Maroh, 1914 



TBK GARDEN AND FIELD. 



441 



into a prepared bed, one that has 

 been dug deeply, and in which son;ie 

 old manure has been stirred, plac- 

 ing theiu a foot apart. This bed 

 must be kept in the pink of condi- 

 tion, with frequent hoeings, and 

 the young plants encouraged to do 

 their very best. A small percent- 

 age of the seeiUings may Uower 

 the first season, but these will be 

 found to be almost without exjcep- 

 tion of very poor quaUty. The 

 majority will flower during the 

 second season. As soon as the 

 bushes show sig'us of buds begin 

 gi\-ing weak liquid manure once 

 during the week, increasing it to 

 two doses weekly when the buds 

 are about half-grown. 



A large number of seedlings will 

 prove to be single, and unless 

 showing a llower of sterlmg quali- 

 ty should be pulled up at once 

 and added to the manure heap. 

 But anything giving promisej of 

 merit should be retained, so that 

 a more extended trial should be 

 given it. 



The percentage of really first- 

 class roses will, of course, be ex- 

 ceedingly small, but the thought 

 that one may chance to raise a 

 Maman Cochet or a Mrs. Bdward 

 Mawley is enough to make one con- 

 tinue to persevere in this interest- 

 ing branch of g^ardening. It would 

 be as well when collecting the 

 seed to keep that taken from each 

 variety separate, so that should 

 anything good be the outcotoie, the 

 name of one of the parents of the 

 new rose at least will be known. 



^ 



Bulbs for Pot Culture. 



AH the bulbous plants must be 

 placed in the dark immediately 

 after planting (Freesias, by the 

 way, are an exception to this very 

 general rule). The pots may be 

 placed in a dark cellar, and cov- 

 ered with several inches of ashes. 

 Many do not reahse the signifi- 

 cance of this operation. Now, the 

 express purpose of keeping the 

 plants in darkness is to retard 

 top growth until the bulbs have 

 produced a quantity of roots. Ex- 

 posure to the light encourages top 

 growth at the expense of root 

 growth, or at least before sufficient 

 roots have been formed to sustain 

 it. The pots can be kept in their 

 darkened quarters for about five 

 weeks. 



Many bulbs will even grow with- 

 out soil, that is to say, a substi- 

 tute may be found for it in fibre, 

 mixed with shells, pebbles, and 

 pieces of charcoal. Jadoo can be 



boug^it ready mixed with shells 

 and charcoal — tjie use of the char- 

 coal, is, of course, to keep the 

 whole sweet and wholesome. In 

 growing bulbs in iibre one of the 

 main secrets of success lies in 

 never allowing the libre to become 

 dry, as the direct cause of this 

 is to make the roots shrivel and 

 l)re\ent the development of the 

 ilowers. The bowls are Idled with 

 water once a week and then tilted, 

 pouring oil the surplus water, that 

 will ensure the libre keeping evenly 

 moist throug^h the bowl. After 

 all it is in mere detail such as 

 cius tnat success or laiiure lies, 

 for the whole cultivation is so 

 wonderfully simple that it is only 

 in details that one can err. It is 

 quite as necessary to place bulbs 

 that are to be grown in fibre in 

 the dark as for those lin soil, and 

 to examine them at the end of 

 five weeks, and then, if possible, 

 to leave those in fibre an extra 

 week in the darkness. 



♦ 



How to Plant Daffodils. 



Daffodils can accommodate them- 

 selves to a'most any good garden 

 soil, but to get the best results a 

 deep, loamy soil with a cool bot- 

 tom is necessary, says one of our 

 most successful growers. Some of 

 the best daffodils exhibited are 

 grown on rich, chocolate, volcanic 

 soil. Where the soil is of a sandy 

 nature it is a good plan to trench 

 in a heavy dressing of well-rotted 

 cow manure some time before the 

 bulbs are planted. 



— Manure. — 



The applcation of manure re- 

 qmres great judgment, and the 

 proper quantity to apply can only 

 'be determined by actual experi- 

 ence. At one time it was thought 

 that daffodils did not require man- 

 ure, but this is a mistaken notion. 

 Daffodils are the same as other 

 plants ; they like good cultivation. 



— How to Plant. — 



Where the bulbs are planted in 

 the borders dig a hole about a foot 

 in diameter and the depth of the 

 spade, put in a good handful of 

 bonediist ; mix with bottom soil, 

 then put a little more soil on top, 

 then plant your bulbs, and fill in 

 balance of sod. In planting in 

 beds I always take out a trench 

 the length of the bed, 15 in. wide, 

 and a spade deep. I then apply a 

 good dressing of bonedust or well- 

 rotted cow manure to the bottom 

 of the trench, then fork it in 

 lightly. Put back some of the soil 



removed, plant my bulbs on top of 

 this, and fill in the remainder of 

 the soil level. 1 continue the same 

 way until the bed is filled up. 

 When bulbs are planted in this 

 way the manure is below the bulbs, 

 and the roots soon fuid their way 

 down to it ; bulbs should not be 

 allowed to come in contact with 

 the manure. In planting the bulbs 

 a good depth is 3 in. from the sur- 

 face of the soil to the crown of the 

 bulb ; for some of the smaller 

 bulbs 2 in. from the surface is 

 sufFicient. 



■ ♦ 



Bulbs from Seed. 



I'he ranunculus, anemone, gladi- 

 olus, freez/ia, cyclamen, sparaxis, 

 ixia, belladona lilies may be easily 

 raised from seed. 



— The l^anunculus and Anemone. — 



Prepare the seed box by placing 

 in it a compost of loam, leal- 

 mould, and sand. The seed is 

 somewhat difficult to sow thinly, 

 and so should be treated in the 

 fashion sometimes recommended for, 

 carrot seed, that is, to mix it with 

 sifted ashes, rubbing the seeds be- 

 tween the hands until they are 

 completely separated. This mix- 

 ture of ashes and seed should then 

 be evenly served over the surface 

 of the box and covered with sifted 

 stable manure to the thickness of 

 a penny. The best position for the 

 seed-box will be on the north side 

 of a wall or fence, as it is then 

 protected from the heavy rain 

 that usually comes from a south- 

 erly direction. 



The surface must be kept damp, 

 but not wet, using the very fine 

 rose can. But one of the chief 

 reasons of the general failure 

 amongst amateurs to raise seed 

 of any fineness is that they wiU. 

 water their seed boxes and pans 

 with an ordinary garden watering 

 can, thus often washing the seed 

 riirht out of the box. A slight 

 shade placed over the box wiU. help. 



The seed comes up very freely 

 and may be placed out in a bed, 

 finely prepared, as soon as they 

 are a fair size. 



Seed of the ranunculus will flow- 

 er the first season, the anemone the^ 

 second. 



— Glad olus. — 



New and beautiful varieties may 

 be had by this method. If you 

 intend collect in your own seed 

 select a dozen or so of good roots, 

 bearing flowers of good color and 

 form, and as dissimilar in color as 

 possible, and plant in a small bed 



