FALL OR HOLLAND BULBS, ETC. 45 



water freely to still further settle the soil. When pots 

 are not convenient, boxes four inches deep, setting the 

 bulbs six inches apart, will do quite as well. The pots 

 or boxes should then be placed where it is cool and dark, 

 which will encourage a strong development of roots 

 before the bulb starts to grow at the top. Such a situation 

 can be made by covering up the pots or boxes with four 

 or five inches of sand or leaves in a cool cellar, under the 

 stage of a cool greenhouse, or in a sunken pit, or in some 

 sheltered spot in the open air, in each case covering with 

 sand or leaves, so as to exclude heat and frost ; for it 

 must not be forgotten that a strong development of root 

 can only be had at a low temperature, say from forty to 

 fifty degrees, and any attempt to force bulbs to make 

 roots quicker by placing them in a high temperature, 

 will most certainly enfeeble the flower. If we only 

 observe how nature points out to us this necessity, we 

 will see how safe it will be to follow her. In all hardy 

 plants, the roots in spring (when the temperature is 

 low) begin to form the rootlets before a leaf or flower is 

 developed. To show the bad effects when this is not the 

 case, take a root of any of our hardy Lilies and plant it in 

 March, and take a similar bulb and plant it in May; it 

 will be found that the early planted bulb, that had an 

 opportunity to slowly develop its roots before there was 

 heat enough to start the top, will give a finer growth and 

 finer flower than the bulb that was planted in May, and 

 ran up into growth before it had an opportunity to suf- 

 ficiently push its roots into the soil. The culture of all 

 the bulbs before named, in pots, is the same as that of 

 the Hyacinth, only the Narcissuses and Tulips should b 

 planted three or four in a six or seven-inch pot, and Cro- 

 cuses ten or twelve in a pot. All these bulbs may like- 

 wise be grown in moss, or even pure sand, provided that 

 it is kept damp ; the necessity being a medium wherein 

 the roots can revel in moisture. But whether potted in 



