PLANTING 97 



House-grown plants from bulbs are treated according to 

 the same general principles as those outdoors. After they 

 have been put in pots or boxes they pass their resting stage 

 in a cold, dark part of the cellar. Some of these will be 

 brought out into a warm, sunny room early in December, in 

 case they are to be used for Christmas. But newly started 

 bulbs should be " hardened off " in partial light and in a cool 

 room before being placed in the sun. Keep back the others 

 so as to have them flower in succession. 



There is often a good profit in raising bulbs for private 

 sale. In Boston one of the events looked forward to by many 

 lovers of plants is the annual exhibit of hundreds of bulbs 

 raised by a woman who makes bulb growing a specialty, and 

 who devotes the proceeds to charity. 



Out in the garden the crocus, daffodil, hyacinth, and freesia 

 may all be cultivated successfully. Explicit directions for the 

 special treatment that each requires will be found in the cata- 

 logues. Every gardener will, of course, have his favorites ; 

 but the beauty of the rest certainly dims beside the glorious 

 flames of the tulip. Another bulb of rare beauty which blooms 

 in the summer and autumn, and one which is a stranger to some 

 gardens, is the gladiolus. If gladiolus bulbs are planted at 

 intervals from April to June, the plants will flower as late as 

 November. When their flexible stems are supported by wire 

 or stakes, they stand the early frosts bravely. The gladiolus 

 is one of the plants which, within a few years,, has begun to 

 delight flower growers with its matchless beauty. One stalk 

 of exquisite blossoms will sometimes sweep through nearly a 

 whole rainbow of color. A very practical reason for their 

 popularity is that the bulbs may be bought by the hundreds 

 at very reasonable prices. The canna and the dahlia also 

 flower superbly in summer and autumn. These do not grow 

 from bulbs, but from roots; and they propagate by root 



