2 l8 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
October, 1912 
In the carefully laid out garden there should be balance between the 
heights of the flowers in adjoining beds 
W hen used in borders with a background of dwarf evergreens, bulb 
blossoms are especially effective 
well kept, up-to-the-minute scientifi¬ 
cally handled orchard. 
All of the bulbs that are suitable for 
naturalizing- may be used in borders, 
so nothing is missed by the restriction 
above implied except the manner of 
planting. But I always feel that 
snowdrops, squills and glory-of-the- 
snow are so delicate that they need 
turf beneath them, even though it is 
brown and sere, rather than bare 
earth.. So, although they may per¬ 
fectly well be massed in borders, I al¬ 
ways prefer to naturalize these, by 
fifties or hundreds — or thousands — a> 
the case may be. They are so small 
themselves that very small space al¬ 
lows enough room for at least the first 
number. 
I am not going to say anything 
about the ideal soil for bulbs, because 
that concerns only the commercial 
grower. Common garden earth will 
grow them perfectly well, when it is 
in just a common garden that they are 
wanted. So, for the private garden, 
whether it be large or small, be as¬ 
sured that any soil will be satisfactory 
if the drainage is assured. 
Bulbs will indeed grow almost any¬ 
where ; but wherever they are and 
whatever conditions of moisture they 
may like, always remember that a 
bulb itself must have free drainage. 
It may be a plant that revels in cool 
dampness, that grows best where 
water stands on the ground after 
heavy rain, or beside a stream where 
water is fed constantly through the 
soil at its roots by capillary action, 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 penetrate are naturally less 
The isolated lawn bed is never as effective as such 
plantings shown above 
Under proper conditions and with sufficient space 
crocuses may well be naturalized 
likely to rot under 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 mush-like the soil, this is rapidly 
accomplished by setting the bulb on a 
cushion of sand or of fine coal ashes. 
This cushion may be shallow or deep 
according to conditions, the denser 
soil and greater moisture requiring 
the deeper layer of loose drainage me¬ 
dium. True bulbs, especially those of 
the open, scaly class, should be bedded 
on 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 
soil. The roots which the bulb puts, 
forth will go through the sand imme¬ 
diately in their search and reach for 
moisture, while the bulb remains safe 
and snug and dry. 
Fertilizer is appreciated by all bul¬ 
bous plants, but manure ought never 
to touch a bulb of any kind. Usually 
the gardener is advised to supply cow 
manure liberally and spade the ground 
very deep, then grow something else 
for a season before planting the bulbs. 
This insures the decay of the manure- 
to be sure, but it delays the garden; 
consequently it is not a method with 
which one has much sympathy. 
Bone meal is really the safe and 
therefore the best thing to use, when 
the bulbs are being planted. It may be 
mixed into the earth below and 
around each one, and worked in over 
the surface after they are buried. 
Once they are under ground and es¬ 
tablished, however, well rotted cow 
manure may be applied to the ground 
above them, and worked in each 
(Continued on page 238) 
