312 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDEIflNG. 



bulbs into active growth. Central Asian, and the 

 majority of Chinese, Japanese, and North American 

 bulbs may be classed under two heads — those from 

 the Eastern States and Canada, which are perfectly 

 hardy unprotected in this country ; and those from 

 the warmer States, such as Texas, Florida, and some 

 parts of CaUf omia. The hardy kinds do not require 

 an. artificial rest, while those from the warmer parts 

 do. The natives of the Southern Hemisphere grow 

 under somewhat diilerent conditions, inasmuch as 

 the seasons are reversed. The growing season of 

 the bulbs usually takes place during our autumn 

 and winter, and after the plants have flowered in 

 spring the bulbs require to be artificially rested, by 

 either lifting, or prbtecting from rains, which would 

 "unduly stimulate them into growth. 



For the convenience of trade it is, of course, 

 necessary to lift bulbs, and store them, so as to be 

 ready at hand for sale ; and, unfortunately, they are 

 often stored too long, becoming thereby shrivelled, 

 and consequently weakened. This is particularly 

 the case with hardy bulbs, such as Narcissi, many 

 of the Lilies, bulbous Irises, Snowdrops, Pritil- 

 laries. Squills, Crown Imperials — in fact, all those 

 European and American bulbs which really do not 

 require to be lifted annually, and to which a pro- 

 tracted period of dryness is highly injurious. Indeed, 

 these bulbs undergo a resting stage even while in 

 moist soil, and though root-growth is usually active 

 throughout autumn and winter, the leaf -growth does 

 not generally take place until spring. 



Such bulbs should not be kept out of the ground 

 any longer than is necessary for drying and clean- 

 ing them, and separating the j'oung offsets for in- 

 creasing the stock. When it is considered neces- 

 sary to lift the bulbs, either because they show signs 

 of deteriorating in growth or for propagation, the 

 operation should be done so soon as the foliage is 

 quite matured and decayed, which, in the case of 

 most hardy bulbs, is from June till August. Dry 

 open weather should be chosen, and after lifting the 

 bulbs they should be allowed to remain in the sun 

 and become dry, and after cleaning the soil off, and 

 separating the young offsets, the largest bulbs 

 should be set aside for planting out permanently, 

 while the hulblets may either be planted in 

 nursery borders, or at once in their permanent 

 positions. Whenever it may be necessary to store 

 hardy bulbs, so as to keep them over the winter, 

 which should always be avoided as much as possible, 

 the best plan, after drying and cleaning the bulbs, 

 is to lay them in layers on shelves in an unheated 

 shed, and cover the bulbs with a layer of dry soil or 

 sand, so as to exclude the air and light from them, 

 which tends to weaken and shrivel them. When 

 there are but a few bulbs of each sort, they may be 



placed in pots, and covered with soil or sand. When 

 bulbs are not re-planted immediately after lifting, 

 they cannot be kept out of the ground later than 

 October or November, at the latest, without injury; 

 hut in the case of those kinds that are not perfectly 

 hardy, such as some of the Japanese and Califomian 

 bulbs, they may be kept till February under the 

 condition that excessive dryness or excessive mois- 

 ture is avoided. It is, however, in all cases the best 

 and safest plan to re-plant such bulbs immediately 

 after lifting, or before the end of October. Bought 

 bulbs are frequently subjected to rough treatment 

 in a dry warehouse, from the time they are lifted 

 until sold; consequently, if bought late, they are 

 generally weakened, and not unfrequently shrivelled, 

 so that their strength is greatly impaired. There- 

 fore, hardy bulbs should be purchased as soon after 

 August as possible, and planted at once. Very late- 

 planted bulbs are seldom satisfactory. 



It is often a question with amateurs as to what 

 should be done in cases where such bulbs as Hya- 

 cinths, Tulips, Crocuses, are grown in beds required 

 for the usual summer flowering plants, as Pelar- 

 goniums, for at the time these require to be planted, 

 towards the end of May, the bulb-leaves are yet 

 green. In such cases, the best plan is to lift the 

 bulbs, with as much soil as possible clinging to their 

 roots, and transplant them in a reserve bed in an 

 open sunny spot — ^that is, if they are required for 

 another season's bloom. To lift bulbs while green 

 necessarily weakens them, and they consequently 

 shrivel, and frequently rot. In order to avoid this, 

 spring bulbs ought not, if possible, to be planted 

 in beds required for the summer plants, but allowed 

 to remain undisturbed till the foliage is ripened, 

 although the decaying leaves may have an untidy 

 appearance. In some gardens the plan is to plant 

 Pelargoniums and other plants between the bulbs in 

 May, and when these have grown they hide the 

 decaying leaves, and the bulbs can be pulled up a 

 few weeks later, thus leaving the beds to the summer 

 plants. 



Dutch bulbs after being forced are very often 

 thrown away under the impression that they are 

 useless. They are certainly useless for forcing into 

 bloom early, but are valuable for planting in the 

 open borders, and to these they should be consigned, 

 and if the position is warm and dry they will appear 

 year after year and yield good crops of bloom. A 

 border at the foot of a south wall is a capital place 

 for planting forced bulbs; a shrubbery border is 

 generally too impoverished for them. 



The foregoing remarks apply to hardy bulbs, but 

 with half-hardy or green-house deciduous bulbs the 

 case is different ; for as most of them are natives of 

 countries in which a hot and dry period occurs at 



