36 PREPARATION OF SOIL, 



In the preparation of beds for hardy bulbs, the following 

 directions may be given : 



SITUATION. 



This should always be sunny ; though, except for early- 

 blooming species, it need not face the south. There are, in 

 all the numerous family of bulbs, very few species that 

 delight in shade. Many of our best-known bulbs are 

 natives of countries where the sun is far hotter than in our 

 own ; where the year is divided into but two seasons, the 

 rainy and the dry, during the former of which the growth 

 is perfected, and, after blooming, the plant rests in a state 

 of perfect inactivity till called into growth again by the 

 return of the wet season, or, in some cases, sending up its 

 flower-stem, then followed by the growth. In this latter 

 case, however, the bulb is at rest ; the bloom being perfected 

 during growth, and only developed at a later period. 



In the culture of bulbs, as well as in all other culture, 

 we must, by every means in our power, approximate to the 

 natural conditions of growth ; and, the nearer we attain this 

 end, the more perfect will be our success. Thus it follows, 

 that, while a bulb-bed should have plenty of sun, it should 

 not be so dry that a good supply of moisture cannot be 



