NATURALISING IN GRASS 85 



two varieties, but plant each kind by itself. It 

 is quite permissable and indeed very effective 

 to plant two or three groups, early, mid-sea- 

 son and late-flowering sorts, in proximity so as 

 to keep up a longer display of bloom. Ar- 

 range the groups or collections of groups so 

 there will be a liberal breadth of grass be- 

 tween to act as a foil. Plant the bulbs with a 

 bounteous hand about six inches apart not 

 less than twenty-five bulbs of one kind to a 

 group though 100 to 1,000 will be better if 

 the area of ground permits. Arrange the 

 groups with irregular outlines, having a dense 

 patch, not necessarily at the centre, as a focus 

 point for the eye; no circles, no squares, no 

 rows, and no two groups alike. 



Another method of natural planting, espe- 

 cially suitable for borders and shrubbery, is 

 in dense, irregular clumps. Old plantings of 

 bulbs will often take on this character, and in 

 truth, as the influence of time is felt, irregu- 

 larity of distribution with heavy, dense masses 

 irregularly outlined here and there, is the ul- 

 timate disposition. This effect is due to two 

 prime causes of planting in natural, or unpre- 

 pared soil ; namely, that certain bulbs find ex- 



