26 BULBS AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 



them With a bell-glass or hand-light. Indeed, in severe 

 weather the very early-flowering kinds ought also to be 

 protected thus, in order to permit their flowers to develop 

 without injury by heavy rains, frosts, and cold winds. 



CHAPTER VI. 



NATURALISING BULBS. 



THE old-time method of growing bulbous and tuberous- 

 rooted plants in lines and circles in beds and borders has, 

 happily, lost a good deal of its popularity during the last 

 two or three decades. Lovers of hardy flowers are gradu- 

 ally becoming more sensible in their ideas and tastes, and 

 growing them in a more rational, effective, and artistic 

 manner than of yore. Witness the delightful and pleasing 

 displays of spring-flowering bulbs in our public parks, and 

 in the large private gardens, for instance. There you ob- 

 serve thousands of snowdrops, crocuses, or daffodils massed 

 either in the open lawn or under the shade of trees, in 

 woodland or shrubbery, and flooding the landscape with 

 golden, purple, or white blossoms in the spring. Truly, 

 a charming picture of floral beauty, and a thousand times 

 more artistic and natural than the old-time formal dis- 

 plays. 



It is true that this modern plan is mainly applicable to 

 gardens of ample scope. But even in a small garden there 

 are ways and means of growing hardy bulbs and tubers 

 effectively other than in the stereotyped old-fashioned plan 

 of lines and circles. For example, on a small grass plot it 

 is possible to grow small groups of snowdrops, crocuses, 

 and daffodils, or in patches in the borders with a good 



