HOUSE AND GARDEN 
October, 1913 
figure they are dear, almost invariably, whatever it may be, be¬ 
cause immature, while the top quotation is actually only a reason¬ 
able amount to ask for fully matured specimens. You are buying 
flowers, remember, when you buy bulbs ; not remote flowers which 
you must help to bring to perfection by careful tending, but im¬ 
mediate flowers, as it 
were, carefully 
packed into a tiny 
case, and waiting 
there to jump out the 
very instant the sun of 
springtime opens the 
cover. Bulbs indeed 
are really little ready¬ 
made gardens, all at 
hand without fuss or 
care. If you buy 
those which are cheap, 
be sure you are get¬ 
ting those which are 
not finished — which 
are incomplete; and 
though you probably 
will get full money’s 
worth, you will find 
that you have bought 
less than your desire 
and your expectation 
have painted. 
The fully devel¬ 
oped bulb is bulging 
with the maximum 
number of blossoms 
that can be produced 
in a season by its par¬ 
ticular kind, when 
you put it into the 
ground. These have 
been made and stored 
away in it the pre¬ 
vious summer, along 
with the food which 
they are going to need 
to fetch them up and 
out into the light of 
day. Indeed, such a 
bulb has been grown 
and tended through 
several summers — 
from four to six usu¬ 
ally—before it is har¬ 
vested finally and sent 
to market. For not 
until it has reached the max¬ 
imum size will it bring the 
top market price. 
These enormous top-notch 
bulbs, however, although pro¬ 
ducing wonderful bloom the 
season after planting, must 
rest the summer following. 
Consequently they hold a dis¬ 
appointment for the beginner 
in gardening, who expects a 
second season’s display equal 
to his first, when the latter came from bulbs of the first grade. 
The trouble is this: bulbs are really more “set” on reproducing 
their kind than any other class of vegetation. They send their 
blossoms up into the open to make seed, and just as industriously 
send their offsets into the ground around about to take root and 
become bulbs in their turn. Some, indeed, even go a step farther 
and produce bulblets along their stalks, in the axils of their leaves. 
It is the underground 
offsets which are the 
important things to 
us, however, for it is 
the interruption of 
work above ground to 
do work below that 
makes the second year 
of the fully matured 
bulb in the garden 
nil. 
If it had been al¬ 
lowed to grow undis¬ 
turbed all the years 
that it has been grow¬ 
ing, it would be sur¬ 
rounded by offsets of 
varying age and blos¬ 
soming capacity b y 
the time it reached the 
full degree of matur¬ 
ity coincident with its 
full size. But it has 
been taken up each 
year and deprived of 
offsets has reached 
full maturity in soli¬ 
tude, produces i t s 
maximum of bloom 
the first season in the 
ground here; and 
then, instead of stor¬ 
ing away more blos¬ 
soms as the summer 
advances and the 
ripening processes go 
on, it makes haste to 
send out its offsets, 
unconcerned as to 
anything save the 
perpetuation of its 
kind. 
Some of the offsets 
may make an attempt 
by the next season, 
however, and by the 
third summer a well- 
established blossoming clump 
will have taken the place of 
the single large bulb original¬ 
ly planted, with the future as¬ 
sured, if conditions are not ab¬ 
solutely against it. For bulbs, 
permanently planted and left 
undisturbed, carry on both the 
above and the below ground 
reproductive processes simul¬ 
taneously, and there are al¬ 
ways offsets in all stages of 
growth, taking up in their turn successively the work of produc¬ 
ing bloom and still more offsets. 
The jonquils are well used in borders, and they may be so arranged that after the bloom 
ceases other plants will take their place 
Daffodils always seem to arouse pleasant recollections, and their long life and beauty 
make them one of the best liked bulbs 
Cxocos - 
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This bulb border, measuring three by twelve feet, is so arranged that it 
may be lengthened to meet requirements. The key is on page 243 
