24 
House & Garden 
THE BULBS for FALL PLANTING 
What Sorts to Get and How to Handle The771 for an Abu 7 idance of 
Bloom About the Grounds Next Spring 
GRACE TABOR 
S OMETIMES I think there is nothing in 
the world equal to bulbs. Usually this is 
when I am looking at a gardenful blooming 
in the spring, a garden that would still be bare 
and brown if its crocuses and hyacinths and 
snowdrops and squills were taken away. Later, 
when other forms of vegetation begin decently 
to clothe the naked earth, the merits of these 
force themselves upon me anew one by one, 
until I can see it is only fair to acknowledge 
that they have many; that all of the superlative 
flower virtues have not been bestowed upon the 
bulb family exclusively. 
Yet there are so many things to recommend 
these plants, especially to the inexperienced 
gardener, that they are bound to maintain a 
high position in one’s estimation, even while 
one admits that other things are excellent. For 
one thing, everything is there! Every bulb is 
a storehouse, filled with leaves and blossoms, 
all made and packed away before winter; for 
the group spirit of the whole bulb tribe seems 
to be obsessed with the dread of unprepared¬ 
ness, and the extreme of preparation for the 
future is consequently the rule. 
Multiplication Habits 
I always fall to speculating 
on the fearful stress which 
must have molded this plant 
form, in the slow process of 
evolution, so that it not only 
multiplies itself above ground 
in the usual manner by pro¬ 
ducing flowers and their con¬ 
sequent seeds, but multiplies 
again below ground, by means 
of little bulbs, produced at the 
sides of the old one—offsets, 
they are called. Moreover, it 
hastens to store away every 
summer, immediately . after 
flowering, the flowers of the 
next summer. Its struggle for 
survival must have been fierce, 
and beset by unusual obstacles 
indeed, for every mischance to 
have been discounted in this 
way and every conceivable 
failure guarded against. 
This is one of the reasons 
above all others why bulbs 
should be popular with the 
very beginner in gardening. 
The desire for life is so strong 
in them, and the will to survive 
is so fixed, that it is hardly 
possible to treat them badly 
enough to kill them; so no 
matter how grievous the mis¬ 
takes, disappointments are 'few. 
Knowing Bulbs 
All of this is not to say, 
however, that bulbous plants 
will actually thrive on wrong 
treatment. They may thrive 
in spite of it; but they will do 
better if they are understood 
and properly taken care of. 
The best part of it all is, 
though, that it is nothing at 
all to understand and give them proper care. 
The first step toward getting acquainted 
with them lies in remembering that there are 
four kinds of root or below-the-ground growth 
which we commonly call bulbs, and only one 
of these is truly a bulb. The others are tubers, 
like potatoes or dahlias; or thick, creeping 
underground branches called rhizomes, like 
the roots of iris; or corms, which are very 
much swollen underground stems that send 
out roots from below and leaves from above 
as crocuses do. All of these forms, you will 
note, are solid; a true bulb is not solid. In¬ 
stead it is made up of scales either thin and 
overlapping, wrapping around each other and 
so called “tunicated” (the homely onion is an 
excellent type) or narrow and thick and laid 
one upon the other, as the scales of a lily bulb. 
Naturally, all of the solid forms—the 
‘‘bulbs” that are not bulbs—are less sus¬ 
ceptible to moisture than true bulbs, into which 
it can penetrate; and of the true bulbs the 
solider, tunicated forms are naturally not as 
easily affected by it as are the loose and open 
scaly ones. Here then is the* 
first point to be noted; while 
good drainage is necessary for 
all bulbs, perfect drainage is 
essential to all of the scaly, 
true bulbs. 
None can stand wet soil; 
for just as a potato will rot if 
it lies in water, so will any 
tuber, or rhizome, or corm. 
Consider the succulent thick¬ 
ness of these growths, and you 
will see at once why this is so. 
Many bulbous plants are 
moisture loving, indeed, but 
this means that water is needed 
by their roots, and not by the 
fleshy mass from which these 
spring. It is one thing to be 
fond of water and drink it 
freely, and quite another to 
live in it all the time. 
Planting Principles 
So in planting any kind of 
bulb, dig deeper than it is to 
go, and put sand or fine coal 
ashes under it and up around 
it, if the soil is at all heavy. 
In very heavy soil, the layer 
underneath should be 3” deep; 
but if you are planting in a 
fairly light, good soil, reduce 
this to 1". For soils between 
the two extremes, be governed 
accordingly. 
Fill in around all true bulbs 
completely with the sand; en¬ 
case them in it, thus protecting 
them from contact with the dirt 
Narcissi in their wide 
variety of forms are 
indispensable to every 
outdoor bulb lover 
You can now buy a dibber de luxe which, 
operated spade-wise, eliminates much 
stooping over when planting bulbs 
Bulbs are merely subterranean buds from which roots as well as leaves 
and flower stalks spring. The purpose of the bidb is to serve as a storage 
place which will carry the plant over an unfavorable season, such as winter 
or a period of drought. 
Mere size is not the only standard for judging the quality of bulbs. 
.4 plump, solid bulb, with no hint of flabbiness, will give better results than 
one without these characteristics. 
Cheap bulbs of fairly good quality can sometimes be purchased at 
auction sales, but it is hnpossible to count upon their being true to name, 
or even to color. The surest way to secure first-class stock is always to 
purchase from a trustworthy dealer and to specify, in your order, the exact 
purpose for which the bulbs are intended and the amount you wish to 
spend. If you have not already made up your order, it will be well to 
do so as soon as you have read this article. 
If you expect a bidb to bloom again next summer—and every summer 
—never deprive it of its leaves before they have ripened. 
