A Few Practical Hints on Bulb Culture 
Proper Condition of Soil.— Only plant bulbs, when the ground is in a nice friable condition, and never 
when the soil is wet and sticky. Better plant later in good friable soil, than early in wet saturated ground. 
Preparing Ground for Bulbs.— After digging or trenching, the ground should be allowed to settle at 
least ten days before planting. If planted on freshly trenched ground, as the land subsides, the bulbs will be 
drawn down below their proper depth. 
Depth to Plant. — Many amateurs have a tendency to plant too deeply, and thousands of bulbs are de- 
stroyed annually by too deep planting (crocuses especially suffer from this error). A good general rule to follow 
is, cover the bulb with soil once and a half to twice its own depth but not more, measuring the bulb from its base 
to its shoulder Thus a daffodil bulb measuring two inches from base to shoulder should be covered with three 
to four inches of soil, and a crocus bulb measuring one inch in depth with only one and a half to two inches of soil. 
Proper Time to Plant and Best Position.— Information on this subject is given at the heading of 
each family. Amateurs frequently fail with many bulbous plants through planting at the wrong season, thinking 
that because September is the proper time to plant crocuses, all other autumn bulbs should be planted in the same 
month, whereas such families as Anemones, Ranunculi, lxias, Sparaxis, Early Gladioli, <xc. should not be 
planted before end of October or November at the earliest ; if planted in September thev are almost sure to be 
a failure. 
Manure for Bulbs.— All bulbs object to the ammomacal properties or manure, consequently hot or fresh 
stable manure should never be used to dig in the ground for bulbs, but only well-decayed stable or cow manure 
such as the material from an exhausted hot-bed (chicken manure is poison to bulbs, being too full of ammonia). 
The safest manure for bulbs of all description, outdoors, is phosphatic basic slag, price 10/6 per cwt., i s. per 
7 lbs. ; this should be put in ground .with the bulbs at the time of planting at the rate of i ton per acre or 7* oz. 
per square yard, and after planting, sprinkle on the surface of the ground sulphate of potash at the rate of 2 cwt. 
per acre or i oz. per square yard, price 21- per cwt., 1/9 per 7 lbs. On hot dry and sandy soils, old stable 
manure may with advantage be used, but simply to act as a sponge to hold moisture in the soil ; it should be 
dug in 15 to 18 inches deep, so as not to come in contact with the bulbs. 
Bulbs in pots should have a surface dressing of ' Phytobroma ' when snowing top growth and again when 
in bud (see page 2 of cover). 
Top Dressing —Where possible, we advise a top dressing to all bulbs through the winter months with 
some light materiai such as long straw litter, cut neather, cut lurze branches. &c„ or cut fern bracken resting on 
pea sticks (cut fern used by itself lies too wet and is apt to rot the young growths). The advantage of this 
light covering is that it keeps the surface soil sweet, keeps off heavy autumnal rains, and protects any early top 
growths. 
CULTURE FOR EARLY BULB FORCING. 
Pot the bulbs 3 to 6, or more according to size, in a 4- or 5-inch pot, barely covering the bulbs with soil. This 
should be done during August, September, and October, the pots being placed out of doors on a bed of ashes, 
and covered over with a few inches of cocoa-nut fibre or ashes. There let them remain for a period of thru 
months at least until the bulbs are -well rooted, and have made a little top growth, when a few pots at a tune 
should be removed to a cold frame and be kept partially shaded for a day or two, after which they should be 
removed to a moderately warm and moist temperature, a plentiful supply of water being then given to the loots. 
A successional supply of flowers can thus be maintained from November to february. 
BARR’S Selected Bulbs & Roots for Early Forcing. 
PAGE 
ALLIUM neapolitanum 8 
ARUM Lily. See Richardia 48 
CHINESE Sacred Lily, ‘Coon Luck Lily' of 
China and Japan, ‘Flower of THE Gods, and 
PAGE 
LILIUM longiflorum robustum, succeeding Hat - 
risii in time of (lowering 39 
LILY of the Valley. Barr's Extra Selected 
Berlin Crowns 43 
,, ,, Barr’s Extra Strong established 
CHIONODOXA, The Glory of thf. Snow 16 
CHRISTMAS Roses. See Helleborus 27 
DAFFODILS for Forcing. See Daffodil Catalogue. 
MILLA uniflora, for associating with Hyacinths, 
Tulips, &c 43 
„ ,, vlolacea 43 
NARCISSUS Polyanthus Paper White 46 
DICENTRA (syn. Dielytra), Lyre Flower 21 
EUCHARIS, The Amazonian Lily 22 
FREESIAS, Sweet-Scented 22 
GALANTHUS Elwesii, Elwes' Giant SNOWDRor ... 23 
,, Ikarlse, a lovely new Snowdrop 4 
HELLEBORUS niger maximus. The Giant 
,, ,, Grand Soleil d’Or 45 
„ ‘ Scllly Isles,’ White 45 
,, ‘ Chinese Sacred ’ 45 
NARCISSUS (Daffodils) for Early Forcing. See 
our Daffodil Catalogue. 
POLYGONATUM, Solomon s Seal 46 
RICHARDIA afrieana, The Lily of the Nils ... 48 
HYACINTHS, Exhibition Varieties 27 
„ Early Dwarf Roman, White, Blue, 
Blush and Straw-Coloured 31 
SCILLA Sibirica, to associate with Giant Snowdrops 
and Chionodoxas 48 
„ var. taurlca, a fortnight earlier 
than above 48 
„ reticulata, The Violet-Scented Iris 34 
* 
LILIUM longiflorum Harristl, The Bermuda 
SPIR7EA Japonica, The Javanese Meadow Sweet 49 
,, palmata. Rosy Crimson 49 
,, astilboides ^ 
TULIPS, Due Van Thol, and other Early Forcing 
Varieties 52 
By For* Bapp’s Special Mixture of Cocoa Fibre and Charcoal, also Jadoo 
Fibre, for growing Bulbs in, see page 64. 
