BULBS 



as the quality of the soil seems to make it necessary to 

 be extraordinarily careful about the drainage. 



No manure ought ever to come in contact with 

 bulbs, for it burns and kills them. Some say that well 

 rotted manure is safe to use, but it is not easy to be sure 

 that it is well enough rotted to be harmless, hence the 

 only really safe way is to eliminate it from their actual 

 presence. It may be worked into the soil where they 

 are to go, well in advance 0} their planting, but even then 

 it is wise to keep it from touching them. Bone meal 

 is safer to use and has the advantage of being easier to 

 incorporate evenly with the earth. 



Do not set bulbs too deep. From an inch to four 

 inches beneath the surface is all that they ought ever to 

 go, according to their size. An earth covering that is 

 one and a half times the bulb's own depth is the right 

 distance. After the ground has frozen hard mulch it 

 above them with four inches of leaves or litter, to keep 

 it from thawing and freezing alternately during the 

 changes of the winter. Take this mulch off however, 

 very early in the spring — early in March in ordinary 

 seasons — so that the tops will not start prematurely 

 and be nipped by late frosts. 



Bulbs that may be left where they are planted are 

 the only really satisfactory ones to grow, and certainly 

 the only kind that the beginner ought ever to attempt. 

 But if they must be moved for any reason, always re- 

 member that it must be done only when they are dor- 

 mant — and the signal of their having reached this state, 

 of their having matured or ripened," is the dying 



III 



