October, 19 13 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



359 



would new bulbs in the Fall season. 



Bulbs which are naturalized in a 

 lawn which is to be kept closely cut, 

 frequently fail because the leaves, 

 after the plants get through bloom- 

 ing, are cut before they have a 

 chance to ripen up, which is indi- 

 cated by their turning yellow and 

 dying down. Under such circum- Darwin 



stances the lawn-mower should not be used until the bulbs 

 are fairly well ripened, as the complete growth of the leaves 

 is essential to the full development of the bulbs in storing 

 up food for next year's flowering. 



The flower stalks, if the flowers are wanted for use in the 

 house, may be cut just as soon as the bulbs begin to open, 

 and even where they are left to flower where they are, the 

 flower-stalks should be cut off as soon as the blooms begin 

 to go by. 



For the above reasons Snow-drops and Squills are much 

 the most satisfactory bulbs for naturalizing in the lawn. 

 They bloom very early and are well ripened up before it 

 is necessary to begin to use the lawn-mower. Furthermore, 

 their delicate flowers, born on frail stems, need the back- 

 ground of turf beneath them in place of bare earth. When' 

 Crocuses are used, as they often are, the mowing of the 

 lawn should be delayed until their leaves begin to die 

 down. 



As suggested above, it becomes necessary with some of 

 the bulbs to take them up and replant every few years. 

 With most of the hardy Lilies, this seldom, 

 if ever, is necessary. In fact, disturbing them 

 is injurious rather than beneficial. 



Most of the bulbs, and especially the 

 hardy Lilies, will be benefitted by having 

 manure dug into the soil every year or every 

 other year. But it must be old and thor- 

 oughly decomposed. If you can get old com- 

 post from a hot-bed or something of that 

 sort it will be much better than manure. 

 Bone-meal also may be used to great advantage, 

 as there is no danger of injuring bulbs with it. 



It is advisable to get your order for bulbs 

 in as early as possible. In fact, if you have 

 waited until the present time you should do 

 it at once. Personally I always prefer to 

 order by mail from a catalogue. The bulbs 

 which one finds in a small seed-store or a 

 hardware store one cannot be sure of and the 

 varieties are usually rather limited. Even if 

 you have access to one of the big seed stores, 

 where the bulbs are imported directly, it is 

 easier and more satisfactory to sit down and 

 study out of the catalogue the things which 

 will meet your requirements than to try to do 

 it at the counter. 



The most important groups of bulbs for 

 Fall-planting for Spring flowers are Tulips, 

 Hyacinths, and Narcissi, — 'the last including 

 Daffodils and Jonquils. 



Of recent years the class of Tulips known 

 as Darwin has come into great popularity, 

 and along with them the cottage garden or 

 May-flowering Tulips. Both of these classes, 

 however, are late bloomers and as the first 

 flowers in Spring are highly prized on ac- 

 count of their earliness as well as for their 

 other qualities every bulb garden should in- 

 clude some of the old-fashioned early tulips, 

 among the best varieties of which is the Due 

 Van Thol section, with flowers of different 



colors, including scarlet, crimson, 

 yellow, pink, white and variegated, 

 red-striped-yellow and red-striped- 

 gold. The Pottebakker sorts also 

 come in scarlet, white and yellow. 

 Vermilion Brilliant is an extra fine, 

 rich brilliant scarlet; and Kaiser 

 Kroon, growing to a height of fifteen 

 Tulips inches, bright red edged with golden 



yellow, is in my opinion the finest of all the variegated sorts. 

 Joost van Vondel White is an extra large and fine pure 

 white. "Dragon" Tulips are grotesquely laciniated and 

 fringed, and entirely distinct from any of the other sorts. 



The list of good Hyacinths is almost without limit, and 

 for little expense you can get a layout of any color or as 

 many colors as you want. But why not try a bed or a 

 border of one solid color for next Spring, and get away 

 from the old idea of thinking that Hyacinths must be planted 

 in "design" beds of clashing colors? If you cannot quite 

 bring yourself to this at least restrict your planting to more 

 harmonious contrasts, such for instance as LTnnocence, and 

 Czar Peter, light lavender-blue. 



Of the Narcissi there are a number of types all very dis- 

 tinct from one another; — 'the Giant trumper, the double 

 Narcissus or Daffodil, the small-flowering or Jonquil, the 

 "Poet" type, and the Polyanthus, or bunch-flowered sorts, all 

 well known. But be sure you are picking out the type you 

 want, when you order by variety. The Peerless or Star 

 Narcissi, and the new Poetaz, are not so familiarlyknown. 



lips grouped tor mass e 



