in a temperature of, say, 55, it may be had in bloom a 

 month or five weeks earlier than those growing naturally in 

 the open. We said it is " boxed " and grown. That is our 

 practice, but others plant them in the ground in tomato houses 

 in such a way that the planting of the tomatoes is not greatly 

 interfered with. We are not enamoured of the system, neither 



