32 Making a Bulb Garden 
or even left to lie loose on the ground. 
It will leach through the soil under the 
rain, and enrich it down to where the 
feeding roots are. 
Bulbous plants are different from all 
others in that they make and store away 
each season’s bloom during the preceding 
season. This is the process that is going 
on when we speak of the bulb’s ^ripen- 
ing;” and unless it is absolutely uninter- 
rupted, no flowers can be produced during 
the succeeding year. Every bulb, as it 
comes from the ground in a dormant 
state, contains next season’s flowers, 
every one of them — -tiny, rudimentary 
embryos to be sure, yet nevertheless, the 
actual blossoms. Bulbs that do not are 
immature and cannot bloom until they 
have been given time and opportunity, in 
the ground, to reach maturity. 
Some require longer for this than 
others, and naturally the time needed 
enters into the price of the bulb. “Ex- 
tra Selected First-Size Named Hya- 
cinths” for example, have been cultivated 
