156 THE FLOWER GARDEN COMPANION. 



and water should be applied. After the flowering is over, 

 and the plants have passed their vigor, the leaves will begin 

 to have a yellow color, then the watering must be gradually 

 decreased until the leaves decay, when the bulbs will require 

 rest. They should then be placed away in the pots, in the 

 earth, on dry shelves, and the watering must be suspended 

 for a month or two until they are again in a state to com- 

 mence vegetation. The great point in growing tender bulbs 

 is to increase the watering and heat with their growth, and 

 to decrease with their ripening to maturity, and keeping 

 them dry when in a state of rest. In potting, the rule must 

 be to pot the large kinds, as the Amaryllis, single, one bulb 

 in a pot, and the Babianas, Oxalis, and the like, three or four 

 bulbs in smaller sized pots to correspond. In the green- 

 house the small varieties are particularly adapted for the 

 front shelves or staging, whilst the larger species, as the 

 Amaryllis, are the best adapted for the warmer parts of the 

 house. All the Oxalis are much benefited by light and 

 having the influence of the sun. 



There are several varieties of tender bulbs which are 

 planted in the ground about the middle of May, for summer 

 or autumn blooming. The Gladiolus and Tiger-flower are 

 of this kind, and are marked thus *, in the following list, as 

 are all others used for that purpose. The management of 

 these bulbs is simply to plant them in vacant places of the 

 flower borders, or in separate beds, as directed for the Tulip 

 and Hyacinth ; the bulbs must be taken from the ground 

 before the approach of winter, as they will not bear any frost. 

 They are to be kept in boxes, in a dry room, or on shelves 

 in the green-house, during winter, and be replanted in the 

 proper season, as before recommended. 



