4(1 
THE GARDE X :M A G A Z I X E 
September, 19 16 
Roman Hyacinths are the easiest of all bulbs to force and can be had 
in continuous succession of bloom 
The pots or pans will need a thorough scrub- 
bing, after which the bulbs must be placed in a 
cool room — light, if they have made a good 
deal of top growth, somewhat dark, if they 
have not. They should never have direct 
sunshine. 1 he cool room I would choose 
would be one where the temperature varies be- 
tween thirty-tive and forty-five degrees. Tak- 
ing up my bulbs in March, I used an enclosed 
porch, bringing them into an unheated room 
over night or on days when a drop of tempera- 
ture to an unsafe degree seemed to be threat- 
ening. Sometimes the kitchen door was left 
open for a while to raise the temperature a 
little. 
KEEP THE BULBS COOL 
I cannot emphasize too strongly the neces- 
sity at this time of having the bulbs in a cool 
place. In the case of those stored outside for 
root growth, this is even more essential than 
for those put away in a cellar or unheated room 
as is obvious. So great a change as that from 
outdoor temperatures to those of rooms even 
moderately warm is fatal to success. It spells 
ruin for the plants, and one 
has his trouble and expense 
for nothing. 
It will take longer for 
the foliage and blossoms to 
develop in such a place than 
it would in one a little 
warmer, but the flowers will 
be enough finer to pay for 
one’s patience. 
One year. Narcissus bi- 
color \ ictoria was in bloom 
three weeks from the time 
the bulbs were taken up, 
standing on a shelf before a 
small window of the en- 
closed porch. They had 
not looked very promising 
when dug up, as some of the 
sprouts had suffered in at- 
tempting a passage through 
the heavy clay loam above 
them — they had been out- 
side four months — but de- 
veloping slowly, they cor- 
rected their troubles, and 
on Laster Sunday, they were 
a delight to the eye, a glory 
of richest dark green and 
creamy white and golden 
jellow. 
Over Dutch Hyacinths, 
after top growth has reached 
a height of an inch or two, 
one should place a cone of 
stiff paper or pasteboard 
for a week or ten days. 
Make its circumference 
equal to that of the pot, and cut off about an 
inch of the apex. This contrivance will have 
the effect of drawing up the flower spike from 
the neck of the bulb so that it will develop 
satisfactorily. \\ hen not used, the sudden 
change to a strong light has the effect of swel- 
ling the buds prematurely so that the spike 
gets stuck in its ascent, and is abortive. 
The soil in the pots should be kept as wet as 
a sponge full of water. Bulbous plants are 
thirsty creatures, and at this stage there is little 
danger of their having too much moisture. 
THE L.\ST STAGE 
When the buds are beginning to open, the 
plants may be removed to the living rooms. In 
order to last well, sixty degrees is the highest 
temperature they should have. But as most 
humans require seventy, the best that one can 
do to stay the swiftness of their passing is to 
keep the soil wet, as indicated, to provide for 
moisture in the air by the evaporation of water 
in dishes set on register or radiator, to ward 
off attacks of “green fly’’ by sprinkling to- 
bacco dust around the plants, and to avoid 
The Dutch Hyacinth is slower to respond and takes a longer time to 
develop. It comes a trifle later 
placing them in direct sunshine which might 
have a tendency to blast the buds. 
Noother house plants demand so little atten- 
tion or give so much pleasure in return for care 
as these lovely things, which have a beauty 
of texture and coloring not exactly duplicated 
in the flowers of any other class that bloom 
either outside or within doors. They are so 
unexacting that many, notably Hyacinths and 
Narcissus, are contented in a sunless window, 
if the light from without be unobstructed. 
First size bulbs of fine named sorts are 
listed in the catalogues at ten cents; the second 
size, at seven cents apiece. Potting soil can 
be had at from twenty to twenty-five cents 
per half-bushel, and this quantity will fill 
twelve or fourteen good-sized pans. A six- 
inch pan can be bought for ten cents. A little 
figuring will show that even if one buy first- 
size bulbs and must purchase both the soil and 
the pan, allowing something for express 
charges, also, he can produce the same number 
of Hyacinths for about forty-five cents, that 
the florist will be selling at about seventy-five 
cents to a dollar. 
A New “Wrinkle” in Bulb Growing 
MARTHA HASKELL CLARK, 
F ~^()R those who think that they have 
exhausted the possibilities of bulb 
growing, as well as for those am- 
ateurs who are planning their little 
winter garden for the first time, this “new 
wrinkle’’ in the growing of winter-flowering 
bulbs will introduce a new element of in- 
terest and add largely to their success. 1 o the 
former it offers a new enjoyment in the plan- 
ning of artistic color schemes, and successive 
window “displays” in place of the ordinary 
haphazard collection of blossoms, do the 
latter it assures flowers the equal of those pro- 
duced bv the most experienced growers, with a 
minimum of the risk that follows closely on the 
heels of ignorant efforts. 
In your sunniest window have the carpenter 
make a shelf, exactly the length of the window 
space. If not desired for the rest of the year, 
this can merely be placed on easily removable 
brackets. A box, of galvanized iron, eight 
