Miurob, 1914 



THE GABDBN AND PIBU). 



43' 



as thousands upnu ilumsaivds of 

 llowTrs tloatinn on tlK^ surface gave 

 one the impression th.i.t the liquid 

 loo was competing with the soil 

 HI heaut:fyin<^- its suriaee. A greater 

 w.iste of llowers could not l>e wit- 

 nessed auywhcrt.-. lC\ery thing in 

 c bidh <Ustncts, outsKl'e of oiu.. 

 rowing, is of minor importance, 

 strangely enough tlw public and 

 prixate gardens contain notliing 

 striking in the way of llowers." 



Another writer, gi\ing his im- 

 pressions, " says it is dillicult to 

 give even a faint idea of the 

 beauty of these vast* i)lains of blos- 

 soms, each in itself perfection that 

 encompass the quaint old towns. 

 The idea that there must be a 

 sameness monotony in all these 

 \ <ist tiekls of llowers is a mistaken 

 one. The color varies with every 

 hour of the day. In the morning 

 the flower fields are quite a differ- 

 ent story from the same gardens 

 at noon, while towards evening, 

 when the nightinoales begin to sing 

 in the historic woods, there comes 

 a softness to the bright tints, a 

 mystery that seems born of the 

 niglit, due, perhaps, to the mist 

 that rises from the meads that 

 stretch towards the dunes, the 

 mist that augurs well for a fine 

 day on the morrow. Then, again, 

 there are the barges passing, al- 

 ways passing, along the canals, 

 with hulls gaily painted with green, 

 white, or red, and with sails 

 tanned russet-'brown. There are 

 the windmills, against the sky, 

 turning round so busily in the 

 breeze ; there are the quaint pea- 

 sant wom.en trudginor townwards 

 along the canal bank, with deep 

 baskets hung at their backs, and 

 the busy gardeners in their bright 

 blue dungaree jackets, and sabots 

 d,s white as chalk can make theim. 

 All these mean color and life. No, 

 there is no monotony, it is an 

 ever-moving pageant, instinct with 

 livinor beauty, and the one way to 

 realise it is to see it." 



One can gather from these ex- 

 pressions that the Holland bulb 

 gardens must be one of the floral 

 wonders of the world. 



Coming back to the cultivation of 

 the bulb, in this part of the world 

 there seems to be a certain dititr- 

 ence of opmion as to the depth 

 bulbs should be planted. Person- 

 ally, I think in lots of cases the 

 depth is not of much ' iv -^rt mce, 

 except, of course, where the bulb 

 is small and likely to be buried 

 too deep. Such bulbs as the poly- 

 antha narcissus, daffodil, snow- 

 flakes, hyacinths, etc., can be 

 planted fvin. down, and they would 

 come up, but less depth will do. 



and tluv will thrive equally as 

 well ; ixia, free.sia, babiana, and 

 I he like, can l)e jilanted a couple 

 ot inches down and thrive. I 

 have had freesias grow up through 

 ,1 heaj) of manure which was 2 ft. 

 thick. In i)lanting bulbs always 

 l)ut in a stout marker, as when 

 they die down and leave no trace 

 of their whereabouts the gardener 

 is apt to ffind them with his spade, 

 and bring them uj) earlier than 

 was anticipated. 



— A Charniing Succession. — 



The lirst bulb to flower amongst 

 those generally known is the Bella- 

 donna lily ; then the autumn cro- 

 cus. There is a white crocus-like 

 flower which comes out about 

 this time of year called ze- 

 [jhranthes, and is often mistaken 

 for a white crocus. The spider 

 lily" is flowering now, and soon we 

 shall have the paper white and 

 Soliel d'or narcissus and the Ro- 

 man hyacinth ; then follow the 

 daffodils, hyacinths, and all the 

 other l)ulbs in rotation. 



Regarding the removal O'E bulbs 

 from the ground I do not consider 

 it necessary to remove them, ex- 

 cept where they are too thick. I 

 often keep them years without 

 shifting. Some buUjs do not take 

 the move kindly, particularly aina- 

 r\'llis and tube-rose. When bulbs 

 are taken up it is best to dry 

 them a little in the sun and then 

 put away in sand or dust in a 

 cool place until wanted again for 

 planting; 



Wlien there are bulbils or small 

 bulbs they should be planted in 

 rich so 1, so as to hasten theiir de- 

 velopment. In reference to water- 

 ing-, unless the winter is very dry, 

 I do not water, as rain is the best 

 irrigator, and more natural and 

 impartial in its favors. 



I know of no special pests that 

 attack bulbs, except our old friends 

 the slug and snails, but these can 

 be got over by kmc dusting. I do 

 not think I have missed anything 

 referring to the cultivation of the 

 bulb. Bulbs are very easy to grow 

 if the directions given above are 

 carried out. In concluding I can 

 only say — " Don't forget the sand." 



♦ 



Birds are our best friends, and 

 the lack of appreciation of them 

 is robbing the country not only of 

 their beauty of song and colour, 

 but the inestimable service they 

 perform in destroying myriads of 

 insects. 



Herbaceous Perennials. 



The usual way ol increasing her- 

 baceous perennials is by division. 

 Of course, this i.s' by far the most 

 expeditious, and one can depend 

 on having jrood jjlants the next 

 year • but when we coine to com- 

 j)are the jquality of the blooms with 

 those of ])lants raised from cut- 

 tings, then we must leave the sub- 

 ject. The rea.son is olnious. In 

 the case of division we have simply 

 a portion of an old, partially 

 worn-out plant, while from the 

 cutting we have a young plant full 

 of \igour. For filling beds the 

 plants raised from cuttings are 

 far more suitable in every way. 



The i)lants grow vigorously and 

 uniformly, l)oth as to height and 

 size of flower-^heads, and the.se are 

 larger than those from divided 

 plants. 



Since it may be laid down as an 

 axiom that bad conditions will not 

 produce good plants, the prelimin- 

 ary work should be most carefully 

 attended to. Should the soil in 

 the bed or frame prove to be sour 

 or exhausted, the surface soil 

 must be removed, and fresh sub- 

 stituted. If the level requires rais- 

 ing, sifted coal ashes, raked 

 smooth, will be found to make a 

 satisfactory substratum ;^ias an as- 

 sistance to drainage, these are ex- 

 cellent. Where it is only necessary 

 to prepare and improve the exist- 

 ing soil, this should be dug over 

 to a depth of at least nine inches. 

 Take out a small trench, removing 

 the soil to the spot where it is 

 intended to finish the work. Place 

 leaf-soil or decaying leaves at the 

 bottom ; turn in the next trench, 

 and proceed, filling up the last 

 trenich with the soil removed. When 

 the whole has been dug, spread 

 over it three inches in depth of 

 good lig^ht soil, finely sifted and 

 well mixed with sharp sand. Then 

 rake over until absolutely level. 

 A final (Covering of sand should 

 afterwards be given, and the whole 

 made firm by pressing with a piece 

 of board. It may be remarked 

 that boards will also be needed 

 when putting in the cuttings, one 

 toi kneel upon and another on 

 which to rest the feet, in order to 

 avoid making hollow^s in the soil. 



For making the cuttings, select 

 firm ripe growths, avoiding such 

 as are sappy, or weak. Shorten to 

 a length of three or four inches, 

 and make a straight clean trans- 

 verse cut immediately below a 

 node, as from this point is pro- 

 duced the layer of living cells, 

 knowTi as cambium — from which 

 the new roots will raise. L,et two 



