FALL PLANTING CONSIDERED. 



Many flower-lovers confine their gardening operations 

 to those summer months when bedding plants are in 

 order. They long for the delicate floral beauties of 

 early spring, but forget that autumn is the time for 

 making spring preparations. For early flowering, bulbs 

 may be planted any time from the latter part of Sep- 

 tember until hard frosts. The bulb-border should re- 

 ceive a good deep spading, a little well-rotted stable 

 manure being mixed with the soil. 



The Hyacinth is one of the most attractive of all 

 spring bulbs, and the most unlucky of mortals can per- 

 suade it to bloom. In planting outdoors, put the bulbs 

 three or four inches deep, and about eight inches apart. 

 A little sand should be placed under and around them. 

 During the winter they should be covered with leaves. 

 After flowering, the bulbs may be left in the ground 

 until the leaves decay ; they are then taken up and 

 stored away until planting time comes again. For use 

 in beds and borders, it is well to buy the unnamed 

 mixed bulbs, as they are cheaper than the named sorts 

 and sure to be satisfactory if purchased from a trust- 

 worthy dealer. 



Indoors, the hyacinth may be grown in water, sand 

 or moss. We all have a weakness for hyacinths in 

 glasses, grown in the good old-fashioned way. Perhaps 

 they stood in the tall English hyacinth-glasses, a lively 

 green or blue in color ; or perhaps they were supported 

 by plebeian bottles, but in either case they would flourish 

 like a green bay tree, and certainly this is the easiest 

 ■way to grow the bulbs indoors. One may begin to grow 

 hyacinths indoors as soon as the bulbs are received in 

 September. An installment may be kept back until a 

 month or more later, thus giving a succession of bloom. 

 To grow them in water, the glasses should be filled so 

 that the water just touches the base of the bulb and no 

 more ; partly covering the bulb is liable to cause its 

 decay. Whenever the water becomes foul, it should be 

 changed, the roots being rinsed also. Dark-colored 

 glasses are preferable, and hyacinth-roots should be kept 

 from the light until they are fully grown. The water 

 should not be allowed to evaporate so as to sink below 

 the base of the bulb. A hot dry room is death to bulbs, 

 and they will stand plenty of fresh air. A gas-lighted, 

 furnace-heated room is ruinous to all plants, and our 

 sturdy smiling Dutch bulbs are no exception. When 

 they are in bloom it is a good idea to sprinkle the flow- 

 ers occasionally. For pot-hyacinths, a good, sandy soil 



is desirable ; it must not be too stiff The top of the 

 bulbs should be left uncovered, the soil being pressed 

 firmly around them. They should be put in a rather 

 dark place until they begin to grow. The single va- 

 rieties do best in water. Many double ones are satisfac- 

 tory in pots. 



The Roman hyacinth is a small single variety, re- 

 markable for the ease with which it may be forced. It 

 is essentially the florists' hyacinth, being used by the 

 trade to an enormous extent. Although it may be ob- 

 tained in three colors (white, blue and pink), the white 

 one alone is the trade "Roman." It throws up two or 

 three spikes from each bulb, and is surely the daintiest 

 of all hyacinths, lending its grace to every sort of decor- 

 ative work. 



The Tulip shares the popularity of the hyacinth, 

 though we no longer hear of a fortune being bartered 

 for a single bulb. A bed of tulips is a glorious sight, if 

 the planting is managed with consideration for color- 

 effect. Tulips can also be readily forced. Although 

 hardy, they become weak when left out year after year, 

 as they gradually work down too deep into the soil, the 

 new bulb being formed each year below the old one. 

 After flowering, the bulbs should be taken up and 

 stored in a dry place until it is time to plant them 

 again. They should be planted about y^ inches deep 

 and six inches apart. It is a good plan to put a little 

 sand below the bulbs for drainage, to prevent injury 

 during damp weather. 



One of the best early single tulips is the Due Van Thol. 

 The flower is not extra-large, but it is always to be de- 

 pended upon. This variety may be obtained in different 

 colors — white, yellow, rose, scarlet and crimson. It is 

 good for early forcing, and is largely used in the trade 

 for this purpose. A bed entirely filled with Van Thol 

 tulips makes a gorgeous display, as they will all bloom 

 at once, and the neat dwarf habit is extremely pretty. 

 Another bed might be planted with later varieties, which 

 should come into bloom about two weeks after the Van 

 Thols. Among these later tulips the double sorts are 

 especially desirable, as they last so long when in flower 

 and are far more showy than the single sorts. La Can- 

 deur has a beautiful white flower, and Yellow Rose is one 

 of the finest of the late yellow sorts. Duke of York is 

 also an extremely fine late flower, deep rose bordered 

 with white. The Parrot tulips succeed the early flower- 

 ing sorts, and are interesting in their eccentricity. The 



