32 PIG TORI AL Pit AC TIG AL BULB GROWING. 



Chapter V. -Bulbs in Wliidoy) Boxes, 



There are few people who cannot liave a window box if they 

 want one. Xot that the lot of the owner of window boxes is 

 invariably a happy one, especially if he be so unfortunate as to 

 dwell in a town where everyone is not as honest as the day, for the 

 plants and boxes are apt to develop wings and hie them away to 

 * other and more desolate spheres. It is poor consolation indeed to a 

 man who has suffered thus to be told that he is certainly brightening 

 somebody's home, though there may be some philosophers about who 

 regard it in this w^ay. 



What window^ gardeners would do for their spring display 

 without the indispensable Dutch bulb one shudders to think, for it 

 will be quite safe to assert that out of every ten boxes filled to look 

 beautiful in the early months of the year, eight, and perhaps nine, 

 either owe their charms to bulbs entirely or are largely filled with 

 them. The reasons for this popularity are not far to seek. The 

 plants are extremely easy to grow, they do not demand a great 

 amount of attention after once being put into their places until the 

 spring, they can be procured for a very small outlay of cash, and 

 they produce a singularly charming effect, notwithstanding what the 

 hypercritical say about their stiffness. One occasionally hears it 

 asserted that the use of Dutch bulbs does not permit of any change 

 being made in the style of dressing from one year to another, but 

 this is an error, as many have proved over and over again. It really 

 resolves itself into a question of w^hether the cultivator possesses a 

 spark of originality or not, for if he does he will soon ring some 

 decided changes, even though the scope be limited. 



For window box culture bulbous plants are unique in utility, 

 inasmuch as while we can, if necessary, find substitutes for all other 

 plants, such a course is not possible with the bulbs which stand 

 alone for spring effects. To ensure the very best results it is 

 imperative that there be two boxes for each window, or during the 

 ^vinte^ months, when the bulbs are making root progress alone, the 

 sills must be quite bare— an occurrence that may be easily and 

 satisfactorily overcome by adopting the duplicate box sj^stem, as one 

 may then have small Conifers for wunter adornment while the bulbs 

 are being brought slowdy onward for employment in the early spring. 



Whichever method commends itself to the cultivator, he will 



