168 
THE FLORIST AND FOMOLOGIST. 
From the time the earliest began to bloom till late in May, when the double 
Poet’s Narcissus was in flower, it presented quite a gay appearance. By mid¬ 
summer the leaves of all but the late Narcissus had died down and were removed, 
and the surface of the bed was pricked up with a fork and sowed with the 
seed of Phlox Drummondi. By the beginning of August this began to flower 
and continued doing so till the following winter, after which the bulbs again 
came up and flowered, and the bed underwent the same course of treatment. 
After flowering the third time, the bulbs were taken up, the ground trenched 
and planted with Verbenas, and the bulbs again planted the following autumn. 
They had increased very much, and they flowered equally well the following 
spring. 
This method of treating bulbs I think is preferable to the usual mode of 
managing them in villa gardens. They are generally put in borders already too 
crowded with shrubs and miscellaneous plants, are forked up, just as they begin 
to grow, in the usual autumn dressing of the borders, and rarely survive the 
second season. If by any means a piece of ground can be devoted to them, 
and they are managed in some such way as that described above, it will be not 
only more satisfactory, but the bulbs will increase instead of diminishing. I 
certainly would not. discourage planting them in mixed flower-borders, but it is 
necessary for their well-doing that they have every chance of developing the 
foliage as well as the flowers—that they are not crowded amongst other plants ; 
and although summer and autumn-flowering plants may be grown between them, 
it should be remembered that they are likely to be injured by the exhaustion of 
the soil caused by planting too thickly. Another thing to be observed is, the 
leaves should not be cut off in a green state, as is often practised, because they 
are said to look untidy ; the leaves are necessary to the proper development of 
the new bulbs—a fact too often lost sight of in villa gardens, and this is one 
great reason why bulbs so soon dwindle away. It is also important to mark 
them, so that it may be known where they are when there is nothing left of them 
above ground. 
Of the adaptability of bulbs for pot-culture much has already been said; 
and although the necessary materials for the purpose of growing them in pots 
are very simple, some would seem to imply that materials are necessary which 
are certainly not within the reach of all. I have grown them very successfully 
for years, and used different kinds of soil, and covered them with different 
materials, as coal ashes, sawdust, old tan,and common earth, and all with nearly 
the same results—in fact, I have come to the conclusion that the material they 
are covered with after potting is more a matter of convenience to the operator 
than of consequence to the well-doing of the bulbs, and that the best soil to 
grow them in is about one-half silky loam, and one-half of dung, rotted to a 
crumbling state, mixed with an equal portion of leaf mould, from leaves that 
have been swept up from paths, lanes, See., and allowed to rot. These are sure 
to have a large proportion of grit mixed with them, which keeps the soil porous 
and open. If grit is not thus obtained, a suitable portion of it should be mixed 
up in the dung. Mix these ingredients well together, and you have a soil in 
which S’pring-flowering bulbs will thrive ; but if loam is not to be got, the leaf 
mould as described will do alone, or any common garden soil may be mixed 
with it; or even if these are not readily obtained there need be no fear of potting 
the bulbs in any porous soil in which a tuft of grass will grow, for it is a mis¬ 
take to suppose that Hyacinths, or Tulips, or Crocuses are particularly nice as 
regards the nature of the soil they are placed in, provided it be sweet, and free 
from any grubs or other destructive insects. This much, however, may be 
observed, that bulbs, in common with any plants that are grown in pots, are 
limited in the supply of soil in which they can form roots—that they have not 
