56 
Costs us here about $25.00 per ton. That makes a 75- 
pound sack cost nearly a dollar. In each application 
we put about half a sack on a bed 7 feet wide by 32 
feet long. That is a cost of about 50c per bed for each 
application, and the bed will produce anywhere from 
several hundred to a few thousand dollars’ worth of 
bulbs and bulblets. So we can well afford to put on a 
good many applications during the summer, and with 
each added shovelful just think: “My, how we are mak¬ 
ing them grow!” Then we will not skimp but will put 
on some more. 
To the more fastidious, the putting on of fertilizer 
may be a disagreeable task. But let us think a bit 
more. From the dank, black muck of the swamp, fer¬ 
tilized through long ages by the hand of Mother Nature, 
comes the sweet fragrance and purity of the water lily. 
And again think! In the barren earth a bulb is planted. 
Up spring swords of green. Fertilizer, though loath¬ 
some, is added. Soon above the sword points appear 
florets clothed in the satiny robes of the woodland 
fairies and sparkling with the diamond’s dust. How did 
these in their splendor and purity spring forth from 
unclean dirt? The only answer is: God another miracle 
hath wrought. And we have been His agents in its 
working! Though our task was one most lowly, and 
our efforts all too feeble, yet He has stretched forth 
His hand over our gardens, and lo, the glories of Eden 
are there. 
SAND 
Sand spread over the beds about half an inch deep, 
as soon as the bulblets are planted, makes one of the 
very finest germinating mediums. It acts as a dust 
mulch and even though it may dry very quickly, yet 
