30 SPRING-FLOWERING BULBS & PLANTS for Shrubberies, &c. 
need we recommend the Lily of the Valley for this 
purpose ? How charming it is in a garden ! But how 
much more delightful to meet with it holding its own 
among the wild crow’s-foot bramblos and grass in thin 
woods P The Lily of the Valley will grow well in any 
ordinary soil, either in a wood, or margin of a shrub- 
bery copse, or such-like place, and will in such positions 
prove a perennial source of interest and beauty. Then 
in the drier and more open spots, the commoner Or- 
nithogalnms might be planted with great advantage, 
particularly the Star of Bethlehem. They particularly 
enjoy chalky dry spots, though hardy enough for almost 
any position. The beautiful blue Anemone apenuina 
is a delightful plant for thin woods, especially for the 
sides of grassy walks, passing under high trees. So is 
the pretty white-flowering Wood Anemone, and the 
white-blooming Wood Oxalis ; a delicate and lovely 
little flower when seen growing in patches in this 
manner. 
Among the flowers so well adapted for this purpose 
may also be mentioned, as prominently useful and sin- 
gularly gay, the common Primrose and its improved 
forms. In great variety are these now to be met with 
hero and there, and they are continually being produced 
in new and varying forms of attractiveness. When 
One great merit in Spring-flowering bulbs is the ease 
with which they are made to produce their flowers. 
This, added to their comparative cheapness, is the 
longed by using such bulbs as flower successively, be- 
ginning with Winter Aconites, followed by Snowdrops, 
Crocuses, early Tulips, Hyacinths, early Narcissus, 
medium Tulips, late Narcissus, and late Tulips. These 
flower during the months of March, April, and May, 
and by a suitable arrangement they may be placed so 
that they may all be seen to advantage at their several 
times of flowering. 
We once saw a bed composed entirely of different 
kinds of Spring-flowering bulbs, planted both with the 
object of keeping up the display as long as possible, 
growing in these sheltered positions, these Primroses 
commence blooming about or soon after Christmas, and 
in the more sheltered nooks and corners even earlier, 
and continue to flower for a considerable period. We 
have in some instances seen as many as twenty or more 
distinct shades of colour, the deepest coloured being of 
a dark crimson hue, the palest as pure as the driven 
snow. All possess more or less bright yellow or pale 
orange centres, large and striking, and adding a kind 
of brilliancy to the diverse hues of colour surrounding 
the centres. Seed of these pretty Primroses, if scattered 
over suitable places, will readily grow and quickly pro- 
duce blooming plants. Some pretty forms of the Cow- 
slip may bo added to the foregoing ; even the yollow 
Cowslips of the fields are by no means to be despised as 
Spring decorative flowers. The giant crimson Cowslip 
is a glorious plant for our purpose, and deserves to be 
much better known. Transplanted to shrubberies and 
sueh-liko places, and subjected to little higher condi- 
tions of cultivation than those which surround the 
Primrose and the Cowslip in the meadows, the plants 
soon gain great strength, and produce numberless 
trusses of flowers, that lend a grace and simple beauty 
to the locality in which they mature their native love- 
liness. 
and of varying the colours, so that the bed, while any 
of the bulbs were in flower, presented a massive display 
of colour. The bulbs were all newly imported, and 
were planted so that they might grow and increase, 
and have plenty of time to form and ripen the bulbs, 
as it was not intended to take them up every season. 
The bed was seven feet wide, and about four times that 
length. The arrangement of the bulbs was as follows: — 
They were placed in rows ten inches apart across the 
bed, the depth of planting varying according to the size 
of the bulbs, that is, about four inohes deep for Snow- 
drops, a little deeper for Crocuses, about six inches for 
Hyacinths, and the others in proportion. The first row 
consisted of early Tulips, intermixed with Snowdrops, 
tho second of Hyacinths, the third row of late Tulips 
and Crocuses, the fourth of Winter Aconites and early 
Narcissus, the fifth row of early Tulips and late Nar- 
cissus, the sixth ruw of Hyacinths and Winter Aconites, 
seventh row of Snowdrops, Scillas, and late Tulips ; 
and so on throughout, varying and mixing the colours 
and sorts as far as was convenient— not tho most scien- 
tific arrangement porhaps, but when in bloom the bed 
had a most pleasing effect. From the time the earliest 
began to bloom till late in May, when the double white 
Narcissus was in flower, it presented quite a gay ap- 
pearance. By midsummer the leaves of all but the 
late Narcissus had died flown and were removed, and 
the surface of the bed was pricked up with a fork and ! 
sowed with Phlox Drummoudii. By the beginning of 
August this began to flower, and continued till the 
Winter, when tho bulbs again came up and flowered, 
and the bed underwent the same course of treatment. 
This method of treating bulbs is certainly preferable 
to the old mode of managing them in villa gardens. 
They are often put in borders already too crowded with 
shrubs and miscellaneous plants, and are forked np just 
as they begin to grow, at the usual Autumn dressing of 
the borders, and rarely survive the second season. If 
by any means a piece of ground can he devoted to them, 
and they are managed in some such way as that just 
described, it will be not only more satisfactory, but the 
bulbs will increase instead of diminishing. Wo do not 
discourage their planting in mixed borders, but it is 
necessary for their well-doing that they have every 
chance of developing their foliage, as well as the 
flowers ; that they are not crowded amongst other 
plants, as they are likely to be injured by the exhaus- 
tion of the soil, caused by planting too thickly. 
OUR LIST OF NAMED HYACINTHS COMPRISES THE NEWEST AND BEST VARIETIES IN CULTIVATION. 
SPRING-FLOWERING BULBS. 
