30 Making a Bulb Garden 
but the bulb itself must be free from con- 
stant contact with water. Certain kinds 
of “bulbs” may endure it better than 
others, to be sure, as one might judge 
from their character; the solid corms or 
rhizomes, into which water cannot pene- 
trate, are naturally less likely to rot un- 
der such conditions than the loose, scaly, 
or even the dense, tunicated true bulb. 
But it is the safer rule to give all a chance 
to breathe. 
However wet the location into which 
they are to go, and however heavy and 
muck-like the soil, this is readily accom- 
plished by setting the bulb onto a cushion 
of sand or of fine coal ashes. This cushion 
may be shallow or deep according to con- 
ditions, the denser soil and greater mois- 
ture requiring the deeper layer of loose 
drainage medium. True bulbs, especially 
those of the open, scaly class, should be 
bedded upon a two- or three-inch layer; 
indeed it is well to bring an inch wall of 
sand up around such as these, leaving 
only the top to come in contact with the 
