404. MANUAL OF GARDENING 
winter should make blooming plants in summer; these plants may be 
used for winter bloom, but it is better to raise new plants. Some 
gardeners cut back old plants to secure new blooming wood; this is 
desirable if the plants grow more or less permanently in the greenhouse 
border, but for pots new plants should be grown. 
The common swainsona is white-flowered; but there is a good rose- 
colored variety. 
Tuberose (properly tuber-ose, not tube-rose, from its specific name, 
Polianthes tuberosa). — This plant, with its tall spikes of waxen and 
fragrant white flowers, is well known in the middle latitudes, but usu- 
ally requires more heat and a longer season than are commonly pres- 
ent in the most northern states. 
The tuberose is a strong feeder, and loves warmth, plenty of water 
while growing, and a deep, rich, and well-drained soil. The bulbs may 
be set in the garden or border the last of May or in June, covering them 
about 1 inch deep. Preparatory to planting, the old dead roots at 
the base of the bulb should be cut away and the pips or young bulbs 
about the sides removed. After keeping them till their scars are 
dried over, these pips may be planted 5 or 6 inches apart in drills, 
and with good soil and cultivation they will make blooming bulbs for 
the following year. 
Before planting the large bulbs, it may be well to examine the 
points, to determine whether they are likely to bloom. The tuberose 
blooms but once. If there is a hard, woody piece of old stem in the 
midst of the dry scales at the apex of the bulb, it has bloomed, and is 
of no value except for producing pips. Likewise if, instead of a solid 
core, there is a brownish, dry cavity extending from the tip down into 
the middle of the bulb, the heart has rotted or dried up, and the bulb 
‘is worthless as far as blooming is concerned. 
Bulbs of blooming size set in the border in June flower toward the 
close of September. They may be made to flower three or four weeks 
sooner by starting them early in some warm place, where they may 
be given a temperature of about 60° to 70°. Prepare the bulbs as 
above, and place them with their tips just above the surface in about 
3- or 4-inch pots, in light sandy soil. Water them thoroughly, after- 
wards sparingly, till the leaves have made considerable growth. 
