CHAPTER XIV 
SPRING AND SUMMER FLOWERS FROM 
BULBS 
No plants are more interesting to grow in the 
garden than the bulbous ones, especially those that 
are hardy. There is a peculiar fascination in buy- 
ing a dry brown, black, white or yellow bulb, 
sometimes a mere mite of a thing, burying it in 
the ground, leaving it there all winter and one 
day in spring finding it doing its share to beautify 
the earth. And not the change of a seed into a 
plant seems so marvelous a transition. 
It is in the springtime that bulbs are of the 
most value in the garden. At that time of the year 
they are simply invaluable. Not that there is 
any lack of perennials for spring, if flower lovers 
would only cast their eyes about; but in neither 
form nor color can these perform for the garden 
the gentle offices of the bulbs. Veritable herba- 
ceous perennials though they be, they are abso- 
lutely distinct. 
A close observation of American gardens for 
many years has shown that here is a field well- 
trodden in no more than a few spots. Only the 
tulip, hyacinth, narcissus and crocus are grown 
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