22 



The Garden Magazine, September, 1921 



About six weeks before flowers are desired, bring the pots 

 indoors to a temperature of from 50 to 6o° F. Moderate heat, 

 increased very gradually, if at all, is best, failure often resulting 

 from an attempt to force the bulbs into flower suddenly and 

 rapidly. When the buds actually appear, a temperature up to 

 65 to 70 (if the rise has been gradual) may be employed to 

 open the blossoms. 



With bulbs purchased in August, this program provides 

 for the first flowers about Christmas; the bulbs brought indoors 

 at regular, say weekly, intervals (the last of them remaining 

 outdoors, well covered, until hard freezing weather) should 

 keep up a supply of blooms throughout the winter and even 

 up into early spring. 



When finally it is time to bring them indoors, accustom them 

 to the warmth gradually; start the forcing process slowly and 

 cautiously. Hasty forcing is probably another common cause 

 of weak, disappointing blooms even if not of actual failure. 

 Combined with it may often be injudicious watering. A pot 

 holds only a limited amount of soil which, in turn, contains 

 only a limited amount of plant food. It is surprisingly easy, by 

 means of too frequent, over zealous watering to wash a good 



deal of the most soluble plant food either out of the pot entirely, 

 or at least down into the lower layers of soil where the roots 

 have the greatest amount of trouble to secure it. Aim merely 

 to keep the soil from drying out — and if it is possible to plunge 

 the pots during the forcing period, in loose, absorbent soil, moss 

 or fibre which, being watered as needed, will convey sufficient 

 moisture to the pots and the soil therein with no possible chance 

 for leaching, why, so much the better. 



It is claimed, that if unduly hastened into bloom the colored 

 Freesias open with an increasingly pale color, according to the 

 degree of injudicious forcing. 



WITH the passing of the Freesia's glory in midwinter — or 

 in March, let us-say, if the forcing has been commendably 

 moderate — arises that ubiquitous question, "Shall I save the 

 bulbs for another year?" If you want to do it experimentally 

 with rather less than an even chance of success, go to it. Dry 

 off the bulbs after the foliage has ripened; store them away in 

 an airy, dry place, and hope for the best the next year. Being 

 tender, they are of no use as garden material as are Tulips, 

 Hyacinths, and most other bulbs that have bloomed indoors. 



FRAGRANCE AND GRACEFULNESS 



Bunch of cut Freesia blooms with own foliage. Originally pale yellow, Freesias now come in shades of yellow, 

 lavender, and rose. They are easily grown and do not need the "dark treatment" of the "Dutch" bulbs 



