54 DAFFODILS NARCISSUS 



supply of food is generally exhausted before 

 the flower is half grown, nutrition supplied 

 by the roots then becomes essential. It is 

 easy to understand, therefore, that growth 

 ceases if no roots are at work and the stunted 

 plant becomes a monument to incompetent 

 treatment. 



There are various ways of plunging the 

 potted bulbs; my method, and the one that I 

 think most nearly fulfils the requirements of 

 nature, is to dig a trench in the garden a 

 foot deep in some location sheltered from the 

 north and west, and where water will not flow 

 into it. A three-inch layer of coal ashes is 

 placed in the bottom of the trench for drain- 

 age and to prevent worms from entering the 

 pots. The pots or pans of bulbs are then 

 placed closely together on the ashes and the 

 interstices filled with soil, the trench being 

 filled in to a little above the level, and the 

 surface rounded over to shed water. Here 

 everything is as conducive to root action and 

 deterrent to top growth as if the bulbs were 

 planted in the garden in the regular manner. 

 When the surface of the ground is frozen to 

 a crust, a layer, three or four inches deep, of 



