CA NA DIA N lIOliTICUL TV HIST. 



253 



many people will say what a great deal 

 of bother, and what a time you have to 

 wait before your bulbs Hower ; but to 

 a lover of the beautiful the interval 

 until spring may be tilled up with the 

 attention to your house plants, which 

 extends the growtli of tlowers from one 

 year's end to another, as well as occu- 

 pies the mind in the care and cultiva- 

 tion of raising plants. If the readers 

 of TiiK HOHTICULTURIST have been fol- 

 lowing my articles on the culture of 

 bulbs, the explanations there are given 

 at more length than what I purpose 

 doing here, my idea being only to 

 remind the reader of the proper season 

 at which to plant, which is now. The 

 same beds that have been used for 

 summer flowers may be used again for 

 l)ulbs, for, after clearing the bed of 

 its rubbish, thoroughly spading and 

 manuring it, it is ready for the 

 reception of bulbs. Nothing unusual 

 is necessary in preparing the beds, only 

 to take care to plant at a suitable time. 

 Tn a great many cases people .say : 

 " How can you plant flower seeds ovei' 

 tlie bulbs when they have done flower- 

 ing in the spring ?" Just here is a 

 point where I have found a great 

 advantage in planting deep. Of course 

 they must be planted according to 

 their kinds, because some are larger 

 bulbs, and some bulbs are earlier : but, 

 if most of them are planted on the 

 deep side, they need not be covered 

 during winter, which in many cases is 

 apt to rot the bulbs, on account of ton 

 great warmth. \ have planted qiiaii 



tities of Tulips, Hyacinths, Crocuses, 

 etc , and always planted deep, without 

 covering, and T have liad very few 

 miss in coming up ; whereas parties 

 covering their beds have frerjuently 

 iiad only half to grow. 



P(!ople have difterent ideas regard- 

 ing the form in which to plant beds. 

 They look very pretty if mas.sed — one 

 bed with Tulips, another with Crocuses, 

 another all Hyacinths, etc. ; but pretty 

 effects may be obtained by planting a 

 variety in a bed, for a tall variety in 

 the centre such as Narcissus ; then the 

 next row to consist of Tulips, and the 

 next of Hyacinths, with an outside 

 row of Crocuses and .Snowdrops inter- 

 spersed. If a good bright show of 

 colors is wished for, I do not think 

 this could be secured in a better way 

 than by massing double and single 

 Tulips in a bed together. The coloi-s 

 of this beautiful tribe of bulbs are 

 always so brilliant they are always 

 sure to give a good effect. The outlay 

 need not be \ery large ; from fifty to 

 one hundred bulbs in a bed four feet in 

 diameter would be sufficient. As re- 

 gards a scale of depth reijuired in 

 planting : — Crocus may be planted 

 three inches, Tulips six inches, and 

 Hyacinths seven inches. Any other 

 bulbs of the same size may be planted 

 similarly. 



In conclusion, I would urge every 

 person to try a few beds of these very 

 beautiful flowers, and I feel confident 

 that the result will be an extension of 

 the beds every year. 



