24 
HO USE & GARDEN 
A whole happy family of crocuses can live 
in one big pot, their stalks poking out 
through holes cut in the sides like young 
wrens peering from a crowded bird house 
Even though they are not palms, hya¬ 
cinths will thrive with “their feet in the 
spring and their heads in the fires of 
Heaven ,” if canvas supports the bulbs 
Mass planting is not restricted to the 
outdoor garden. Here are fifty-odd crocus 
bulbs in bloom. Blue and white , and yel¬ 
low and white are good color schemes 
THE INDOOR BULB GARDEN 
Growing the Old Favorites in Pots and Bowls 
to Yield an Abundance of Winter Bloom 
W . R . GILBERT 
T HERE are few more interesting phases 
in the cultivation of flowers than the 
growing of certain kinds of bulbs in pots 
or fancy bowls. Given suitable materials 
and good bulbs it is within the power of any 
intelligent person to bring to perfection the 
golden bloom of the daffodil, the more 
stately hyacinth or gorgeous tulip, several 
weeks in advance of the date when they 
would naturally open outdoors. These early 
flowers are always highly 
appreciated in the home, 
and in the spring these pots 
and bowls of bright and 
graceful blossoms are most 
welcome and refreshing. 
Until comparatively re¬ 
cent years bulbs for dwell¬ 
ing houses were grown 
almost entirely in the ordi¬ 
nary flower pots filled with 
a suitable mixture of earth, 
but of late their cultivation 
in bowls of glazed ware, 
filled with cocoanut fiber 
refuse, lias been very widely 
favored. Each method has 
something in its favor, and 
as the treatment of each is 
different in a few respects, 
it will be most convenient 
to deal with them sepa¬ 
rately. We will consider 
pots first, as they are per¬ 
haps the most popular. 
The most convenient 
sized flower pot for general 
purposes is one measuring 5" or 6" in 
diameter at the top. This will accommo¬ 
date three to five daffodil bulbs, according 
to the variety; three Roman hyacinths, one 
large Dutch hyacinth or five tulips. Other 
larger sizes may, of course, be used if de¬ 
sired ; and large Dutch hyacinths look very 
well indeed grown in deep earthen unglazed 
pans, 1' or more in diameter, from nine to 
twelve bulbs of one variety being grown in 
It looks Japanesy, and yet it is perfectly practical and occidental. All you 
do is cut a hole through a large cork for the roots, set in the bulb, and 
sprinkle fancy grass seed a/round it 
each pan. The kind of soil does not matter 
very much, so long as it is sweet and por¬ 
ous and contains a fair percentage of humus. 
Good, well decayed loam two parts, and 
coarse sand and leaf soil half a part each, 
makes an excellent mixture. Some growers 
mix with it a little thoroughly rotted ma¬ 
nure, such as that from an old mushroom 
bed, and if this is obtainable it will prove 
beneficial. But anything approaching raw 
or fresh manure will do 
more harm than good. 
Drainage of the pots must 
be good, but not excessive. 
In potting the bulbs, do not 
press them into the soil, 
but place them in the part¬ 
ly and loosely filled pots 
and then pack more soil 
around them, so that their 
“noses” just show through 
the surface after all has 
been made moderately 
firm. Remember to leave 
at least y 2 " of space from 
the soil to the top of the 
pot, so as to allow for 
watering. If the soil was 
nicely moist as it should be, 
when potting was done, 
water will not be necessary 
for some time. Each pot 
must then be stood, say, in 
the cellar, covered with an 
inverted pot of the same 
size to conserve moisture. 
( Continued, on page 64) 
