October, 190 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



131 



so that they will blossom at this time for the 

 children to take home or give away. 



For schools bulb boxes, or flats as they are 

 called, are best to use for planting. These 

 crowded full of bulbs make a fine show. 

 Just as crowding helps in the window box 

 so crowding helps in the indoor planting of 

 bulbs. Low pots are excellent too, especi- 

 ally for hyacinths. The high pot such as 

 we use for geraniums does not make so good 

 a showing for bulb planting. 



Small pots, say three inches across, are 

 all right for single bulbs. These are espe- 

 cially good in grade schools where each child 

 plants his own bulb and is to care for it 

 himself. I knew ofa second grade doing 

 this with great pleasure to the individual 

 child. Many of these children brought their 

 own pots from home, so reducing the expense 

 for the school. 



In a pot six inches across three hyacinth 

 bulbs or four tulips can be planted. You 



A sieve like this may be constructed in a manual 

 training shop or made from a small wooden box 



needn't leave more than two inches between 

 bulbs in flats or pots. Each bulb needs 

 just enough space for itself and enough so 

 that it does not hit against its neighbor bulb. 



Place in the drainage holes of the bulb 

 boxes or the single hole in the clay flower- 

 pots, stones to block the too free passage of 

 water. Then fill the chosen receptacle with 

 a not too rich garden soil up to the place 

 where you are to place the bulb. Large 

 bulbs as narcissus, hyacinth, tulips, etc, 

 should be about one inch from the surface of 

 the soil. Smaller bulbs perhaps it would 

 be well to place only one-half inch below 

 the surface. It is a good plan to do as 

 we do in outdoor planting — make a bed 

 of sand for the bulbs to rest on. 



After planting, label plainly each pot or 

 box with the name and colors of the bulbs. 



Now set away in a cool, dark place for 

 five or six weeks. This gives time for root 

 forming. Bulbs should be watered often 

 enough to keep the earth moist. The 



temperature of the chosen place may drop 

 nearly to freezing without hurting the bulbs. 

 If your cellar, should you choose this place, 

 is not very dark, the bulbs may be covered 

 over with wooden boxes tilted up from the 

 floor sufficiently to permit air to get at the 

 bulbs. Leave now for the five or six weeks' 

 rest. One of the pictures shows about how 

 high above ground a bulb should be before 

 taking from its resting place. When you- 

 take them out of the dark they will all look 

 pretty sickly. But sunshine and heat soon 

 change all this. 



Paper narcissus and daffodils are often 

 planted so close to the surface that their 

 old brown dead-looking ends pry up above 

 the ground. The deeper you plant a bulb 

 the more time it takes for it to force its way 

 up and out. 



Bulbs Best to Plant 



TT IS well to know the names of the kinds 

 ■*■ of bulbs with which other people have 

 had success. Some varieties do better out- 

 doors; others indoors. 



In choosing hyacinths you have to decide 

 upon the color and whether you wish double 

 or single varieties. In general most people 

 enjoy single flowers better. If you are to 

 use the hyacinths for outdoor planting or 

 bedding it is perfectly safe just to write for 

 bulbs which are to be bedded. La Gran- 

 desse is a beautiful white, King of the 

 Blues speaks for itself and the Sarah 

 Bernhardt is a salmon pink. These same 

 do well inside, too. Charles Dickens is 

 a fine rose color, Prince of Wales violet, 

 and L'Innocence a fine white. These are 

 good for inside planting. Some may like 

 the smaller Roman hyacinths, which do 

 splendidly indoors. Very good hyacinths 

 are bought for fifteen cents. 



Tulips do especially well outdoors. A 

 capital one for either bedding or indoor 

 forcing is the Isabelle. It is a beautiful 

 red tulip which is bought for five cents. 

 The Summer Beauty, a hardy white tulip, 

 is well worth the ten cents asked for each one. 

 Some of you may like to raise some freaks: 

 then try parrot tulips at about thirty-five 

 cents a dozen. A thing to remember about 

 the indoor planting of tulips is this — tulips, 

 more than other bulbs, are likely to have 

 plant lice, so watch out! 



In daffodils you may be sure of the Van 

 Sion. These are worth forty cents the 

 dozen. You can buy daffodils for twenty. 



If you wish to lay in a stock of bulbs for 

 water planting choose, of course, Chinese 

 lilies, but try, too, the paper white narcissi. 

 These bulbs cost forty cents a dozen. Buy 

 from the five and ten cent store a glass dish, 

 gather stones for it now. About three weeks 

 before you wish blossoms plant a dozen of 

 these narcissi in the glass dish with the stones 

 as a foundation and water enough to come 

 up around the base of the bulbs. It is a 

 good plan to set the dish of bulbs in the dark 

 for four or five days. 



You can grow hyacinths in water too. For 

 this a special glass is sold, although I have 

 seen children place a bulb in the top of a 

 preserve jar. It works all right. Bulbs 



This hyacinth is ready to come from the dark to 

 the light. Observe distance of plant above the soil 



must never drop low into water or they decay. 

 These, too, should be placed in the dark for 

 about a week. 



Suppose you have a quarter to spend. 

 You can make all sorts of interesting com- 

 binations. Three daffodils for ten cents, a 

 hyacinth for ten and a tulip for five gives you 

 a chance to experiment. 



Bulb Boxes 



TN THE picture below is a box made 

 *■ for bulb planting. Bulb boxes give the 

 opportunity to crowd in the bulbs. Daffodils 

 do well thus planted. 



The dimensions of the box are the same 

 as those for the sieve except for the depth, 

 which is three inches instead of two and a half 

 inches. Of course the bottom is wood with 

 three drainage holes bored in it. From 

 eight to twelve hyacinths or daffodils can 

 be planted in this box. 



A smaller one is ten inches long, four 

 wide, and the depth is four inches. It is 

 not so satisfactory to plant in as the other, 

 nor so artistic when full of blossoming 

 bulbs. Three daffodils could be planted in it. 



Drainage holes are necessary. These are a trifle too 

 large for the size of the box, but not enough of them 



