PLANTING 
97 
House-grown plants from bulbs are treated according to 
the same general principles as those outdoors. After they 
have been put in pots or boxes they pass their resting stage 
in a cold, dark part of the cellar. Some of these will be 
brought out into a warm, sunny room early in December, in 
case they are to be used for Christmas. But newly started 
bulbs should be " hardened off ” in partial light and in a cool 
room before being placed in the sun. Keep back the others 
so as to have them flower in succession. 
There is often a good profit in raising bulbs for private 
sale. In Boston one of the events looked forward to by many 
lovers of plants is the annual exhibit of hundreds of bulbs 
raised by a woman who makes bulb growing a specialty, and 
who devotes the proceeds to charity. 
Out in the garden the crocus, daffodil, hyacinth, and freesia 
may all be cultivated successfully. Explicit directions for the 
special treatment that each requires will be found in the cata- 
logues. Every gardener will, of course, have his favorites ; 
but the beauty of the rest certainly dims beside the glorious 
flames of the tulip. Another bulb of rare beauty which blooms 
in the summer and autumn, and one which is a stranger to some 
gardens, is the gladiolus. If gladiolus bulbs are planted at 
intervals from April to June, the plants will flower as late as 
November. When their flexible stems are supported by wire 
or stakes, they stand the early frosts bravely. The gladiolus 
is one of the plants which, within a few years, has begun to 
delight flower growers with its matchless beauty. One stalk 
of exquisite blossoms will sometimes sweep through nearly a 
whole rainbow of color. A very practical reason for their 
popularity is that the bulbs may be bought by the hundreds 
at very reasonable prices. The canna and the dahlia also 
flower superbly in summer and autumn. These do not grow 
from bulbs, but from roots ; and they propagate by root 
