LITTLE BROWN BULBS 



bulb is more easily rooted, however, than a bud or a stem. 

 Corms and rhizomes are not, strictly speaking, bulbs, but are 

 usually included under the same head; first, because they re- 

 quire about the same treatment, and secondly because the ma- 

 jority of people do not know the difference and do not seem 

 to care very much when they do. This is all very wrong, 

 since to get the full value out of one's acquaintances of the 

 garden it is desirable to practice "knowing the names of 

 things." No one gets full pleasure out of the acquaintances 

 of the garden until he learns to love the sound of the name as 

 he does those of the little children about him. To me there 

 is no greater pleasure than to go through a well-stocked gar- 

 den, with its thinking owner, and hear him call each flower 

 and bush by its name, tenderly and lovingly, as if there were 

 some home relation between them. 



For the successful growing of most bulbous plants a rich, 

 deep, light, but damp soil, well drained and with no pos- 

 sibility of the water standing about the bulbs, is all that is 

 required, although an annual top dressing of well-rotted 

 manure will give finer growth. Most of the larger bulbs 

 should be planted at the depth of about three inches and not 

 frequently disturbed. If it be necessary to move them it 

 should be done just as the foliage dies down, and in this 

 country they should be immediately replanted. The most 

 showy family of the bulbous type is the amaryllis, of which 

 Amaryllis belladonna is the type. Close relations to this 

 wonderful lily are the brunsvigeas, crinums, vallotas and 

 zephyranthes. The amaryllis requires a good loose loam. 



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