6o 



THE FLOWER GROWER'S GUIDE. 



to be planted in each pot. For cutting in quantity plant the bulbs very thickly in boxes 

 5 or 6 inches deep and cover them with very little soil. Place the pots or boxes on a bed 

 of ashes outside. Cover with cocoa-nut fibre refuse or ashes until the plants have made 

 a little top growth and filled the pots with roots. Some kinds of coal-ashes are injurious. 

 When growth has been thus begun, take the pots or boxes indoors where the plants are 



to bloom, giving a good 

 supply of water. For very 

 early flowering place in a 

 moist forcing-house. 



As a cut flower the 

 daffodil is of rare beauty, 

 j producing the most artistic 

 (Mi effects if arranged in a 

 ff simple way. It lasts long 

 in water, and if cut before 

 fully opened expands per- 

 fectly. Choice varieties it 

 is desired to see in perfec- 

 | tion may thus be cut and 

 taken indoors, where their 

 * flowers will not be dis- 

 figured by bad weather. If 

 the flowers are to be sent 

 away in a box or other 

 package they ought to be 

 cut before opening fully. 

 The narcissus is propagated by offsets from the bulbs, which, in some varieties, form 

 freely. The best time for separating these is when the foliage has withered. New 

 varieties are obtained by raising from seeds. This process is a slow one, it being 

 several years before the seedlings flower. The seeds may be sown soon after being, 

 gathered in pans filled with sandy loam. After the first season's growth is completed 

 the young bulbs, which are very small, may be planted in a bed or border, where they 

 may remain until they have shown their first flowers, which only form an imperfect test 

 of their merits. 



