108 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



October, 191; 



Fun With Bulbs! 



WHY not become acquainted with 

 some one family of bulbs? Try 

 the narcissus family. All the mem- 

 bers are alike yet different. Here is 

 the Chinese lily, poeticus, polyanthus, 

 paper white, jonquils and daffodils, for 

 instance. Know the difference be- 

 tween the bulb's themselves as well as 

 the blossoms. One family character- 

 istic is the tendency toward a pointed 

 nose. Leave these inquisitive noses 

 poking above the earth when potting 

 them. If you plant outdoors put 

 about three or four inches of soil over 

 the noses. 



Did you ever plant any of this same 

 family in sand, moss, or peat fibre? 

 Get a glass bowl, like a fish globe. 

 Fill it with sand. Poke paper white 

 narcissus bulbs down into the brown 

 sand, close together, but do not 

 let" them touch one against another. 

 Leave the noses out of the sand. Fill 

 the bowl up with water and. set it 

 away in a dark, cold closet. When the 

 roots have formed so that they are all 

 over the inside of the bowl, then is the 

 time to bring this out to the light. 

 Keep the sand moist all the time. 

 Start this in early November and 

 you'll have a bowl full of bloom at 

 Christmas time. 



Did you ever operate on bulbs? 

 Here is a good experiment too. Fix up 

 t wo glass dishes all ready for Chinese 

 lily bulbs. Put some bulbs nestled 

 down into the pebbles of one dish just 

 as usual. Now operate on the bulbs 

 which are to go into the other dish. 

 Operate as follows : hold a bulb pointed 

 end up in your left hand, make a cut 

 with a good sharp 'knife from the tip 

 of the bulb nearly to the base, and 

 in about' one quarter inch in-depth. 

 Do not make the incision from the 

 extreme tip. of the bulb but a little 

 way from- the' top! Make about three 

 such cuts in each bulb. Place the two 

 dishes' away in the dark. , Which bulbs 

 form; roots first, which dish full do 

 ypu bring! out to the light first, and 

 which bulbs bloom first? If this is 



Chinese sacred lily (.Narcissus Tazeta). It may be grown in water in a 

 bowl, The most freauent cause of failure is keeping it too warm 



done at school have several classes try 

 it out. 



Would you like some red blossoming 

 bulbs at Christmas? There is only one 

 kind to use, the Due Van Thol tulips. 

 On the whole, tulips are the least satis- 

 factory of all bulbs for indoor work. 

 But start your red Due Van Thol right 

 off; take them out of the dark right 

 after Christmas. 



It's fun to work out color schemes in 

 bulbs. Suppose you are allowed only 

 those bulbs which have blue blossoms, 

 what would you choose? You could 

 have hyacinths including the little 

 grape hyacinths, crocus, blue bells, and 

 f: miliarias. Yellows give a wider scope 

 for choice for the narcissus family 

 compete in this, also tulips. 



Did you ever see how much you 

 could get for your money? Suppose 

 I give you thirty cents, what bulbs 

 could you buy for that sum? You 

 could buy a hyacinth for twelve cents; 

 one half dozen crocus for ten cents; 

 two tulips for five cents; and a Van 

 Sion daffodil for three cents. This is 

 a good piece of work for grades in 

 school. 



Try the little people on potting bulbs 

 in individual pots for themselves and 

 also for others. Narcissus and Roman 

 hyacinths are perhaps the best bulbs 

 to use for this purpose. The Dutch 

 hyacinths will do well too, if they 

 are left in the dark long enough 

 for good root development. Allow 

 eight to ten weeks for this work. 

 Roman hyacinths will develop roots in 

 less time, often in six weeks. Plant 

 flats full of hyacinths and daffodils. 

 Then after they come out of the dark . 

 pot up the bulbs in individual pots for 

 Christmas gifts. 



Work out for future reference the 

 number of bulbs to plant in a given 

 sized pot. For example: how many 

 tulips could one plant in a five-inch 

 pot; how many Van Sion daffodils in 

 an eight-inch pan. This might be 

 worked out in tabular form by one- 

 class and given to the other classes 

 for reference in their work of 

 planting. 



The real jonquil (Narcissus jonquilla). It has round 

 leaves, and deep yellow flowers. Very fragrant 



Poetaz narcissus, a hybrid between the poet's and 

 polyanthus narcissus. Not quite hardy in the North 



Long-trumpet daffodils, the most useful for grow- 

 ing in the garden 



